Volume 1 — 2020 Issue
GRAY ARCHITEC TURE 4
Volume 1 — 2020 Issue
THE
ARCHITECT
“It is a place, which could tell many stories.“
Pierre Koenig was born in San Francisco on October 17, 1925. Even as a boy, Koenig displayed a nascent interest in architecture and Modernism. In 1939, the family moved to San Gabriel, a Los Angeles suburb, and here, among a new group of friends who also wanted to be architects, Koenig’s earlier interest crystallized. Yet World War II loomed, and at age 17 Koenig enlisted in the United States Army Advanced Special Training Program, which offered a compressed 4-year college degree in 2 years. However, in 1943 the program was abruptly ended and after only one semester of study at the University of Utah, School of Engineering, Koenig was sent to basic training. From 19431946, Koenig served on the front lines in France and Germany as a flash ranging observer, spotting enemy fire and calculating their position, with the 292nd Field Artillery Observation Battalion. After the war, Koenig returned to Los Angeles and applied to the University of Southern California (USC), School of Architecture. Due the influx of returning GIs, there was a two-year waiting list for admission, and Koenig spent this time studying at Pasadena City College until he was finally admitted to USC in 1948. At this time, USC was the leading architectural school in California, and a hotbed of new ideas brought about by the aftermath of the war: ideas about how architecture should
The California Dream For decades, the California Dream meant the chance to own a stucco home on a sliver of paradise. The point was the yard with the palm trees, not the contour of the walls. Julius
lyn-born
my, such as mass-production and pre-fabrication, to peacetime. Although Koenig struggled somewhat within the strictures of a traditional academic framework, he certainly absorbed the new ideas surrounding him, and they would continue to guide him throughout his career. Gray Architecture www.grayarchitecture.com Chief Editor: Sydney Elle Gray Chief Creator: Sydney Elle Gray Supervisior: Hyung Park
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headed
of Los Angeles—one of 36 Case Study Houses that were part of an architectural experiment extolling the virtues of modernist theory and industrial materials. Shulman photographed most of the houses in the project, helping demystify modernism by highlighting its graceful simplicity and humanizing its angular edges. But none of his other pictures was more influential than the one he took of Case Study House No. 22. To show the essence of this air-breaking cantilevered building, Shulman set two glamorous women in cocktail dresses inside the house, where they appear to be floating above a mythic, twinkling city. The photo, which he called “one of my masterpieces,” is the most successful real estate image ever taken. It perfected the art of aspirational staging, turning a house into the embodiment of the Good Life, of stardusted Hollywood, of California as the Promised Land. And, thanks to Shulman, that dream now includes a glass box in the sky.
HISTORY
techniques of the wartime econo-
photographer
Hills home with a breathtaking view
THE
new materials and industrialized
change
House, a glass-enclosed Hollywood
population boom in Los Angeles and ideas about how to apply the
helped
to architect Pierre Koenig’s Stahl
respond to social issues, such as the and the need for low-cost housing,
Shulman
all that. In May 1960, the Brook-
Gray Architecture
STAHL The Stahl family, which owns and operates the Stahl House, Case Study House #22, also makes the property available, on a limited basis, for those in the commercial film or photography industries. Other
TODAY
Commerical
commercial uses may be considered depending upon availability and the nature of the proposed use. Unfortunately, the Stahl House is not available for private functions or activities. The Stahl family reserves the right to decline commercial requests that, in the families opinion, are not compatible with our mission or would put undue burden on the property and neighbors.
Historic-Cultral Landmark The Stahl House was declared a Historic-Cultural landmark of the City of Los Angeles in 1999. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects listed the Stahl House as one of the top 150 structures on their “America’s Favorite Architecture” list, one of only 11 in Southern California. The house was included in a list of all time top 10 houses in Los Angeles in a Los Angeles Times survey of experts in December 2008. In 2013, the Stahl House became listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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THE
Afternoon Tours 2:30 - 3:30 pm 4:30 - 5:30
VISITING HOURS
$60.00 Total for 1 person / 1 car $35.00 Each for 2 or more persons / 1 car (age 10 and older) Evening Tours 6:30 - 8:00 pm $90.00 Total for 1 person / 1 car $50.00 Each for 2 or more persons / 1 car (age 10 and older)
Neutra VDL Studio and Residence, Los Angeles
Tours Docents are on site, during each tour, to answer questions. Tours are kept to a small number of guests/vehicles to minimize the impact to our neighbors and increase the enjoyment of our guests. Prepaid Reservations are required for all visitors. Without a prepaid reservation, no one is granted access and the house is not viewable from the street. Please honor this restriction as we protect our neighborhood.
Gray 2300 Silver Lake Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90039
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