SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS U.S. Postage SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER FIRST CLASS MAIL PAID Pasadena, CA Permit No. 740 ^ -' 1 P.O. Box 56478, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413, 800.9SAHSCC, www.sahscc.org marred by scandal. A second reason for Kesling's obscurity is that his work has received little publicity. Pascal's book and this tour aim to correct this. Of the 35 homes Kesling built in Los Angeles in the Keslinq Modern • t~ '30s, only 20 remain recognizable— and they are treasures. During the 1930s depression, as building construction came to a Structures Tour near standstill across the country, Southern California clients erected a Sunday, February 9th surprising number of Streamline Moderne houses and business buildings. Kesling was in the right place at the right time. The new look can be traced back to transportation On Sunday, February 9th, Photo: Julius Shulman designers, who tested their designs SAH/SCC will host a tour of five in wind-tunnels and fluid tanks to Streamline Moderne homes built produce aerodynamically advanced designs for train engines, automo• in the 1930s by William Kesling biles, airplanes, and ships that in the Silverlake and Los Feliz enhanced forward motion by reduc• areas. The tour celebrates the ing wind (or water) resistance. Industrial designers discovered that publication of Patrick Pascal's refrigerators, toasters, and pencil book on this unsung modernist boxes with the same curves and Kesling Modern Structures: wind lines appealed to consumers over earlier boxy models. Shoppers Popularizing Modern Design in were even willing to pay more, Southern California. 1934-1962 maybe because these "modernistic" gadgets seemed futuristic in the (Balcony Press, 2002}. same way the era's science-fiction films and comic books painted a future technologically free of all Photo: David Sadofski problems. Buildings referenced this fasci• nation with speed and efficiency by On February 9th, we'll enjoy a slide lecture by Pascal followed by a tour exhibiting curved corners, ship's of five Kesling houses, ranging from his first Model Home to his largest hous• rails, and porthole windows. They es, and ending with refreshments and a book signing. Tour-goers will see also featured modern-age materials, three houses in Silverlake: the Model Home (1935), the Skinner House (1936), such as chrome-plated steel interior and the Hough House (1935), then two houses in Los Feliz; the Ulm House trim, magnesite flooring, and glass (1937) and the nearby Johnstone House (1935). block, which drew forward-thinking The cost is $60 for SAH/SCC members; $65 for non-members. For an clients, even if hard times limited additional $20 you can reserve a copy of Pascal's book, which will be held for house size and curtailed the number you at the tour check-in table. The book retails for $27 (including tax), and a of clients who could undertake new few copies will be available to purchase the day of the tour for that price. The house construction. tour is limited to 58 tickets for the tour starting at HAM, and another 58 The tour has limited space, and available for the tour starting at 12;30PM. you must specify either the 11AM or One of Southern California's claims to architectural fame is the number 12;30PM session. See the back page of Streamline Moderne structures built here during the Depression. William to order your tickets for Kesling Kesling was one of the more prolific designers in this style, yet he remains Modern Structures. little known. One reason is that Kesling's career was brief (1934-1937) and Photo: Julius Shulman January February Lj#a1 • Hj Tour and Event InFormation: 1 .BOO.gSAHSCC; infO0)sahsCC.orq SAH/SCC SAH/SCC NEWS is published bi-monthly by the Society of Architectural Historians / Southerr California Chapter Subscription is a benefit of membership and provides members with one of the President's Letter /SCC most comprehensive calendars of architectural events in Southern California and advance notice o exclusive SAH/SCC architectural events and tours. Our community has lost one of its great figures, and one of its last direct links to the Case Study era, with the death of Don Hensman. who passed away in December in Pasadena. He was 78 years old. Editor: Julie D. Taylor Working largely in partnership with Conrad Buff III and Calvin Straub, Assistant Editor: Jennifer Moizel Hensman was an instrumental figure in the development of mid-century mod• Internet Editor: Brent Eckerman ern architecture, particularly the "post-and-beam style" of residential architec• Art Director: Svetlana Petrovic ture characterized by a rectilinear system of exposed structural members and Administration: Arline Chambers an effortless transition between house and garden. Buff, Straub, and Hensman won more than 30 awards for house designs Information and ads for the newsletter should be sent three weeks before the issue date from the American Institute of Architects, and Hensman himself was honored Issue Deadline: March/April 2003 FebruarvlO. 2003 as a Fellow (FAIA). Many of these designs, secluded homes for wealthy private Please send all ad materials, notices of events, exhibitions and news to the attention of the editor clients, have enjoyed a new life in recent years with the popular nostalgia for Julie D. Taylor. Editor SAH/SCC News Newsletter telephone: 310.247.1099 mid-century design, and particularly with the publication of Julius Shulman's PO. Box 56478 Newsletter fax: 310.247.8147 Modernism Rediscovered. Sherman Oaks, Newsletter e-mail: [email protected] One project that stands out in Shulman's volume is the Mirman Residence recreation pavilion (Arcadia, 1959), which is a simple backyard shelter for CA 91413 entertaining and playing games. Shulman's pictures clearly illustrate the basic SAH/SCC Executive Board values that Hensman's architecture embraced: the building becomes an Jean Clare Baaden Alex Meconi Anthony Denzer (President) ordered framework supporting the casual, family-oriented enjoyment of leisure John Berley Hal Meltzer Sian Winship (Vice President) time. This is, without question, the architecture of optimism. John Ellis Cara Muilio Merry Ovnick (Membership) But the firm's mastenA/ork was Case Study House i20. the Bass House Ted Kane (Altadena, 1958), which was optimistic in another way: its advanced technolo• Rina Rubenstein (Treasurer) gy CSH #20 was built of factory-produced stressed skin panels and plywood Brent Eckerman (Internet) vaults so novel that they perplexed city building officials. Despite copious engi• SAH/SCC Advisory Board neering calculations, the architects were not awarded a building permit until a sample plywood vault had been temporarily erected and loaded with weights. Ted Wells, Ted Bosley, Ken Breisch, Stephen Harby, Elizabeth McMillian, Rochelle Mills, Progressive design, Hensman knew, always had to prove itself to its skeptics. Claire Rogger, Richard C.Rowe, Nancy Smith, Robert Winter Although Hensman spent his last years at the Holly Street Village complex in downtown Pasadena, he never really "retired," always remaining active in the local architectural community, giving lectures to students, and even design• ing buildings. He completed the Moseley Residence in the Pasadena hills in the late 1990s, a building that continued to employ all the excellent hallmarks of SAH/SCC members his mid-century designs. Few people realize that Hensman was a prolific designer of tract homes LiFe Members: THOMAS 0 CONNOR MARK & NANEHE KEHKE prior to his association with Buff and Straub. While he was an undergraduate ANNE OHERSON PAUL & SAMARA LARSON GRANT BARNES FRANCIS PACKER ALVIN Y LEE student at (JSC in the late 1940s, Hensman worked nights and weekends draw• KATHLEEN BIXLER HELEN PALMER RAHLA HALL LINDSEY ing plans for homebuilders in places like Torrance and the San Fernando Valley MARY DUTTON BOEHM CE PARKER ARTHUR V LIU MARIE BOTNICK This was his real education. He later joked that he had built more than 3,000 GEORGE PENNER ROBINA MAPSTONE BILL BOWLING homes by his 21st birthday burning the midnight oil at the drafting board in STANDISH K PENTON VITUS & SHANNON MATARE RUTH BOWMAN between his studies. AUDREE PENTON D SCOHMcCAUL LYNN MARIE BRYANT JOHN AUGUST REED JOHN MclLWEE I had the privilege of knowing Hensn.an personally and he was a warm, BENTE AND GERALD E BUCK CLAIRE ROGGER KIMBERLY McKEAN kind man who genuinely appreciated his good fortune: he was very modest BONNIE BURTON RICHARD CAYIA ROWE FRANCE H MEINDL PAMELA BURTON JEFFREY B SAMUDIO CHRIS MENRAD about his successes. He took special interest in the next generations of archi• MIRIAM & SAM CAMPBELL STEVEN SAUTE CATHERINE MEYLER tects, and he was eager to share his experiences in order to help young design• WENDY CARSON LAWRENCE SCARPA JEFFREY & ROCHELLE MILLS ers. Rather than speaking of his own achievements, he preferred to recall his ROBERT JAY CHAHEL ANN SCHEID TOSHIKO MORI STEVE CONNER JAN & PAUL MUNOZ JAMES M SCHWENTKER III period teaching (at USC 1952-63) and the continuing importance of education. JEFFREY COOK RICHARD OOSTEROM JULIUS SHULMAN Although his own design philosophy remained rooted in the values of the CROSBY DE CARTERET DOE FELIX PFEIFLE PATRICIA SIMPSON LINDA SOLLIMA DOE postwar period, he admired progressive new architecture as well. He liked to CECILIA SINGER LAWRENCE & CAROL PLAH HEINZ E. ELLERSIECK MARK SLOTKIN JULIE RASKOFF meet for lunch at Saladang Song in Pasadena, where he was excited by the J RICHARD FARE GIBBS M SMITH TOM REAVEY & PEGGY REAVEY laser-cut ornamental designs. Likewise, he was astonished by the work of CAROL FENELON JANANN STRAND JENNIFER & MICHAEL SALTZMAN DONALD R FERGUSON Frank Gehry and Jon Jerde, who had been students at USC. VERN SWANSEN ELEANOR SCHAPA GILBERT GARCEHI REG THATCHER KAREN SIMMONS Don Hensman was an architect's architect He took technical competence SUKEY GARCETTI RAUN THORP SAM & JODI SPADE seriously: he did not have a manifesto or a scandal.