The Complete Arts & Architecture 1945–1954
Introduction by David Travers
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To step back to the beginning, California Arts & Architecture was formed in 1929 by a merger of Pacific Coast Architect, established 1911, and California Southland, established 1918. Architecturally it was devoted to eclectic residential design—Tudor, Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean, Georgian, California amorphous. It preferred classic style in larger projects, and now and then Art Deco (such as the Richfield Building and Bullocks Wilshire, both in Los Angeles). In 1930 it was a substantial magazine. Issues ran from 70 to 80 pages with lots of advertising. The editor was then Harris Allen, AIA, and there were familiar names among its contributors and advisors—Roland Coates, Sumner Spaulding, Ralph Flewelling,Wallace Neff. By 1933 the Great Depression had starved it down to 30 pages and subsequently into bankruptcy, where John Entenza found it in 1938.Modern had yet to touch the magazine. Under Entenza's editorship, California Arts & Architecture changed from a review of "nostalgic historicism" presenting eclectic houses for the rich and famous to an avantgarde magazine publishing low cost houses rich with social concern. Entenza had an extraordinary eye for creativity which was itself creative. In the January 1943 issue, the presentation of the Harris House by R.M. Schindler, which cost $3,000, was a wonderful harbinger of things to come.
Publication in Arts & Architecture became a door to national and international renown for West Coast architects
There is some confusion and a bit of mythology about the Case Study House Program. The magazine said in its CSH announcement in the January 1945 issue that it would be the client for the houses constructed in the program, and it never explicitly abandoned that public posture. In practice, however, John Entenza—thus the magazine—was the actual client in a financial sense only for his own house (CSH #9) on Chautauqua in the Pacific Palisades designed by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen and published in the July 1950 issue. Several early CSH projects went unbuilt because there were no clients and John Entenza either didn't have the money or didn't want to spend it. Banks didn't yet loan on flat-roofed modern houses. Somehow the myth arose that John was making a killing in real estate out of the program, which is ridiculous, perhaps originating from a disappointed architect. Early designs had to await the architect finding a client. This became the pattern. The architect would bring a client and a design and, if deemed worthy, the project would be included in the program. Materials weren't donated as some have reported; rather manufacturers and suppliers would provide top of the line materials and equipment at bottom tier prices. In the same economic vein, the magazine did not pay for its photographs. The photographers—Marvin Rand, Balthazar Korab, Ezra Stoller, Morley Baer and the legions of others—were paid by the architects who were submitting their work for publication. Even Julius Shulman and one or two others listed from time to time on the masthead were not paid staff members. It wasn't parsimony so much as frugality.
Not much more need be written about the Case Study House Program of Arts & Architecture. It has been documented by Esther McCoy wonderfully in Modern California Houses: Case Study Houses, 1945–1962 (Reinhold, 1962; reissued as Case Study Houses 1945–1962 by Hennessey & Ingalls, 1977) and fully and beautifully in recent books from TASCHEN (with magnificent color photographs by Julius Shulman that A&A couldn't afford to print) and M.I.T. Press.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
To step back to the beginning, California Arts & Architecture was formed in 1929 by a merger of Pacific Coast Architect, established 1911, and California Southland, established 1918. Architecturally it was devoted to eclectic residential design—Tudor, Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean, Georgian, California amorphous. It preferred classic style in larger projects, and now and then Art Deco (such as the Richfield Building and Bullocks Wilshire, both in Los Angeles). In 1930 it was a substantial magazine. Issues ran from 70 to 80 pages with lots of advertising. The editor was then Harris Allen, AIA, and there were familiar names among its contributors and advisors—Roland Coates, Sumner Spaulding, Ralph Flewelling,Wallace Neff. By 1933 the Great Depression had starved it down to 30 pages and subsequently into bankruptcy, where John Entenza found it in 1938.Modern had yet to touch the magazine. Under Entenza's editorship, California Arts & Architecture changed from a review of "nostalgic historicism" presenting eclectic houses for the rich and famous to an avantgarde magazine publishing low cost houses rich with social concern. Entenza had an extraordinary eye for creativity which was itself creative. In the January 1943 issue, the presentation of the Harris House by R.M. Schindler, which cost $3,000, was a wonderful harbinger of things to come.
Publication in Arts & Architecture became a door to national and international renown for West Coast architects
There is some confusion and a bit of mythology about the Case Study House Program. The magazine said in its CSH announcement in the January 1945 issue that it would be the client for the houses constructed in the program, and it never explicitly abandoned that public posture. In practice, however, John Entenza—thus the magazine—was the actual client in a financial sense only for his own house (CSH #9) on Chautauqua in the Pacific Palisades designed by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen and published in the July 1950 issue. Several early CSH projects went unbuilt because there were no clients and John Entenza either didn't have the money or didn't want to spend it. Banks didn't yet loan on flat-roofed modern houses. Somehow the myth arose that John was making a killing in real estate out of the program, which is ridiculous, perhaps originating from a disappointed architect. Early designs had to await the architect finding a client. This became the pattern. The architect would bring a client and a design and, if deemed worthy, the project would be included in the program. Materials weren't donated as some have reported; rather manufacturers and suppliers would provide top of the line materials and equipment at bottom tier prices. In the same economic vein, the magazine did not pay for its photographs. The photographers—Marvin Rand, Balthazar Korab, Ezra Stoller, Morley Baer and the legions of others—were paid by the architects who were submitting their work for publication. Even Julius Shulman and one or two others listed from time to time on the masthead were not paid staff members. It wasn't parsimony so much as frugality.
Not much more need be written about the Case Study House Program of Arts & Architecture. It has been documented by Esther McCoy wonderfully in Modern California Houses: Case Study Houses, 1945–1962 (Reinhold, 1962; reissued as Case Study Houses 1945–1962 by Hennessey & Ingalls, 1977) and fully and beautifully in recent books from TASCHEN (with magnificent color photographs by Julius Shulman that A&A couldn't afford to print) and M.I.T. Press.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Arts & Architecture 1945-54: The Complete Reprint
118 Magazines in 10 Boxes, 25.2 x 32.2 cm (9.9 x 12.7 in.), 6156 pages
$ 700.00
$ 700.00
The first part (1945-1954) of our facsimile edition of John Entenza's groundbreaking magazine, which launched the Case Study House Program; in ten boxes, each containing one year's worth of magazines. Limited to 5,000 copies.
Cover December 1949, designed by Follis and Pefly
Cover July 1953, designed by Raoul Rodriguez