Cliff May: Smith speculative house (Bel Air, Calif.)

The Hollywood Citizen-News reported that though the grand speculative house May built for John A. Smith resembled an “ancient ‘dobe ranch house,” the walls were actually hollow tile and filled with plumbing, electricity, and other modern conveniences. On the photographs of this house, May wrote, “Rancho goes moderne.” May saw no conflict between making a house look old (a “rancho”) and filling it with the newest appliances and fixtures (“going moderne”).
The same Citizen-News article noted that the 5,000-square-foot house had sold to Mrs. W. H. Lyman Jr. of Beverly Hills for $39,500. The average cost of a new home in the U.S. in 1935 was $3,450.

Cliff May, architect
W.P. Woodcock, photographer

Cliff May papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

circa 1937

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