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Cliff May house 4, or the Skylight house, illustrates May’s eagerness to experiment, something he was particularly willing to do in the houses he designed for his family. Christian (Chris) Choate and May together designed it, with landscaping by…

Cliff May house 5 represents the final stage in his design of the custom ranch house in its scale, large areas of glass, and high ceilings. The large central living space (over 1,600 square feet and 53 feet long) was a combination of living room,…

The Evans house and property in the Rancho Alisal golf community just outside of Solvang, Calif., in the Santa Ynez valley, is a good example of the Cliff May custom ranch style. A large lot, motor court with covered garage/carport, indoor/outdoor…

The Hauser house in Borrego Springs is one of Cliff May's earlier custom ranch houses, but it has all of the elements of some of his larger designs. With a U-shaped floor plan, the house has one wing with master bedroom and smaller bedrooms, another…

Hiram and Violetta Lee Horton built four of the six speculative houses May designed for them on Hillside Drive in La Jolla, a seaside community in northern San Diego. Violetta Horton also commissioned May to build the Sweetwater Women’s clubhouse…

In 1950 Cliff May partnered with Chris Choate to form Cliff May Homes to distribute ranch house plans to developers throughout the country. In Long Beach, they partnered with Ross Cortese, who built Lakewood Rancho Estates. Over 17,000 homes in 36…

In this birds-eye view of the William Lear house in Los Angeles, the sprawling multi-winged house is seen perched on a hill overlooking the city. With a large circular motor court and pool with patio enclosed on all four sides by the house, it has…

Cliff May built his first speculative house in Talmadge Park in 1931, and his second in 1933, bought by Captain William Lindstrom. The Lindstrom house and furniture cost $7,710.42 to build. The $1,636.65 profit was split evenly between Cliff May and…

This wartime emergency housing tract was Cliff May's first development to use production-line and prefabrication of materials to construct a large number of houses in a short amount of time. Originally planned with developer John A. Smith and his…

For Cliff May's first house for himself and his wife, Jean Lichty, he designed a house which surrounds a courtyard in an asymmetrical fashion. Cliff May house 1 is a modest hacienda house in the Talmadge Park neighborhood and the first of five houses…

His second house for his family, Cliff May house 2, was built in Mandeville Canyon. This area of west Los Angeles would remain the epicenter of May’s work and life for the rest of his long career.
The wings of Cliff May house 2 enclose the outdoor…

When the house was built in 1938–1939, the interior was connected to the outdoors visually through windows facing a sun terrace. In 1949, May changed some of those windows to glass doors. He also added heating under the concrete floor of the…

As the Cliff May Homes distribution of prefabricated housing supplies expanded across the nation, the speed with which a house could be constructed was still a major selling point. In this series of photos, a clock is prominently displayed to show…

Cliff May’s future father-in-law, Roy C. Lichty, gave May a lot in the Talmadge Park subdivision, where Lichty was general manager, and financed his first speculative house, which May designed and built in 1931–1932 with the help of master…

With this house in Woodside, Cliff May showcases the custom style he is known for. With a central enclosed courtyard, patios extending the living spaces, and the single-story, asymmetrical house on a large lot with pool, this rendering fits the…

The plan that evolved into May’s widely publicized Pace Setter house for House Beautiful was first designed by May during the war as a Postwar Demonstration house, in anticipation of an expanding upper middle-class housing market. He wanted to…

These unbuilt entrance gates indicate May’s vision for Riviera Ranch as a secluded world. The imagined landscaping is a fanciful mixture of cacti and palm trees. The building on the left is an architectural office with drafting and reception rooms.…

May evoked the mystique of California’s past and the proximity to the Riviera Country Club’s polo field to market his houses, as seen in his ideas to promote his Riviera Ranch development. He named his model house the “Urban Ranch.”

Though…

As one of Cliff May's first large-scale custom ranch houses for his benefactor and business partner John Arnholt Smith, this rendering and floor plan show how grand May's early work could be. The U shaped house was accentuated by the diagonal living…

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…

May designed these unbuilt minimum houses, a large set of model plans for low-cost ranch houses, for Sunset magazine. May’s strategy was to create garden-oriented, two-wing plans. The entrance was indirect and understated. Thin partitions defined…

This ranch house was designed by California architect Cliff May, with a local architect from Ireland, Donal O'Neill Flanagan. The architects collaborated to design a house for Warren and Katherine Tremaine and their manager of the Loughtown stud farm…

In this early hacienda style version of the ranch house, Cliff May creates privacy with a patio that is surrounded by the house and garage on three sides, with a walled-off fourth side, as well as a gated motor court. Each room in the house opens…

May worked on his postwar demonstration model home intended for the Woodacres development, with Elizabeth Gordon, the editor of House Beautiful, who designed these interiors. This model was to be a U- shaped plan. Rooms were to be arranged around a…

This exterior elevation of the Broadway side of the building displays the detailed calculations involved in designing and constructing a building of this size and complexity of exterior details. The exterior stonework is not specified for each window…

This sheet of drawings shows the clock tower face, section view of the tower, as well as the structural supports. The top of the building, with the word EASTERN emblazoned on all four sides along with the clock and its' distinctive blue and gold…

This sheet of very specific upper-floor terra cotta details highlights the specific measurements and design decorations used on both the tenth floor specifically, and on the upper floors in general. The sheet contains details, sections, and…

The first floor plan and basement plans shown on this sheet are the basic construction plans. The owner, Eastern Columbia Outfitting Company used their own designers to complete the interiors beyond what was outlined here. The first floor plan shows…

This view of the Ninth Street side of the building shows the second entrance to the lobby, just to the right of the Delivery entrance ramp. This ramp was a motorized vehicle entrance to the two-level basement, which was a delivery access point and…

The north elevation of the building also abutted another tall building at the time of construction, so the detailed terra cotta workmanship along the north side only extends for two window bays before a plain blank wall is indicated on the plans.…

With other tall buildings flanking the Eastern Columbia building along the west and north sides, the detailed exterior elevations were not needed along the entire face of the side. In this western elevation, only the first three bays are noted as…

Case Study House #1 was the first design to be shown in the 1945 edition of Art and Architecture magazine, but due to wartime restrictions, it was not the first house built. J.R. Davidson was known for building large houses for wealthier clients, and…

Case Study House #11 shows the progression of thought in the program since J.R. Davidson designed CSH#1. This house is smaller, more efficient, and is sited at an angle on the lot to still provide ample outdoor living areas. Both Davidson and Art and…

Case Study House # 15 is a modified version of CSH #11, also by Davidson. This particular version was changed slightly to conform to the site in the suburb of La Canada Flintridge. Changes include the shape of the patio, adding a basement, and adding…

A rendering of the exterior of the dining hall highlights the patterned concrete block, the hipped roof, screen walls (to protect the students from the ocean wind), and dentil mouldings along the bottom of the concrete overhang. These pieces of the…

A birds-eye view of the Dining Commons patio overlooking the lagoon. The first permanent dining hall replaced the use of the Marine Air Base mess hall. The original capacity was 800 students per meal, but was later increased to 1200 students per…

A rendering of the exterior of the dining commons. The addition of a second dining commons helped to alleviate overcrowding at the Ortega dining facilities. An addition in 1963 gave the staff dining space, as well as additional kitchen space. In…

This portrait was taken of Muir in 1935, soon after she passed her licensing exam to become a licensed architect. She had worked in the John Byers office for seven years and was eligible to take the exam through the apprenticeship track, as opposed…

This large house, for Richard S. Brawerman and his wife, is located in the Brentwood Park area of Los Angeles, near Mandeville Canyon. Muir performed extensive alterations to the house: adding a carport, pool cabana, service wing, main bedroom wing,…

This small house in Mandeville Canyon for George A. Gould is a typical traditional house for the area. Muir was still working in the office of John Byers, but he was nearing retirement and she was taking on more commissions on her own.

The Zola Hall house in Mandeville Canyon was designed for the recently divorced mother with two small children. The low-slung, single-story house was designed to harmonize with the natural surroundings of the canyon. With redwood walls inside and…

Philip Ilsley was the president of Paddock Pool Company, and a repeat client. He commissioned four houses and two commercial buildings from Muir. For this project, the house was placed along a long private driveway, sited lower than Mullholland Drive…

This home in West Los Angeles for Edward Sedgwick and his family was originally designed by John Byers in 1939. Muir added alterations to the living room, and presented options for a backyard workshop in this image.

This house on La Mesa Drive in Santa Monica, was originally designed by John Byers and Edla Muir in 1925. Muir performed alterations to the house for James Stoessel, including adding a new garage, turning the existing garage into a family room, and…

The Education and Social Sciences buildings house the Gevirtz School of Graduate Education, offices for the College of Letters and Sciences, the Center for Film, Television, and New Media, and the Pollock Theater. This image is a design sketch of the…

The Killingsworth collection contains many photographs of Edward Killingsworth at job sites, ground breaking ceremonies, and discussing projects with groups of people.

The Boca Beach Club was a luxury resort in Boca Raton, Florida, perched on a piece of land surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Intercoastal waterway. The hotel featured 212 rooms, 147 oceanfront cabanas, 5 lounges, and two restaurants on site.

The Del Ray Hotel / Apartments / Shopping center complex in San Diego, was one of Killingsworth's first multi-family dwelling projects. It was designed to provide for all of the necessities in one location. With a large outdoor pool area, landscaped…

The Halekulani Hotel's name means "House Befitting Heaven" in the native Hawaiian language of the people of the Waikiki beach area. The location for the hotel had been the site of various guest accommodations and hotels since the early 1900s. The 453…

In one of his earliest projects for the Hilton Hotel chain, this airport hotel in El Paso utilized many of the hallmarks of Killingsworth's style. The six interconnected low-slung, two story buildings had walls of glass in the lobby, with a wide…

The Jakarta Hilton was built using indigenous craftspeople to add traditional cultural elements to the design of the hotel. The 14 story hotel included 406 rooms, with long-term rental cottages also available on the 32 acre hotel property. The hotel…

The Kahala Hilton was one of Killingsworth's first luxury hotels. With 300 rooms and suites, all air conditioned, surrounded on three sides by golf courses and direct beach access, the hotel featured state of the art luxury amenities. The ten story…

The firm Killingsworth, Stricker, Lindgren, Wilson & Associates designed and built many high-end luxury hotels throughout the world during the 1980s. This Marriott was built close to their home office in Long Beach. It was also conveniently located…

The Phoenician Resort, at the base of Camelback Mountain just outside of Phoenix, was designed as a very high end luxury hotel and spa. It initially had 604 rooms, 132 casitas, 9 Steinway grand pianos, and exterior tropical landscaping designed by…

The Princess Reforma hotel was an unbuilt design that reached the stage of having a scale model built and photographed by renown architectural photographer Julius Shulman. The hotel was to feature a tall, thin tower to house the majority of the hotel…

The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii was designed to be one of the top luxury resort hotels in the world. The 345 room hotel also contained separate bungalows designed by the firm, which were each 4000 square feet in size and were…

A rendering of the south side of the building, from the current location of the Bren School, looking north. This building housed the newly formed College of Engineering, which included electrical, mechanical, chemical, and computer engineering…

A birds eye rendering of the Faculty Club, with the Theater and Dance building in the background. The front of the building slopes downwards towards the edge of the lagoon. MLTW/Moore Turnbull Architects were the executive architects, and Charles…

The 2016 renovation and addition to the 1968 Faculty Club was completed by Moore & Turnbull's successor firm, Moore Ruble Yudell. The addition included adding a wing of 30 guest rooms and updating the dining room and meeting room interiors.

This is an early pen on heavy paper drawing of scheme for the Faculty Club. The roofline, massing, and collonades are all very different from the building that was eventually built.

This is a preliminary planting plan for the area surrounding the private residence hall, Francisco Torres. This residence hall, at the corner of Storke Road and El Colegio, was built and maintained by private owners. Though it was heavily marketed…

A view of a roadway, with eucalyptus trees lining either side. Two men are standing next to a car, looking at plans for the university.

The George Washington Smith portraits are archived in the Lutah Maria Riggs collection; since she was his protege who worked in his firm up until his death in 1930.

The unincorporated community of Hope Ranch was developed in the early 1920s by the Santa Barbara Estates Inc. company, which was owned by Harold Chase, and Peter Bryce was one of the main stakeholders. Bryce was also one of the early residents, with…

George Washington Smith was commissioned by Alfred Dietrich, an heir to an oil manufacturing fortune who also owned a railroad line, to design servants quarters and a garage for his property on Park Lane. This smaller house was built prior to the…

The Malcolm Douglas house on Sycamore Canyon Road in Montecito was completed in 1929, and is also known as Los Suenos ("The Dreams"). Douglas, a New York doctor, and his wife, Rachel Peabody Douglas, had Smith design a house to showcase the view of…

The Wesley Gallagher house was a Smith commission just prior to his death in 1930. The Smith files contain these sketches and drawings (most done in Riggs' hand) for preliminary elevations for the house. The Riggs files contain the actual working…

The E. Palmer Gavit residence was originally built in 1919 by Reginald Johnson; Smith designed an addition to the main house, as well as outbuildings. The property was originally named "Cuesta Linda," then "Tanglewood," and eventually Madame Ganna…

The Carpenteria beach house for Albert Keep Isham was a Moorish inspired estate directly on the beach. Smith also constructed a natatorium, which was done in an "Islamic" style and contained a large number of decorative tiles around the swimming pool…

This large Spanish Colonial Revival mansion in the small town of Woodside was built for copper mining magnate Daniel Cowan Jackling and his family. The 17,000 square foot house sat on a 194 acre parcel of land. The property was subdivided and all but…

The Lobero Theater on Canon Perdido and Anacapa Streets in downtown Santa Barbara, got its start in the 1870s as a vaudeville house. By the early 1920s, it had fallen into disrepair and Smith was asked to design and build a new theater in the Spanish…

This house for Robert VanWyck Maverick was one of only two houses Smith built in Texas. It was considered one of the best examples of a courtyard-centered house at the time of its construction. The plan for the house was U-shaped, with a fourth wall…

George Fox Steedman was a manufacturing executive from St. Louis who commissioned Smith to work with him on designing and constructing Casa del Herrero (House of the Blacksmith) on East Valley Road in Montecito. They created a house and gardens…

The Ruth March Ain house was built for Ain's second wife, and is located in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles.

This group of small homes set side-by-side perpendicular to the street on a long lot, created a community feel, while walls and patios defined individual space. The houses were designed to be low cost urban housing, with the homeowners (a group of…

The Isador and Rosa Becker house presented a slightly Streamline Moderne style front facade, with curved walls on the exterior. Inside, the house featured a 'reverse' floor plan-- the main living areas were at street level, and the bedrooms were one…

The A.O. Beckman house was sited on a flat lot, and Ain configured the house so that many of the rooms had direct access to the outdoors. The house was located in the La Brea neighborhood of Los Angeles, and was featured in both Architectural Record…

The Albert E. Byler house is located near the top of Mt. Washington, with a view towards downtown Los Angeles. The house is small, measuring less than five hundred square feet, with only a main room, kitchen, and bathroom. The exterior was clad in…

The unbuilt Community Homes project, slated for Reseda, Calif,, included a shopping center, school, parkland, and 16 blocks of homes. Ain partnered with Garrett Eckbo, Simon Eisner, and Reginald D. Johnson to design the housing tract. This housing…

This house, set on a steep lot overlooking the Silver Lake reservoir, was built for the director of the Los Angeles Newspaper Guild Ursel Daniel. She was single at the time the house was built and later married Martin Irons.

This house and studio for Jocelyn and Jan Domela was located in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles. Jan Domela was a well-known artist and illustrator for the movie studios.

Dunsmuir Flats is a four unit building, all attached, with each 2-story unit containing 2 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. It is an example of Modern International Style, with a flat roof and horizontal bands of clerestory windows. All of the bedrooms…

The Charles H. Edwards house was Ain's first solo commission after working for Richard Neutra and Harwell Hamilton Harris. The house, sited on a flat lot in the Hollywood Hills, was named House Beautiful Magazine's "House of the Year" for 1938.

The Ben and Clara Eisenstadt house was built on a hilltop site along Blair Drive in Los Angeles. It now overlooks the Universal Studios lot.

The house for Anselem Ernst was built on a sloping hillside lot in the Los Feliz Oaks neighborhood. The exterior angles and interior use of space and geometry are very reminiscent of Rudolph Schindler, with whom Ain worked for a time in the early…

The Dr. I. Goldberg house was located in the Encino area of the San Fernando Valley. For this house, redwood siding was used. Ain generally preferred stucco since he did not like that the giant redwood trees were cut down for building materials.

Gregory Ain, along with his partners Johnson and Day, designed this never-built extension for Hacienda Village for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. The Extension of the original World War Two era housing project, would have extended…

Harry Hay commissioned Ain to design this house for his mother, Margaret Hay. With clearstory windows and a garage at the front of the property and living room facing the private backyard, the house was seen as a perfect place for Harry Hay to…

The Alexander and Flora Hural house featured a dental lab on the upper level. It is located in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles.

This 20-unit apartment building project (never built), was written up in Arts & Architecture Magazine alongside the Case Study House program, but was not part of it. The "Garden Apartments" as they were described, were a series of townhouse-style…

Originally planned as a tract of 100 homes on 60 acres, the Mar Vista Tract built 52 homes. Ain partnered with Joseph Johnson, Alfred Day, and landscape architect Garrett Eckbo to design the housing tract. The houses were turned in different…

This house for Leo Mesner is in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles. The only portion of the house visible from the street is the garage, with the main view of the house is from the backyard. Inside, the house is spread out on four levels, each…

The exhibition house Ain designed for the Museum of Modern Art and the Woman's Home Companion magazine was built in New York City in 1950. It was designed to show how modern living could be made accessible to most homeowners, with sliding walls…

The Maurice and Alice Orans House was located on a steeply sloped small lot in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. The garage was built at street level with entrance and exit doors; the curved driveway allows for easy entrance and egress, extra…

The Park Plannned Homes is a tract of 28 houses in Altadena, designed by Ain with landscape architect Garrett Eckbo. They have elements of an open concept feel, with a modular building design of 12' x 16' modular units that allowed for common…

The Scharlin house in Silver Lake was built for the founder of one of the first co-operative nursery schools in Los Angeles, Rose Scharlin. The house sits at the top of the ridge, on a sloping site far back from the street, with views in multiple…

The house for Samuel and Celia Tierman was sited on a steep lot in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. The small house, with a pyramid-shaped roof, stucco walls, and attached garage was part of Ain's philosophy of bringing modern homes to…

This house in Altadena for John C. Wilfong was a long, low, glass-walled house with views towards the mountains. The investment banker Wilfong wanted a house where he and his wife could entertain and raise their child. Ain designed a linear house…

This blueprint is an early floor plan for the first floor of the building. The unique shape of the eastern wing makes this building immediately recognizable, and the varied heights of the different components of the building give a visual reference…

While Myron Hunt is known for his houses in the Los Angeles area, he also designed houses in the Chicago area and along the east coast. This house for Mrs. Graham Babcock is an example of Hunt's eastern style.