Author traces roots of L.A. modernism to San Diego
Architecture of the Sun: Los Angeles Modernism, 1900-1970
By Thomas S. Hines
Rizzoli, New York, 756 pages, $95
Los Angeles’ modern architecture started, in part, in San Diego with the work of Irving J. Gill, according to Thomas S. Hines, author of a new and massive survey of the subject.
San Diego’s famed early 20th-century architect began his California career here in 1893 and moved to Los Angeles 20 years later, leaving behind such landmarks as the Marston House, La Jolla Woman’s Club and the Bishop’s School.
Chapter 2, “The Stone in the Meadow,” is devoted to Gill. Its 67 pages exceed those of Chapter 3’s review of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in Southern California.
Hines, who wrote a book on Gill 10 years ago, said in an interview that Gill and the brothers Charles and Henry Greene (known for the Gamble House in Pasadena) were the “twin prophets of Southern California modernism.”
They influenced the work of Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, and all were influenced by Wright.
“What interested me is that these are not just discreet, nonconnected chapters or stories — they’re all interconnected,” said Hines, a professor emeritus of history and architecture at UCLA.
San Diego may not be a modernist mecca, but as Hines suggests, the movement was germinated here and its spores spread northward.
Roger Showley: (619) 293-1286; firstname.lastname@example.org