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The case study houses forever changed american architecture.

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Scenes from the new showroom of Herman Miller which shows classic designs by Charles and Ray Eames, ... [+] in Culver City, Ca., Oct. 1, 2009. (Photo by Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The Case Study House Program’s vision belonged to Los Angeles-based Arts & Architecture magazine Editor John Entenza.

Entenza sponsored and publicized some design competitions in the magazine and emphasized modern, affordable, easily built houses.

He announced the Case Study House Program's launch in the January 1945 issue of Arts & Architecture magazine . He envisioned the program to solve the problem of housing shortages and anticipated the coming building boom that would follow War World II and the Depression.

The front side of the Eames House Case Study #8 designed by architects Charles and Ray Eames in ... [+] Pacific Palisades. June 30, 2005. (Photo by Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

A 1937 Harwell Harris house has a Streamline Moderne exterior with a white curved porte cochere in ... [+] front (wide enough for the original owner, powerful architecture magazine editor John Entenza s 1925 Ford) and a round bedroom wall in back overlooking Santa Monica Canyon. Peter Rabitz, a co–worker visiting from Germany, enjoys the view into the canyon on a recent visit. (Photo by Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

A 1937 Harwell Harris house has the porte cochere at left and entrance to house at right. (Photo by ... [+] Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The goal of the program was for each architect to create a home "capable of duplication and in no sense being an individual performance," Entenza said in his announcement.

"It is important that the best materials available be used in the best possible way in order to arrive at a good solution of each problem, which in the overall program will be general enough to be of practical assistance to the average American in search of a home in which he can afford to live in," he noted.

Architect Pierre Koenig designed two of the iconic Modernist houses in Los Angeles in the 1950s ... [+] known as Case Study House 21 and 22. Drawing of one of Koenig's designs. (Photo by Anacleto Rapping/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The Case Study House Program served as a model for post-war living, providing the public and the building industry an opportunity to access affordable, mid-century modernism and simple designs.

Floor-to-ceiling glass, steel frames, horizontal lines, modular components, open-floor plans and multi-purpose rooms were all elements of the Case Study’s take on modernism. The furnished projects provided places for owners to enjoy a family-friendly home with public and private spaces to relax, watch TV, listen to music and entertain, merging indoor and outdoor worlds with walls of steel and glass to allow ample light.

Initially, Entenza invited Richard Neutra, Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen and five other architects to submit prototypes and planned that all eight houses would be open to the public until they were occupied. The project was ambitious. The Eames and Entenza houses were designed in 1945 but not completed until 1949. Still, the Case Study program was so successful that it ran until 1966 and saw 350,000 visitors tour the open homes before clients took up residence.

Architect Pierre Koenig designed two of the iconic Modernist houses in Los Angeles in the 1950s ... [+] known as Case Study House 21 and 22. Photos of Pierre and Gloria Koenig main living room inside their West Los Angeles home which Pierre designed. (Photo by Anacleto Rapping/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Twenty homes remain today, but 36 experimental prototypes, many unbuilt, documenting new ideas and residential designs, appeared in the magazine.

The majority of the homes were built in Southern California; some are located in San Diego and Northern California; a group of Case Study apartments was built in Phoenix.

Many architects such as Ray and Charles Eames, Saarinen, Craig Ellwood and Pierre Koenig became icons of modernism and earned international followings. The Case Study Houses launched the reputations of local architects such as Thornton Bell, Whitney R. Smith and Rodney Walker.

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The Case Study houses that made Los Angeles a modernist mecca

Mapping the homes that helped to define an era

Los Angeles is full of fantastic residential architecture styles, from Spanish Colonial Revival to Streamline Moderne. But the modernist Case Study Houses , sponsored by Arts & Architecture and designed between the 1940s and 1960s, are both native to Southern California and particularly emblematic of the region.

The Case Study series showcased homes commissioned by the magazine and designed by some of the most influential designers and architects of the era, including Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra, and Pierre Koenig. The residences were intended to be relatively affordable, replicable houses for post-World War II family living, with an emphasis on “new materials and new techniques in house construction,” as the magazine’s program intro put it.

Technological innovation and practical, economical design features were emphasized—though the homes’ scintillating locations, on roomy lots in neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades and the Hollywood Hills , gave them a luxurious allure.

With the help of photographer Julius Shulman , who shot most of the homes, the most impressive of the homes came to represent not only new styles of home design, but the postwar lifestyle of the booming Southern California region.

A total of 36 houses and apartment buildings were commissioned; a couple dozen were built, and about 20 still stand in the greater Los Angeles area (there’s also one in Northern California, a set near San Diego, and a small apartment complex in Phoenix). Some have been remodeled, but others have been well preserved. Eleven were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Here’s a guide to all the houses left to see—but keep in mind that, true to LA form, most are still private residences. The Eames and Stahl houses, two of the most famous Case Study Houses, are regularly open to visitors.

As for the unconventional house numbering, post-1962 A&A publisher David Travers writes that the explanation is “inexplicable, locked in the past.”

Case Study House No. 1

J.R. Davidson (with Greta Davidson) designed this house in 1948 (it was actually his second go at Case Study House No. 1). It was intended for “a hypothetical family" with two working parents and was designed to require "minimum maintenance.”

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Case Study House No. 2

Case Study House No. 2 was designed in 1947 by Sumner Spaulding and John Rex. Arts & Architecture wrote that the home’s layout “achieves a sense of spaciousness and flexibility,” with an open living area and glass doors that lead out to adjoining terraces.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samuel Dematraz (@samueldematraz) on Oct 28, 2018 at 1:07am PDT

Case Study House No. 7

Case Study House No. 7 was designed in 1948 by Thornton M. Abell. It has a “three-zone living area,” with space for study, activity, and relaxation/conversation; the areas can be separated by sliding panels or combined.

Eames House (Case Study House No. 8)

Legendary designer couple Charles and Ray Eames designed the Eames House in 1949 and even Arts & Architecture seemed kind of blown away by it. The home is built into a hillside behind a row of Eucalyptus trees on a bluff above Pacific Palisades. It's recognizable by its bright blue, red, and yellow panels. The Eameses lived in the house until their deaths. It’s now open to visitors five days per week, though reservations are required.

Entenza House (Case Study House No. 9)

The Entenza House was built in 1949 and designed by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen for Arts & Architecture editor John Entenza. According to the magazine, “In general, the purpose was to enclose as much space as possible within a reasonably simple construction.”

Case Study House No. 10

Case Study House No. 10 was designed in 1947 by Kemper Nomland. The house is built on several levels to mold into its sloping site. Recently restored, the home sold to Kristen Wiig in 2017.

Case Study House No. 15

Designed by J.R. Davidson in 1947, Case Study House No. 15 has south walls made of huge glass panels. Its flagstone patio and indoor floor are at the same level for that seamless indoor-outdoor feel. According to the magazine, the floorplan “is basically that of another Davidson house, Case Study House No. 11,” which has been demolished.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samuel Dematraz (@samueldematraz) on Nov 15, 2018 at 6:13am PST

Case Study House for 1953

Craig Ellwood’s Case Study House for 1953 is usually numbered as 16 in the Case Study series . It has a modular steel structure and “the basic plan is a four-foot modular rectangle.” But the interior walls stick out past the exterior walls to bring the indoors out and the outdoors in. The Bel Air house hit the market in November with a $3 million price tag.

Case Study House No. 17 (A)

Case Study House No. 17 (A) was designed by Rodney Walker in 1947. A tight budget kept the house at just 1,560 square feet, “but more space was gained through the use of many glass areas.” The house also has a large front terrace with a fireplace that connects the indoor living room fireplace. The house has been remodeled .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Case Study House #17, 1947 (@casestudy17) on Jun 11, 2016 at 2:20pm PDT

Case Study House No. 17 (B)

Case Study House No. 17 (B) was designed in 1956 by Craig Ellwood, but “governed by a specific program set forth by the client.” Ellwood took into account the clients' collection of contemporary paintings and made the living room “purposely undersized” to work best for small gatherings. The house was extensively remodeled in the sixties by Hollywood Regency architect John Elgin Woolf and his partner, interior designer Robert Koch Woolf.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by BAUKUNST™ El Arte de Construir (@i_volante) on Aug 13, 2017 at 4:42pm PDT

West House (Case Study House No. 18 [A])

Case Study House No. 18 (A) was designed by Rodney Walker in 1948. The house is oriented toward the ocean, but set back from the cliff edge it sits on to avoid noise issues. As A&A says, "High above the ocean, the privacy of the open south and east exposures of Case Study House No. 18 can be threatened only by an occasional sea-gull." The house features a "bricked garden room" separated from the living room by a two-sided fireplace.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by CaseStudyHouse18A (@casestudyhouse18a) on Oct 6, 2018 at 8:44pm PDT

Fields House (Case Study House No. 18 [B])

Case Study House No. 18 (B) was designed by Craig Ellwood in 1958. Ellwood didn’t attempt to hide that the house was prefabricated (the magazine explains that he believed “that the increasing cost of labor and the decline of the craftsman will within not too many years force a complete mechanization of residential construction methods”). The components of the house, however, are “strongly defined with color: ceiling and panels are off-white and the steel framework is blue.” According to A&A' s website, the house has been remodeled.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by MCM Daily (@dc_hillier) on Oct 29, 2018 at 8:32pm PDT

Case Study House No. 20 [A])

This two-bedroom house was meant “to serve young parents who find they can afford just that much,” according to architect Richard Neutra’s description. He also wrote that he used several different kinds of natural wood in the house.

Bass House (Case Study House No. 20 [B])

The Bass House was designed in 1958 by Buff, Straub, and Hensman for famed graphic designer Saul Bass. It's “unique in that it was based upon the experimental use of several prefabricated Douglas fir plywood products as part of the structural concept,” including hollow-core plywood vaults that covered the central part of the house.

Case Study House No. 21

Pierre Koenig designed Case Study House No. 21 in 1958. It was originally completely surrounded by water, with a walkway and driveway spanning the moat at the front door and carport, respectively. The house was severely messed with over the years, but restored in the ’90s with help from Koenig.

Stahl House (Case Study House No. 22)

Pierre Koenig's Stahl House , designed in 1960, is probably the most famous house in Los Angeles, thanks to an iconic photo by Julius Shulman . The house isn't much to look at from the street, but its backside is mostly glass surrounding a cliff's-edge pool. Tours are available Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday—but book well ahead of time, as they sell out quickly.

Case Study House for 1950

The unnumbered Case Study House for 1950 was designed by Raphael Soriano. It's rectangular, with living room and bedrooms facing out to the view. However, in the kitchen and eating areas, the house “turns upon itself and living develops around a large kitchen-dining plan opening upon a terrace which leads directly into the living room interrupted only by the mass of two fireplaces.” According to A&A 's website, the house has been remodeled.

Frank House (Case Study House No. 25)

The two-story Frank House was designed by Killingsworth, Brady, and Smith and Associates in 1962 and it sits on a canal in Long Beach. A reflecting pool with stepping stones leads to its huge front door and inside to an 18-foot high courtyard. The house sold in 2015 with some unfortunate remodeling .

Case Study House No. 28

Case Study House No. 28 was designed in 1966 by Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman. According to the magazine, “the architects were asked to design a house that incorporated face brick as the primary structural material to demonstrate its particular advantages.” They came up with a plan for two symmetrical wings joined by glass galleries.

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The Eames House (also known as Case Study House No. 8) is a landmark of mid-20th century modern architecture located in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was designed and constructed in 1949 by husband-and-wife Charles and Ray Eames to serve as their home and studio.

It was one of roughly two dozen homes built as part of The Case Study House Program. Begun in the mid-1940s and continuing through the early 1960s, the program was spearheaded by John Entenza, the publisher of  Arts & Architecture magazine. It was developed to address a looming issue: a housing crisis. Millions of soldiers would be returning from the battlefields of World War II, and were wanting to start families. John Entenza recognized that houses needed to be built quickly, inexpensively, yet without sacrificing good design. In a challenge to the architectural community, the magazine announced that it would be the client for a series of homes designed to express man’s life in the modern world. These homes were to be built and furnished using materials and techniques derived from the experiences of the Second World War. Each home was designed with a real or hypothetical client in mind, taking into consideration their particular housing needs.

Click here to see their design brief more clearly from the December 1945 issue of Arts & Architecture .

First Design: Bridge House (unbuilt)

The first plan of the Eameses’ home, known as the Bridge House, was designed in 1945 by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. The design used pre-fabricated materials ordered from catalogues, a continuation of the idea of mass-production. The parts were ordered and the Bridge House design was published in the December 1945 issue of the magazine, but due to a war-driven shortage, the steel did not arrive until late 1948.

While they were waiting for delivery, Charles and Ray picnicked in the meadow with family and friends, flew kites and did archery.  By then, Charles and Ray had “fallen in love with the meadow,” in Ray’s words, and they realized that they wanted to avoid what many architects had done: destroy what they loved most about a site by building across it.

Second Design: Eames House

Charles and Ray then set themselves a new problem: How to build a house that would 1) not destroy the meadow and trees, and 2) “maximize volume from minimal materials”.  Using the same off-the-shelf parts, but notably ordering one extra steel beam, Charles and Ray re-configured the House. The new design integrated the House into the landscape, rather than imposing the House on it. These plans were published in the May 1949 issue of Arts & Architecture .  It is this design that was built and is seen today.

Charles and Ray moved into the House on Christmas Eve, 1949, and lived there for the rest of their lives.  The interior, its objects and its collections remain very much the way they were in Charles and Ray’s lifetimes.  The house they created offered them a space where work, play, life, and nature co-existed.

While many icons of the modern movement are depicted as stark, barren spaces devoid of human use, photographs and motion pictures taken at the Eames house reveal a richly decorated, almost cluttered space full of folk art, thousands of books, shells, rocks, prisms, etc. The Eameses’ gracious live-work lifestyle continues to be an influential model.

The House has now become something of an iconographic structure visited by people from around the world.  The charm and appeal of the House is perhaps best explained in the words of the Case Study House Program founder, John Entenza, who felt that the Eames House “represented an attempt to state an idea rather than a fixed architectural pattern.”

Help us share the Eameses’ joy and rigor with future visitors, so they may have a direct experience of Charles and Ray’s approach to life and work.

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The Stahl House by Pierre Koenig | Case Study House #22

Perched on the Hollywood Hills with a commanding view of Los Angeles, the Stahl House, also known as Case Study House #22, is a paragon of mid-century modern architecture. Designed by Pierre Koenig and completed in 1960, this residence is an architectural masterpiece and a symbol of a particular era in Los Angeles, characterized by a burgeoning optimism and a new approach to residential design.

The Stahl House Technical Information

• Architects 1 : Pierre Koenig
• Location: 1636 Woods Drive, Los Angeles , California , United States
• Topics: Mid-Century Modern Houses
• Area: 210 m 2 | 2,300 ft 2
• Project Year: 1959-1960
• Photographs: Various, See Caption Details

If you don’t know the Stahl House, then you don’t know mid-century modern architecture. – Julius Shulman 3

The Stahl House Photographs

A Vision of Glass and Steel

The journey of the Stahl House began in 1954 when Buck Stahl purchased a lot that was considered unbuildable. His vision was clear—a home that embraced its surroundings with vast expanses of glass to capture the sprawling cityscape. In 1957, Koenig, known for his proficiency with industrial materials, was commissioned to realize this vision. The result was a structure of steel and glass that was both minimalistic and expressive.

Design and Layout

Koenig’s design was a masterclass in the use of industrial materials in residential architecture. The house is distinguished by its “L” shaped plan, separating public and private spaces through a simple yet effective layout. Large, 20-foot-wide panes of glass form the majority of the walls facing the view, offering unobstructed panoramas of Los Angeles.

The design also cleverly incorporates the landscape into the living experience. The swimming pool, positioned between the wings of the house, not only serves as a physical buffer separating the living spaces but also as a visual corridor to the city beyond.

I design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown. – Pierre Koenig 2

Iconic Status and Architectural Significance

Julius Shulman’s photography cemented the Stahl House’s iconic status. In a series of images that have become synonymous with mid-century modern architecture, Shulman captured the essence of the house. These photographs highlight the house’s integration with its surroundings and open, transparent design.

The Stahl House was included in the Case Study House program, which aimed to reimagine residential architecture post-World War II. Case Study House #22 became an influential model showcasing the possibilities of modernist aesthetics in suburban settings.

Cultural Impact and Legacy

Over the years, the Stahl House has transcended its role as a private residence to become a cultural landmark. It has been featured in numerous films, commercials, and fashion shoots, each time underscoring its timeless appeal and architectural significance.

Despite its fame, the house remains a family-owned property, preserved as the Stahls left it. The family offers tours, allowing architecture enthusiasts to experience the space and its spectacular views firsthand.

The Stahl House Plans

The Stahl House Image Gallery

About Pierre Koenig

Pierre Koenig was a pioneering American architect, born on October 17, 1925, in San Francisco. Renowned for his influential contributions to mid-century modern architecture, Koenig is best known for his work in the Case Study House program, particularly the iconic Case Study House #22, or Stahl House. His designs emphasized industrial materials like steel and glass, integrating buildings seamlessly into their environments while promoting sustainability through the use of prefabricated materials. A long-time professor at the University of Southern California, Koenig’s legacy continues to influence architectural practices and education. He passed away on April 4, 2004, leaving behind a significant impact on the landscape of Southern California architecture.

Notes & Additional Credits

• Client: Buck Stahl
• Case Study Houses by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
• Modernism Rediscovered by Julius Shulman
• Pierre Koenig: Living with Steel by Neil Jackson

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Case Study Houses

The Case Study Houses served as a blueprint and inspiration for Mid-Century homes in Southern California.

In 2013, ten Case Study House program residences were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Relevant Places

Bass House (Case Study House #20B)

Case Study House #1

Case Study House #10

Case Study House #16

Case Study House #28

Entenza House (Case Study House #9)

Stahl House (Case Study House #22)

Triad (Case Study House #23A)

Triad (Case Study House #23C)

West House (Case Study House #18)

Launched in 1945 by John Entenza’s  Arts + Architecture  magazine, the Case Study House program commissioned architects to study, plan, design, and ultimately construct houses in anticipation of renewed building in the postwar years.

While the Case Study House program did not achieve its initial goals for mass production and affordability, it was responsible for some of Los Angeles’ most iconic and internationally recognized modern residences, such as the  Eames House (Case Study House #8)  by Charles and Ray Eames and the Pierre Koenig-designed  Stahl House (Case Study House #22) , famously photographed by Julius Shulman.

After a decade-long effort, L.A. Conservancy’s Modern Committee succeeded in listing ten Case Study residences on the National Register of Historic Places.

About This Issue

With an emphasis on experimentation, and a goal of promoting good, modern, affordable design for single-family homes, the program helped to disseminate the midcentury modern aesthetic through its thirty-five published plans. Of these, twenty-five houses and one apartment building were built in California and Arizona.

The program offered an unparalleled opportunity for commissions and publicity for established architects including Richard Neutra, J. R. Davidson, Sumner Spaulding, and William Wurster. It helped raise the profile of then-lesser-known designers including Craig Ellwood, A. Quincy Jones, Edward Killingsworth, Ralph Rapson, Eero Saarinen, and Raphael Soriano.

Our Position

On November 21, 2013, the  Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee was awarded a Governor’s Historic Preservation Award to recognize its work in nominating eleven Case Study Houses to the National Register of Historic Places.

Through the efforts of the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee, eleven Case Study House residences in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ventura counties are now recognized as nationally historic. Ten are officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and an eleventh was deemed eligible for listing.

Few of the Case Study Houses currently have preservation protections, and some have been demolished or significantly altered. This proactive step recognizes the eleven nominated homes and raises greater awareness about the Case Study House program while providing a historic context for future designation of the remaining eligible properties.

On May 1, 2013, the State Historical Resources Commission voted to recommend listing of ten Case Study Houses in the National Register of Historic Places.  These ten residences with certifying recommendations were submitted to the National Park Service for final review and listing by the Keeper of the National Trust.  They were formally listed on July 24, 2013.

An eleventh nominated residence, Case Study House #23A, was not formally listed because of owner objection, but it received a determination of eligibility for listing in the National Register. All eleven residences will be considered historic resources and will enjoy the same protections under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Several Case Study Houses were not included in the nomination — if they’ve been altered or demolished, or for other reasons — but with this platform in place, it will be easier for other CSH homes to be nominated in the future.

Likewise, a few CSH houses, such as the  Eames House  (CSH #8), weren’t included because they’re already individually listed.

Case Study House residences included in nomination:

Los Angeles County

• Case Study House #1 , 10152 Toluca Lake Ave., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #9 , 205 Chautauqua Blvd., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #10 , 711 S. San Rafael Ave., Pasadena
• Case Study House #16 , 1811 Bel Air Rd., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #18 , 199 Chautauqua Blvd., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #20 , 2275 N. Santa Rosa Ave., Altadena
• Case Study House #21 , 9038 Wonderland Park Ave., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #22 , 1635 Woods Dr., Los Angeles

San Diego County 

• Case Study House #23A , 2342 Rue de Anne, La Jolla, San Diego (determined eligible)
• Case Study House #23C , 2339 Rue de Anne, La Jolla, San Diego

Ventura County

• Case Study House #28 , 91 Inverness Rd., Thousand Oaks

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Marc Thorpe designs Case Study 2020 house for Los Angeles

American architect Marc Thorpe has designed this Hollywood Hills residence for an art collector to draw on the modernist Case Study Houses.

Thorpe has released renderings of Case Study 2020, a house he designed to bring elements of modernist architecture into the 21st century.

"Understanding that architectural principles of modernism ultimately failed to take hold residentially within the American physical and psychological landscape, my intention was to redeploy those principles of modernism within a contemporary socio-cultural context," he told Dezeen.

He drew on principles explored in the experimental Case Study House project of the 1950s and 1960s. Sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, it was intended to provide a way to build American residences efficiently and inexpensively for the housing boom following the second world war.

Prominent modernist architects and designers, such as Richard Neutra , Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames , were commissioned to design houses. A number were built in Los Angeles like the Eames House , which is among the most well-known Case Study Houses.

Like its precedents, the 5000-square-foot (465-square-metre) Case Study 2020 is built with simple materials including concrete, steel, wood and glass.

It has a square concrete roof punctured with openings for trees to grow, or for skylights. Slender columns, a popular element of modernist architecture, support the roof, with glazing underneath slightly set back from the columns giving space to a series of outdoor walkways.

These paths divide the floor plan of the interiors into three volumes dedicated to living, sleeping and a gallery to showcase the client's art collection.

"Hosting the programmed volumes is the circulation or passageways unifying the spaces," Thorpe added. "The passages transition from exterior patio to interior hallway seamlessly, blurring the boundaries of the house."

Renderings show board-marked concrete walls with warm touches of wood and a minimal amount of furniture.

Outdoor areas extend beyond the space beneath the roof to two decks and an L-shaped swimming pool that wraps a corner of the house.

In addition to aesthetically referencing modernist houses, Thorpe also wanted to draw on the ideas of environmental responsibility and infrastructural independence – which he defines as being self-sustaining.

"The idea is that all buildings should be able to sustain themselves while also providing for others," he said. "It's a systemic approach to integrating ourselves and the things we make into the natural working order of the planet."

Thorpe imagines the house using a series of off-grid and sustainable systems, like solar power, water harvesting and composting to work "in perfect balance with its environment".

Construction on Case Study 2020 is slated to begin later this year. The architect, who founded his eponymous studio in New York City in 2010, has also built a black off-the-grid cabin in Upstate New York.

His other projects are a  housing prototype for Senegal and a conceptual installation near Marfa, Texas and the border of Mexico that resembles a large spaceship landing on earth.

Renderings are by Truetopia.

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Modern California Houses Case Study Houses 1945 1962

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How Did Materials Shape the Case Study Houses?

• Written by Lilly Cao
• Published on May 20, 2021

The Case Study Houses (1945-1966), sponsored by the Arts & Architecture Magazine and immortalized by Julius Shulman ’s iconic black-and-white photographs, may be some of the most famous examples of modern American architecture in history. Designed to address the postwar housing crisis with quick construction and inexpensive materials, while simultaneously embracing the tenets of modernist design and advanced contemporary technology, the Case Study Houses were molded by their central focus on materials and structural design. While each of the homes were designed by different architects for a range of clients, these shared aims unified the many case study homes around several core aesthetic and structural strategies: open plans, simple volumes, panoramic windows, steel frames, and more. Although some of the Case Study Houses’ materials and strategies would become outdated in the following decades, these unique products and features would come to define a historic era of architectural design in the United States.

Among the most important unifying aesthetic strategies of the Case Study projects was a modernist focus on exposed structure and functional design. The Eames House (Case Study House 8), designed by prominent industrial design couple Charles and Ray Eames, was intended to express man’s life in the modern world using “straightforward, unselfconscious” design. Thus, the designers made no attempt to conceal or disguise the structural functions of the steel: it acted as interlocking decking and open-webbed joists on the roof, sashing for windows and doorways, exterior wall siding, and H-beams securing the home’s rectangular frame. The most that these components were altered was with an unobtrusive coating of paint: the façade’s steel beams were originally painted a “warm grey” that over time became glossy black, while the Ferrobord steel roof decking system was painted white on its underside with open-web joists left exposed and alternately painted white, black, and yellow. These paint treatments, rather than obscuring the structural performance of these steel pieces, only served to highlight and integrate them within the building’s larger design scheme of colorful paints and panels.

Two of the other most famous Case Study Houses , the Bailey House (Case Study House 21) and the Stahl House (Case Study House 22), were designed by Pierre Koenig and similarly embraced what were then advanced steel construction strategies. Koenig had had previous hands-on experience with steel construction: while still enrolled as an architecture student at the University of Southern California, he designed and built his first steel-framed house for himself and his family. For the Bailey House, he used four prefabricated steel bents to compose the home’s steel framing system and another three half-span bents for the covered carport. Designed according to an L-shaped plan with a solid rectangular core that housed utilities, the volume was a simple rectangular box with visual emphasis placed on the steel structural skeleton. In the core, the sandwiched steel decking walls concealed insulation wiring and pipes, while the perimeter language of the home alternated between sliding glass doors and opaque steel walls. Koenig’s Stahl House , which was built several years later, similarly embraced a simple L-shaped rectangular volume with alternating steel beams and panoramic glass windows.

Aesthetically functioning hand-in-hand with the stripped steel frame, glass windows are therefore another essential component of many of the Case Study Houses . Three sides of the Stahl House were made with plate glass, the largest available size at the time, allowing for panoramic views from the site’s elevated Los Angeles hillside. Similarly, the Eames House variously utilized clear polished plate glass, factrolite textured glass, wire-embedded safety glass, and translucent corrugated glass, which helped cast planes, shadows, and beams of light through the steel frame and colored façade panels. Using the factrolite glass for privacy and the wire-embedded glass for utilitarian uses and safety, the Eames couple made glass an essential part of the house’s aesthetic and functional design.

This material illuminated another one of the Case Study House’s most essential aesthetic strategies: facilitating a connection with nature by merging and reflecting interior and exterior. Each of the homes utilized an open plan and glass façade explicitly open to their natural surroundings, with some—including the Eames House, Bailey House, Stahl House, and Case Study House 28—incorporating an artificial courtyard, pool, or pond as well. In the Eames House, which included a rectangular residential building and separate studio building connected linearly by an intermediate courtyard, the doors, curtains, and windows could be opened to unify the site into a single long open-air span. In the Bailey House, which incorporated a small shallow pond along the perimeter, the pond mirrored the reflectiveness of the panoramic windows and made the structure appear as if it was floating. Moreover, while the interior core of the house—including bathrooms and utility areas—was largely concealed by opaque steel walls, the roof was pierced to allow access to exterior elements in even these private spaces. Finally, melting the barriers between interior and exterior through the extensive use of glass, Case Study House 28 incorporated a total of 4500 square feet of glass windows shaded by large overhangs.

This connection to nature was facilitated by other material strategies as well. In Koenig’s Bailey House, the pond water was actually circulated up through the gutters and roof scuppers, rendering it an early experiment with environmental control systems. In the Eames House, a long tallowwood wall (tallowwood being the hard, durable wood of eucalyptus trees) was installed parallel to the line of eucalyptus trees gracing the front of the façade. These experiments in incorporation and reflection tempered the efficiency and functionalism of high modernist design with a correlative attention to nature.

Another important part of the Case Study House experiment was their use of new postwar materials and technologies. The Eames House, for example, used the Celotex Corporation’s Cemesto , a pioneering, pre-engineered construction panel that was touted at the time for its low maintenance and ease of installation. With a structural strength that entirely eliminated the need for intermediate structural support, the Cemesto panel could function simultaneously as an interior and exterior wall surface with no extra insulation, protective coating, or interior wall surfacing. The Eames House also utilized Wall-tex, a form of waterproof protection and wear resistance for interior walls invented in 1931, and plyon, a type of laminated lightweight material for cabinetry facing that was originally used in aircraft during World War II. These products demonstrated the design mission of the Case Study Houses as efficient residences for modern Americans.

Yet despite these many unifying characteristics, each of the Case Study Houses featured important material idiosyncrasies as well. The design motivation for Case Study House 28, for example, was to use the traditional material of facebrick in a structural, modern way. Thus, almost the entirety of the house was constructed with facebrick and glass, meaning it also required almost no maintenance or finishes. The use of brick was highly unusual among the Case Study Houses, most of which, as stated above, predominately used steel, glass, and occasionally wood or concrete. Likewise, the Eames House is perhaps most famous for its colorful paneling, mixing Grey Cemesto panels, off-white, black, blue, and orange/red plaster panels, and gold leaf or photographic panels in special locations around the site. Finally, the Entenza House , which Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen codesigned, similarly utilized a simplistic and flexible steel frame structure yet chose to conceal this structure with interior wood paneled cladding.

Over time, the flaws in the original material choices were also slowly revealed: many of the case study houses used only single panel glass, which would prove to make passive temperature control difficult and thus poor from a sustainability perspective. Most tellingly, the Stahl House—which may be the most famous of the Case Study Houses--, while remembered fondly by its inhabitants, would also have to suffer important changes to make it more livable: replacing the windows with shatterproof glass, adding a walkway around the cantilevered living room for window washers, and covering the floors with carpet to make them safer for children.

Altogether, the materials of the Case Study Houses played an essential role in their aesthetics, structures, and function. Despite the incredible innovations and advancements that would change architecture dramatically in the years following, these materials would nevertheless define one of the most iconic eras of American modernist architecture. Embracing stripped-back structural aesthetics, a connection to nature, advanced technology and materials, and experimental design, these houses—and their materials—represented the vanguard of modern construction and design.

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加州‘案例研究住宅’中的材料性

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Case Study: Hillside House and Guesthouse by Hoedemaker Pfeiffer Architects

Whatever the topography or scale, a good house celebrates the experience of space inside and out, and these two buildings do that extraordinarily well. On a remote island in Puget Sound, the getaways are as rugged as their setting, but cocoon-like as well. The serene main house and guesthouse demonstrate the restorative potential of architecture by inviting the owner to connect with herself and with nature.

That was important, because she is active in Seattle’s civic culture and depends on this place to decompress. She had been coming to an existing house on this spot for many years and wanted a house that better suited her lifestyle. It was also an opportunity to build a smaller retreat for her grown daughter on the adjacent lot, or “building circle.” In this community, land is shared in common and each resident owns a building circle where a house can be built, says Steve Hoedemaker, AIA, whose firm, Hoedemaker Pfeiffer, was hired to design the project.

The compact 2,500-square-foot main house and 1,975-square-foot guesthouse have shed roofs, Douglas fir windows and doors, hemlock ceilings, and oak floors. Canted slightly toward each other on the steep, rocky site, they both use simple, stacked-stone volumes as an organizing principle. While this concept acknowledges the site’s geology, it was also an emotional touchstone. “The client’s family had a property in Appalachia with an old stone cottage that had a lot of sentimental meaning for them,” says Steve. “It was lost to fire and the property was given to the state to become a park. The property has lived in their memory and imagination, and they wanted to reach back and touch an aspect of what it meant to them.”

Sitting high above the water, the main house is a glass-and-wood structure resting on a plinth of Whistler basalt stone quarried in Canada. “The idea was to create a stone platform on which the house could rest, and then a stone wall to provide privacy from a small road,” Steve says. “On top of the platform is a light wood building that could perch there with much less need for both structure and privacy.”

On the north entry façade, a bar-shaped stone volume contains the master bath, powder room, and mudroom/laundry, its shed roof tilted down against the weather and the road. An east-west hallway axis joins it to the taller and lighter structure behind it housing a kitchen/dining/living room and master bedroom that flow out to a deck overlooking Puget Sound. Stacked stone reappears in this volume as a pair of central fireplaces. They separate the public and private spaces and flank a wide stairway to the lower level, which holds two bedrooms, a bath, and a kayak garage.

“The house sits on the westernmost portion of the island with beautiful sunlight and great views across the water and the islands,” Steve says. Sheltered and controlled, the main living space gets abundant light through a south wall of glass facing the water. This volume also tips up to the north, but its higher roofline allows for a band of operable clerestory windows that backfill the space with continuous northern light and release warm air on the leeward side. Its lower pitch toward the water protects the inside from glare.

One thing the client liked about the old house was that there was a sunny place to sit comfortably outdoors in cool weather, sheltered from the wind, Steve says. Hoedemaker Pfeiffer’s design recreated that version through the roof overhang and the two stone fireplace volumes that puncture the back wall, creating a protected seating nook on the deck. “The design allows them to occupy the main floor outside the building, and that protected space captures warmth from sunlight even when the temperature isn’t quite accommodating,” says project architect Todd Beyerlein.

Indeed, the design sets up a nuanced relationship between house, land, and view. “When you enter the house, there’s a moment where you’re able to see distant views, and you can see that there’s an exterior plinth you can inhabit; it inspires you to move around the building to get there,” says Todd. Adds Steve: “You can see the stone level that the whole first floor sits on and can read the ground dropping away. It’s an introduction to the concept, but you have to go looking for it.”

The solid, enduring interior materials are a further manifestation of the house as a tool for exploring nature. The feel of both cottages came from a basket of objects the client had collected from the site, such as bark, feathers, and rocks. In addition to the stone, honey-colored cedar siding wraps inside to cover the walls. Charcoal-colored basaltina, an Italian stone, adds a calming complement in the kitchen and baths.

A variation on this theme, the guesthouse was conceived as a stone tower with three protrusions. Closer to the water than the main house, “the site is a great deal steeper,” Todd says, “and was encumbered by a community association rule that limited its height to preserve the views of other residents. It also had a smaller building circle than the main house, which to some extent dictated the design. We wanted to build on a small footprint to limit excavation, yet we wanted more square footage, so we came up with what amounted to a stone tower with a program that extends outward.”

Visitors enter through a ground-to-roof glazed opening on the north side. To the left is a bumped-out wall of louvered casement windows that light the switchback staircase leading to the lower-level bedrooms and bath. Ahead on the main floor are the great room’s kitchen, island, and living room—and beyond, a south deck that cantilevers far above grade. The third protrusion is a glass-enclosed, 12-foot-by-15-foot dining room, held dramatically aloft on two 36-foot steel beams that anchor 24 feet into the building structure.

“It’s great to be up there among the trees, but we had to work hard to keep them there,” Steve says. Footings for a retaining wall under the dining room were tapered to steer clear of the roots of an important tree.

These companion buildings frame the indoor-outdoor conversation in different ways. “In the main house it’s about perching on a piece of earth and allowing the architecture to become light and ephemeral,” Todd says. “In the guesthouse, it’s about what it means to be inside, yet step outside of the architecture and still be indoors. We liked the idea of setting up rules and then finding very specific reasons to violate them.” Adds Steve, “it was almost like the square was too strong and simple until we came up with the exception.”

It took almost two years to build the houses, working on an isolated island without ferry service. With headquarters in Seattle and operations all over the U.S., Schuchart Dow (now Dowbuilt) knew how to organize around difficult terrain and time the arrival of concrete trucks with the tides. Most of the workers commuted by private boat daily, and the materials were barged in and staged at a house rented for the duration. “We would take all of our materials to that location first, prep them, and take them out to the job as needed,” says project manager Josh Williamson. “The 400,000 pounds of basalt stone came as blocks and every stone needed to be cut to a gauged size we could work with. But once we fell into a system, it became routine.”

The steep slope was daunting too, and not just for the construction crew. “We had to put up a perimeter safety fence around the whole site so that people and tools and materials didn’t fall into the water,” Steve says. Or sheep, it turns out. The island is home to a native population of free-ranging sheep brought here more than 100 years ago. During construction, a newborn fell down the hill and would have hit the water had it not been for the fence. “Our laborer who was living on the island took it home and nursed it back to health,” Josh says.

The project was a collective effort of more than 100 workers, he adds. The result is two well-crafted compositions that achieve the best of retreat architecture by letting nature shape and define it.

Plans and Drawings

Project Credits

Hillside Sanctuary and Hillside Retreat

San Juan Islands, Washington

ARCHITECT: Steve Hoedemaker, AIA, principal in charge; Todd Beyerlein, project architect, Hoedemaker Pfeiffer, Seattle

BUILDER: Josh Williamson, project manager, Schuchart/Dow (now Dowbuilt), Seattle

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Randy Allworth, Allworth Design, Seattle

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Malsam Tsang, Seattle

CIVIL ENGINEER: LPD Engineering, Seattle

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER: Nelson Geotechnical Associates, Woodinville, Washington

ARBORIST: Island Tree Doctor, Eastsound, Washington

PROJECT SIZE: 2,500 square feet (main house), 1,975 square feet (guesthouse)

SITE SIZE: .07 acres each

CONSTRUCTION COST: Withheld

PHOTOGRAPHER: Kevin Scott

Key Products

COOKTOP/RANGE: Wolf

DISHWASHER: Miele

DOOR HARDWARE: Baldwin

ENTRY DOORS: Northstar Woodworks

EXTERIOR LIGHTING: B-K Lighting, Lucifer Lighting

FAUCETS: PHYLRICH

INTERIOR LIGHTING: Philips Lightolier, Hafele, Tech Lighting, Casella, Currey & Company, Modern Fan Company

REFRIGERATOR: Sub-Zero

SINKS: Blanco, Duravit, PHYLRICH

THERMAL AND MOISTURE BARRIER: PROSOCO

TOILETS: TOTO

TUB: Lacava

WASHER/DRYER: Electrolux

WINDOWS: Woodcraft Windows

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