U.S.A. - 20th Century Architecture, Individual Architects, Designers, & Planners, International Style & Modernism - Architecture, U.S.A. - Western U.S. Architecture, Prairie School Architecture

Schindler House

Name: Schindler House
Author: Kathryn Smith, Grant Mudford
ISBN: 9780810929852

by Kathryn Smith, Grant Mudford

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Overview

Lauded in recent years as a 20th-century masterpiece, Schindler House in West Hollywood was designed and built by Viennese emigré Rudolph M. Schindler in 1921-22. Intended as a communal dwelling for the architect and his wife and another couple, and featuring open living spaces and rooftop "sleeping baskets" suited to the mild Southern California climate, this remarkable home is considered the first modern house to be built in the world.

This, the first book on the Schindler House, features new photography—specially commissioned color images by Grant Mudford, one of the leading architectural photographers working today—as well as many archival shots. Author Kathryn Smith incorporates new research on Schindler as she analyzes every aspect of the house's design and construction and shows why it was such a radical departure from residential architecture that came before—and why it is one of the icons of the modern era.

Author Biography: Kathryn Smith, a noted architectural historian, has written and lectured extensively on Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Lloyd Wright. A founding board member of Friends of the Schindler House, she chaired the Schindler Centennial in 1987. Smith

is author also of Abrams' Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin and Taliesin West.

Grant Mudford is a well-known architectural photographer. His pictures have appeared in numerous books and magazines, and many of his fine art photographs are in the permanent collections of major museums throughout the world.

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Editorials

Library Journal

In life, avant-garde West Coast architect Rudolf Schindler had his loyal admirers, but he was largely dismissed by prominent tastemakers for perceived transgressions against Modernist design principles. Only long after his death in 1953 have serious efforts gone into assessing his oeuvre. The books reviewed here are welcome additions to the now-burgeoning field of Schindler studies. The Architecture of R.M. Schindler offers five scholarly essays and a wealth of illustrations and photos. Curators Smith and Darling compiled the catalog to accompany a major retrospective put together by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and traveling to Washington, DC, and Vienna, Austria. The text examines the distinct phases of his creative evolution from 1912 until his death but breaks no new ground, except perhaps for disclosures found in recently released personal correspondence detailing the bohemian life Schindler and family led at his west Los Angeles home. It is this landmark 1921 house that is the subject of Schindler House, a happy collaboration between one-time resident Smith (Frank Lloyd Wright: Hollyhock House and Olive Hall) and photographer Mudford. As his own home, Schindler built one of the most startlingly original structures of the 20th century, provoking both fulsome praise and bewildered condemnation. Probing its history and presenting the structure from all angles, this slim volume does more to promote an appreciation of this legendary abode than any prior publication. Schindler House is a most attractive purchase for large public and academic libraries. Comprehensive architecture collections should have The Architecture of R.M. Schindler. For general collections, the most balanced treatment remains David Gebhard's Schindler (William Stout, 1997. reprint). David Solt sz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Smith, who has lectured extensively on architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, tells the story of the creation and critical reception of the Schindler House, built in 1922, in Hollywood, California, and explains why it is one of the key works of modern architecture. Her essay is generously illustrated with archival photographs and architectural drawings that document the construction of the house and portray those who lived in it, including shots Schindler himself took during stays at Wright's Wisconsin residence and on trips around the U.S. Photographer Grant Mudford was specially commissioned to photograph the Schindler House for this publication. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)