the Scattered Ox

Structure:  Remodeled Penn/Crowell House Location:  Long Beach, California Architect:  Ray Kappe Tidbit: Although the unique, Late Modern (Kappian?) style of this building was retained, the entire place was remodeled recently. I have included some photos of the original (below) for comparison...sorry about the poor quality, it's all I could find!

Structure:  Gibbs & Gibbs office building Location:  Long Beach, California Architect:  Hugh and Don Gibbs Tidbit: Gibbs Architecture still practices architecture out of this building!

Structure:  Sheats-Goldstein House Location:  Los Angeles, California Architect:  John Lautner Tidbit: The owner of the house (Mr. Goldstein) donated it to LACMA recently

Structure:  A "Swiss Miss" style house Location:  Palm Springs, California Architect:  Charles DuBois Tidbit:  Housebuilder  Joe Dunas had DuBois design houses that would be distinct from the butterfly roof (invented/popularized by William Krisel) populating Palm Springs

Structure:  Hunt Library Location:  Fullerton, Orange County, California Architect:  William Pereira Tidbit:  Originally intended to house Norton Simon's art, this building is tucked away next to a dog park and a railroad...you kind of have to Hunt for it 😉

Structure:  Case Study House #22 (aka the Stahl House) Location:  Los Angeles, California Architect:  Pierre Koenig Tidbit:  See this house as quickly as you can, don't Stahl 😉

Structure:  (former) American Electronics Building Location:  Fullerton, Orange County, California Architect:  Eugene Choy Tidbit:  Eugene Choy was the first Chinese-American architect to join the AIA in Southern California

Structure:  Tyler house Location:  Studio City, Los Angeles, California Architect:  John Lautner Tidbit:  If you're a see-inside-the-house kind of person, here's a nice little glimpse inside this gorgeous residence -->  http://bit.ly/2QI8hfk

Structure:  Unknown house Location:  Laguna Beach, Orange County, California Architect:  Christian Abel Tidbit:  It's pretty difficult to find any information about Christian Abel, although his son Gregg still builds houses in the Orange County area.

Structure:  Quant/Quandt House Location:  Lucerne Valley, California Architect:  Richard Neutra Tidbit:  This house has been pretty extensively remodeled. You'd think the future would help it take a Quandtum Leap forward but no. Here's a scan of a polaroid from the UCLA Archives (below) for reference 😞

Structure:  Lake Arrowhead Country Club Location:  Lake Arrowhead, California Architect:  Richard Dorman Tidbit:  The original country club was replaced by this beauty (although it's been altered some) in 1964, built by the talented Richard Dorman (one of the builders of Trousdale Estates)

Structure:  Claremont United Methodist Church Location:  Claremont, California Architect:  Richard Neutra + Robert Alexander, Dion Neutra Tidbit:  The original church was built by Richard Neutra and Robert Alexander, but when it burned down in 1967, the church was rebuilt by Richard's son Dion

Structure:  Lido Fire Station No. 2 Location:  Newport Beach, Orange County, California Architect:  J. Herbert Brownell Tidbit:  Government buildings are a great source for good architecture because, let's face it, cities are always broke so they just keep using the buildings they have #protip

Structure:  Elvis’ Honeymoon Hideaway Location:  Palm Springs, California Architect:  William Krisel Tidbit:  More like Love Me Tender, Love Me Suite, amirite? 😉

Structure:  The Jules Brady Residence Location:  Long Beach, California Architect:  Killingsworth, Brady & Associates Tidbit:  With its 18' tall courtyard walls, this house tells the story of a man named Brady... 😉

Structure:  Tramway Gas Station (aka Palm Springs Visitor Center) Location:  Palm Springs, California Architect:  Albert Frey Tidbit:  Before it was owned and operated as the Palm Springs Visitor Center, this gorgeous building was an Enco gas station and went by the name "Tramway Gas Station"

Structure:  Case Study House #21, aka the Bailey House Location:  Los Angeles, California Architect:  Pierre Koenig Tidbit:  If you've got a cool $3.6M to spend, this house is for sale !

Structure:  Langson Library Location:  Irvine, Orange County, California Architect:  William Pereira Associates alongside Jones & Emmons and Blurock Ellerbroek Associates Tidbit:  Tried to reserve a room in this place, but they were all booked up 😉🤓📚

Structure:  Slavin House Location:  Santa Barbara, California Architect:  Richard Neutra Tidbit:  If I lived here, every morning I'd say "Just another day Slavin away" 😝

Structure:  Lovell Beach House Location:  Newport Beach, Orange County, California Architect:  Rudolph Schindler Tidbit:  If this house ever sent up for sale, would the realtor call it Schindler's Listing? 🤔

Structure:  A house with an atrium Location:  Orange, Orange County, California Architect:  Anshen & Allen Tidbit:  Developed by Joseph Eichler, this style of home (according to Dwell 🤨) "oozes with California midcentury-modern design." The ironic thing about these houses is they were supposed to be built for the everyman, but now they sell for ~$1M per house

Structure:  Wayfarers Chapel Location:  Rancho Palos Verdes, in the South Bay Architect:  Lloyd Wright Tidbit:  The saddest part about Lloyd Wright's Wikipedia page is this sentence, "His name is frequently confused with that of his more famous father, Frank Lloyd Wright." 😞

Structure:  Perley House Location:  Newport Beach, Orange County, California Architect:  J. Herbert Brownell Tidbit:  I like to think of this house as flashin' its PERLEY whites 😬😉

Structure: George Sturges House Location: Brentwood Heights, Los Angeles Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright Tidbit:  Notable architect John Lautner oversaw the construction of this marvelous house

Structure: Von KleinSmid Center Library Location: University of Southern California Architect: Edward Durell Stone Tidbit:  Every time I see arches on a building, I think "More like ARCHitecture, am I right?" Also, Von KleinSmid (the guy this building was named after) was a noted eugenicist 🧐

Welcome to the Atomic Ox: a blog about architecture, written by a well-meaning curmudgeon named Ox. It has come to my attention that the world of modernist architecture (called "mid century" by hipsters and marketing professionals) is populated by two broad swaths of people: Group one is the bevy of hipsters who, after quickly reading the Wikipedia entry for 'modernist architecture', set off to become the next Maynard Parker, armed with nothing but Instagram and youthful optimism.  Group two is a small cadre of architectural academics who are constantly working to guard the architectural legacy of these modernist marvels. Theirs is an uphill battle, however, for the legions of land developers have deep pockets and an even deeper desire to turn every piece of land into some sort of 'luxury loft' work/live/space.  This blog won't do either of those camps any justice. I'm not cool enough to roll with group one, and I'm definitely not educ