the Scattered Ox

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