THE ARCHITECTURE OF KURT MEYER
Inscribed Copy
Kurt Meyer & Associates
Kurt Meyer & Associates [Promotion] with James Cross Design Office: THE ARCHITECTURE OF KURT MEYER. Los Angeles: Kurt Meyer & Associates, 1966. Original edition. Slim quarto. Glossy duplex wrappers. Publishers slipcase. Unpaginated. 59 duotone architectural photographs on glossy stock. Multiple paper stocks. INSCRIBED and dated on front endpaper. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. Wrappers lightly rubbed with faint handling along spine edges. A nearly fine copy housed in a good matching printed Publishers slipcase with expected wear to edges and joints.
INSCRIBED: Dear Saul, with / my thanks for your / contributions to these projects / Kurt. / 11-7-66.
9 x 9 softcover book, unpaginated with 59 duotone architectural photographs on glossy stock and text printed on uncoated laid stock. A beautiful and subtly designed production.
Excerpt from a Los Angeles Times obituary by David Colker (AUG. 28, 2014 ): “Architect Kurt Meyer not only designed numerous commercial buildings in Los Angeles noted for their Mid-Century style, he was also a champion of saving the city’s architectural treasures . . . . His buildings were not flashy for the most part, though they had stylish touches. One of the most prominent is a 1960 bank at the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards that sports zigzag, accordion-like folds in its roof.
“It’s very dramatic,” said Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy. “It was designed for the auto culture to see it from the street.”Architectural historian Alan Hess, who has written several books on Mid-Century Modern design, said Meyer didn’t have a signature style, “which is one reason he is not as well-known as some other architects of the period. But whatever style he was working in, he brought a real sense of quality to his buildings.” “A notable example is another bank building, at South Beverly Drive and Pico Boulevard, with massive concrete columns, a hallmark of the New Brutalism style. “This is a really good example of it,” Hess said. “The columns and cross-members are designed so you have interesting light and shadows playing across the texture of the concrete.”
Kurt Werner Meyer was born June 3, 1922, in Zürich. He studied architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and served in the Swiss Army during World War II. In 1948, he came to the U.S., first living in Harrisburg, Pa., before making the cross-country trip that resulted in his settling in L.A. He opened his own practice in 1957, gaining a reputation for designing financial institutions, including those of flamboyant screenwriter-turned-banker Bart Lytton. Among the firm’s biggest projects were the Exxon regional headquarters complex in Thousand Oaks that opened in 1983 and the South Coast Air Quality Management District building in Diamond Bar dedicated in 1991. His firm also drew up master plans for Simi Valley’s civic center, the city of San Fernando’s business center and several other cities and institutions.
Buildings (1957-1966) include Lytton Savings (Oakland, Canoga, and Hollywood), Brentwood Financial, Dunn Residence, Eastland Savings, Palo Alto Office Building, Lytton Financial (Wilshire and Corporate Headquarters in Hollywood), Crescent Heights Village Condominium, Pomona: Urban Development and Mall West, Palo Alto Downtown Plaza, Los Angeles City Board of Education, Guaranty Savings and Loan (Longview, Washington), Fishermen and Merchants Corporate Headquarters, Wilshire-Berendo Towers, Eastland Savings (Anaheim), Brentwood Savings Corporate Headquarters, Frontier Fidelity (Las Vegas), First Charter Financial Administration Building (East Whittier), Liberty Savings Corporate Headquarters, Financial Savings (Culver City), Prudential Federal (Ogden, Utah), Dunn residence (Long Beach), and Brentwood Financial Executive Offices.
James Cross’ career in design spans over five decades, and he has created many iconic identities for US corporate companies, including RAND Corporation and Northrop. James studied in the UCLA School of Fine Art, all the while working part time in RAND Corporation, and in 1956 became their Corporate Design Director. Three years later he left to join Northrop, creating a visual identity for the company based on conceptual black and white photography, simple typography and fine printing. After joining Saul Bass’ studio for a short while, James proceeded to form his own design firm, Cross Associates, in 1963, which was a great success: in 1980 his firm had offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Newport Beach in CA. His clients included Smith International Inc, Lockheed Corp and Ramada Inn. Cross Associates was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi in 1988, and Cross was named its Managing and Creative Director until leaving in 1994.
In 1960, James served on the Board of Directors for the International Design Conference in Aspen. He is a board member of AIGA, the International President of Alliance Graphique Internationale, and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles.