BUILDERS' HOMES FOR BETTER LIVING
A. Quincy Jones, Frederick E. Emmons and John L. Chapman [Associate]
A. Quincy Jones, Frederick E. Emmons and John L. Chapman [Associate]: BUILDERS' HOMES FOR BETTER LIVING. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1957. First Edition. Quarto. Gray cloth stamped in black. Photo illustrated dust jacket. 220 pp. 207 photographs and illustrations. Color cover photograph by Julius Shulman. A truly rare book authored by a pair of architects whose roles in the development of the postwar modern residential movement cannot be overstated. Jacket with trivial rubbing and wear. Former owners bookplate and inked name to front free endpaper, otherwise a fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
8 x 10.75 hardcover book with 220 pages and 207 black and white photographs, illustrations, diagrams, plans, etc. Sketches By Rudy Veland. This book is dedicated to Joseph L. Eichler: "a truly progressive builder, whose untiring efforts have advanced greatly the concepts of todays' development houses, this book is respectfully dedicated."Eichler is credited with integrating California's suburban housing; homes in his Balboa Hills development in Granada Hills were the first in the San Fernando Valley outside Pacoima to be open to African American buyers.
Jones and Emmons began their association with Eichler when they designed the legendary X-100 prototype Eichler Home in San Mateo. From the Eichler network: "... As Joe Eichler was initiating his fledgling real estate development in the Highlands, the X-100 served as his promotional attraction to reel in crowds for his company's open houses. It was also a vehicle for showcasing new technology (such as steel construction, indoor gardens, and other custom elements) that was unique or unusual to the homebuilding industry. ...the X-100 opened its doors to a reported 150,000 curious visitors in late 1956, giving Eichler a surge of sales and renewed attention. National magazines, including Sunset, Living for Young Homemakers, and Arts & Architecture, joined in with coverage and pictorials."
Here's the importance of Eichler to the authors: Eichler Homes are represented by 70 entries in the index.
The Research Village of Barrington, Illinois is also covered in detail. The Research Village was a building project of United States Gypsum, which sponsored six architects and builders to each design and build a single-family residence. Similar to John Entenza's Case Study program, Research Village was aimed more at middle-class America and first-time homeowners.
Along with Living Spaces by George Nelson, this is one of THE classic pictorial records of modern residential architecture in Post-war America. This book spotlights some of the lesser-known structures of the period, thus supplying a more unique perspective than similar volumes that tend to showcase the iconic residences. No Kaufmann Houses here -- just thoughtfully planned and brilliantly executed modern housing.
Architects whose work appear in this volume include: Ain, Day and Johnson; Robert Alexander; Anshen and Allen; Harris Armstrong; Barienbrock and Murray; Bassetti and Morse; William Sutherland Beckett; Harold Bissner; Brooks and Coddington; Campbell and Wong; Chris Choate; Dan Dworsky; Craig Ellwood; O'Neil Ford; Seth McCallen Fulcher; Robert Harlan; A. Quincy Jones, Frederick E. Emmons and Associates; Jones, Emmons and Gruen; Jones, Emmons, Little and Nims; John Kewell; Keyes, Smith, Satterlee and Lethbridge; Paul Kirk; Pierre Koenig; John Lautner; Carl Louis Maston; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Richard Neutra; Eliot Noyes; Palmer and Krisel; Robert Price; Lucille Rapport; paul Rudolph; Smith and Williams; Smith, Jones and Contini; Soleri and Mills; Raphael Soriano; Hugh Stubbins; Twitchell and Rudolph; Eugene Weston, Jr.; and Harold Zook.
Excellent vintage contemporary interior photography by Ernest Braun; Heidrich-Blessing; A. Quincy Jones; Eliot Noyes; Rondal Partridge; julius Shulman; Ezra Stoller and others.
Archibald Quincy Jones, FAIA, (1913 - 1979) was a prolific Los Angeles-based architect and educator known for innovative buildings in the modernist style and for urban planning that pioneered the use of greenbelts and green design. From 1939 to 1940 he worked for the renowned architect, Paul R. Williams. Next he worked for Allied Engineers, Inc. of San Pedro from 1940 to 1942, where he met the architect Frederick Emmons, with whom he would later partner. Jones was responsible for the development and layout of Roosevelt Base in San Pedro and the Naval Reserve Air Base in Los Alamitos.
Jones also participated in John Entenza's Case Study House program. The December 1950 issue of the magazine Architectural Forum featured a 'Builder's House of the Year' designed by A. Quincy Jones. The same issue also awarded the innovative Palo Alto building magnate Joseph Eichler 'Subdivision of the Year.' Eichler then invited Jones to tour the Palo Alto development he had just completed where he suggested to Jones that the Builder of the Year team with the Architect of the Year. This relationship continued until Joseph Eichler's death in 1974.
The Eichler commission prompted Jones to form a partnership with his prewar acquaintance, the architect Frederick Emmons. The Jones and Emmons partnership lasted from the early months of 1951 until Emmons' retirement in December 1969. Their efforts and designs are reflected in some 5,000 of Eichler's homes by Emmons' estimate. Jones and Emmons were awarded national AIA Firm of the Year in 1969.
Jones raised the tract house in California from the simple stucco box to a logically designed structure integrated into the landscape and surrounded by greenbelts. He introduced new materials as well as a new way of living within the built environment and popularized an informal, outdoor-oriented open plan. More than just abstractions of the suburban ranch house, most Jones and Emmons designs incorporated a usable atrium, high ceilings, post-and-beam construction and walls of glass. For the postwar moderate-income family, his work bridged the gap between custom-built and developer-built homes.
Frederick Earl Emmons (1907 - 1999) was a member of the Southern California chapter of the American Institute of Architects. With A. Quincy Jones, he designed many residential properties, including tract houses developed by Joseph Eichler in the Pacific Palisades, Orange, Palo Alto, San Rafael, and commercial buildings in Palm Springs, Pomona, Whittier and Los Angeles. They also designed the Charles E. Young Research Library on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Emmons began his career by working as a draughtsman for McKim, Mead & White in 1930-1932. He worked for architect William Wurster from 1938 to 1939, and for Allied Engineers from 1940 to 1942. He served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1942 to 1946. By 1946, he started his own architectural practice in Los Angeles.
Emmons opened an architectural practice with A. Quincy Jones in 1950. The first year, they designed the Sascha Brastoff Ceramics Factory located at 11520 West Olympic Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles, the Brody House in the Pacific Palisades, the Romanoff's on the Rocks Restaurant on Highway 111 in Palm Springs, and the King Cole Market and Shopping Center in Whittier. By 1952, they designed the Southdown Estates Houses at 16310 Akron Street in the Pacific Palisades. They also designed the Nicholas P. Daphne Funeral Home located at 1 Church street in San Francisco, California in 1952-1953; it was demolished in 2000. They designed the Hugheston Meadows Housing Tract, which won an Award of Merit from the National Association of Home Builders in 1953. In 1954, they designed the Huberland House at 16060 Royal Oaks Road in Encino in 1954,and the Building Contractors' Association Building in Pomona.
Emmons and Jones designed their own office, Jones & Emmons Architectural Office Building, in Los Angeles in 1955, as well as the West Wilshire Swimming Pool in Los Angeles, and the St Matthew's Episcopal Church in the Pacific Palisades, which was destroyed by arson in 1978. In 1963, they designed the Shorecliff Tower Apartments at 535 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. In 1964, they designed the Charles E. Young Research Library on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). A year later, they designed a house at 901 Airole Way, in Bel Air.
Emmons and Jones also designed several houses in Orange, California for developer Joseph Eichler. In particular they designed a house at 602 East Briardale Avenue House and another house at 1843 North Woodside Street House, both of which were located in the Fairmeadows Tract. They also designed two housing tracts for Eichler in Palo Alto: the Fairmeadow Housing Tract in 1953 and the Greenmeadow Housing Tract in 1954-1955. In 1956, they designed the X-100 House in another development by Eichler in San Mateo. They designed houses on another Eichler housing tract known as the Terra Linda Housing Tract, in San Rafael, in 1954-1955, while some houses on the same track were designed by Anshen & Allen. They also designed the Pardee-Phillips Housing Tract for Eichler in the Pacific Palisades. Additionally, they designed six houses for the Estates Oceanside Housing Development in San Luis Rey.
With fellow architects Douglas Honnold, Arthur Gallion, A. Quincy Jones, Maynard Lyndon, John Leon Rex and Raphael Soriano, Emmons designed the San Pedro Community Hospital at 1300 West 7th Street in San Pedro, Los Angeles in 1958-1960.