Back In Action

So, my plan to return with new posts the week following the Renovation Sneak Peek didn't exactly happen.  In addition to spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my family back East, we were without an internet connection until this past weekend and with the remodeling madness, I haven't exactly had to time to lounge around at a coffee shop to utilize their access.  In other words, there's a backlog of topics I want to catch you up on, including more photos of the restoration of our Cliff May and news about the Los Angeles Conservancy's 60's Turn Fifty upcoming events.  Stay tuned.

In the mean time, here are some photos from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, where we were visiting for the holiday.  Enjoy!

A great collection of chairs, everything from Queen Anne-style to Frank Gehry

This wood and leather chair from 1939 is by Wharton Esherick.  He used old wagon wheels to create the frame.  An early example of green design!

Desk designed for Pittsburgh's Frank House (1939) by Marcel Breuer and Bauhaus founder, Walter Gropius

(Close up of the above desk) Love those lucite handles!

Frank Lloyd Wright armchair (1956) designed for the Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma

The detail on the spine of the chair is oh-so-wright

Another creation by Breuer - Bauhaus teacher, famed architect, and master of steel tube furniture

A drop-dead gorgeous table by George Nakashima

Close up of above drop-dead gorgeous Nakashima table

A tribute to Le Corbusier by an Italian furniture manufacturer - This chair looks super uncomfortable, but the rubber seat apparently stretches to conform to your body. I didn't try it out.  Museums kind of frown on that.

Louis Dierra (1939) for Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company

(Left) Wendell Castle designed Molar chair (1969)

(Right) Cabinets for Mobay Chemical Company (1969) by Peter Muller-Munk Associates

Manufactured by Pittsburgh's Aluminum Company of America, these painted aluminum 'Alcoa Forecast Program Tables' (1957) are by Isamu Noguchi

Raymond Loewy DF 2000 sideboard (1968) for Compagnie de l'Esthétique Industrielle, manufactured by Doubinski Fréres

Paul T. Frankl 'Skyscraper' bookcase (1928)

Please Remove Your Shoes

A friend and modern architecture enthusiast from Chicago was kind enough to send me these photos of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe's Farnsworth House, where he is a docent.  I've only seen staged photos of the home, so the shoes littering the entrance made me smile (Guests are asked to remove their shoes to protect the floors).  To read more about the history of the home and Ludwig, and view some breathtaking photos, check out the website link under 'visit', which includes links to the Farnsworth house, as well as other modern landmarks not to be missed. 

An architect, as well a a furniture designer, I'm sure you'll recognize the Mies van der Rohe pieces below that continue to be popular today.  The officially licensed versions can still be purchased from Knoll Studio. 

Barcelona chair designed by Mies van der Rohe for the Barcelona World Fair of 1929 as part of the German Pavilion; check out this website that helps distinguish the knock offs from the real thing.

Barcelona lounge; introduced in 1930, a year after the chair and ottoman; it peaked in popularity after Philip Johnson used it in his apartment in 1953. 

Brno chair designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1929-30 for the bedroom of the Tugendhat House in Brno, Czechoslovakia

Speaking of the Bauhaus, my friend also informed me about the group Chicago Bauhaus and Beyond.  How many Los Angelenos out there would be interested in joining a design forum like this?  Monthly meetings would bring together a network of designers, architects, and artists to discuss both past and present accomplishments/projects in the design world.  Or let me know if you know of another group like it (besides LAC Mod Com which exclusively discusses preservation issues and I'm already a member).