The Case Study Houses were experiments in residential architecture sponsored by John Entenza's (later David Travers') Arts & Architecture magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig and Eero Saarinen, to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the United States residential housing boom caused by the end of World War II and the return of millions of soldiers. The Eames' CSH #8 was assembled by hand labor in about three days.
The program ran from 1945 until 1966. The first six houses were built by 1948 and attracted more than 350,000 visitors. While not all 36 designs were built, most of those that were constructed were built in Los Angeles; a few are in the San Francisco Bay Area, and one was built in Phoenix, Arizona. A number of them appear in iconic black and white photographs by architectural photographer Julius Shulman.
A partial list of the houses and their architects:
- #1 Julius Ralph Davidson, North Hollywood. (Esther McCoy in her Case Study House book has this house built in 1946 in West Los Angeles and duplicated two years later in North Hollywood.)
- #2 Sumner Spaulding and John Rex, built in Arcada in altered form
- #3 William Wurster and Theodore Bernardi, built in Brentwood and Pacific Palisades
- #4 Ralph Rapson, The Greenbelt House (unbuilt; redesigned in 2003 as the prefab Rapson Greenbelt)
- #5 (unbuilt), Whitney R. Smith
- #6 (unbuilt), Richard Neutra
- #7 Thornton Abell, built in San Gabriel in altered form
- #8 The Eames House, Charles and Ray Eames
- #9 The Entenza House, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen view photo on blank">Flickr
- #10 Kemper Nomland and Kemper Nomland Jr., in _Pasadena
- #11 Julius Ralph Davidson
- #15 Julius Ralph Davidson
Note that Numbers 16-20 were assigned twice for reasons unknown. #16-#18 in the original series were designed and built by Rodney A. Walker.
- #16 Craig Ellwood This house is unnumbered in A&A where it is titled "Case Study House 1953."
- #17 Craig Ellwood
- #18 Craig Ellwood
- #19 (unbuilt), Don Knorr
- #20 The Saul Bass House, Buff, Straub, and Hensman. (Some sources have #20 listed as the Bailey House by Richard Neutra)
- #21 Pierre Koenig
- #22 The Stahl House, Pierre Koenig
- #23 Triad, Edward Killingsworth and Brady and Smith
- #24 A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons
- #25 The Frank House, Edward Killingsworth and Brady and Smith, in Naples, California
- #26 David (Beverley) Thorne, in San Rafael, California
- #27 (unbuilt), Campbell and Wong
- #28 Buff, Hensman and Associates . (Some sources have #28 listed as the three-unit Al Beadle house in Phoenix, Arizona, which is also known as "Case Study Apartments #1".)
- Case Study Apartments #2 (unbuilt), Killingsworth, Brady and Associates
Other participating architects: Raphael Soriano Case Study House 1950 and Rodney A. Walker.
For more on the CSH Program and Arts & Architecture magazine go to artsandarchitecturemag.com.
