Homegrown Architects | Los Angeles Conservancy
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

For over a century, Los Angeles has served as a breeding ground for innovative, top-notch architects -- from native Angelenos like Paul R. Williams to those who did formative work here, like Eric Owen Moss.

The region is also home to a rich collection of prominent universities and schools offering architectural degree programs, including USC (whose School of Architecture was created in 1925), UCLA (1964), SCI-Arc (1963), and Cal Arts (1961). Many renowned architects were educated in these schools and/or became educators there themselves.

Los Angeles has long been a muse for creative minds, which is especially evident in the architects who worked in Los Angeles between 1940 and 1990. These architects put their hometown of Los Angeles on the Modern map.

Photo courtesy Jocelyn Gibbs

1414 Fair Oaks Building

Smith & Williams
Eckbo, Dean, Austin, & Williams
An exploration of the ideal form of California living, the former office of architects Smith & Williams is an outstanding realization of the blend of indoor/outdoor environments, easy automobile access, natural light, and innovative use of geometric forms.
2-4-6-8 House
Photo by Trudi Sandmeier

2-4-6-8 House

Morphosis
One of the earliest designs by renowned Los Angeles architects Thom Mayne and Michael Rotondi of Morphosis, completed in 1978 and intended to feel friendly for residents, with a do-it-yourself quality.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

6672-6674 Vista Del Mar Duplex

Eric Owen Moss
Reported to have been the first built work of architect Eric Owen Moss, now well-known for his visionary designs in Culver City and across the region.
Photo courtesy you-are-here.com

708 House

Eric Owen Moss
Once a one-story house designed by James H. Caughey for the Case Study House program in 1948, remodeled by architect Eric Owen Moss for his family and now an exuberant testament to the lighter side of the Deconstructivist style.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Air and Space Gallery, California Science Center

Frank Gehry
Architect Frank Gehry's first major public work celebrates California's history in the aviation and aerospace industries with an ingenious use of space and light, an allusion to the challenges of aerospace design.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Airform "Bubble House"

Wallace Neff
Met with mixed reviews upon its construction but since lauded by scholars and critics alike, this dome-shaped dwelling was considered by architect Wallace Neff to be the perfect solution to the mid-twentieth century global housing crisis.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

ArtCenter College of Design

Craig Ellwood Associates
Often described as designer Craig Ellwood's swansong, the ArtCenter bridge, an economical solution to the school's hilly canyon site, was one of the final commissions for his firm.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Avenel Cooperative Housing

Garrett Eckbo
Gregory Ain
An unusual example of a Federal Housing Administration-funded project in the postwar period, ten families pooled resources to create a modestly scaled complex that incorporated modern ideas about affordable indoor-outdoor living.
Aviva High School
Photo by Devri Richmond

Aviva High School

Ladd & Kelsey
Known for successfully integrating structures into existing landscapes and for solving problems on an individual basis, designers Ladd and Kelsey took advantage of the gently sloping site for this two-story building atop two levels of parking.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Bailey House (Case Study House #21)

Pierre Koenig
Built for a couple open to the idea of a steel-framed house, which allowed architect Pierre Koenig to realize his vision of an open plan design that was both affordable and beautiful.
Glendale Federal Savings, Beverly Hills
Photo by Lynne Tucker

Bank of America, Beverly Hills

Langdon & Wilson
Visitors looking up from the base of the Glendale Federal Savings Building see light streaming through the fifty-two rainbow-patterned glass of a dalle da verre cornice, cantilevered nine-and-a-half feet from the top of the ten-story building.
Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

Barton Choy Residence

Barton Choy
Sitting one address apart in Silver Lake, these two wooden plank-paneled houses' acute angles, use of steep lots, and dramatic façades proclaim the work of innovative architect Barton Choy.

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Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. - An Initiative of the Getty

Curating the City: Modern Architecture in L.A. is part of Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. This collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together seventeen cultural institutions from April through July 2013 for a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of the city as a whole, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway network, revealing the city’s development and ongoing impact in new ways. Major support for this project has been provided by the Getty Foundation. pacificstandardtimepresents.org.