Wednesday 5 December 2007

Ludeken's House - Jack Hillmer


The 1952 Ludeken House by San Francisco architect Jack Hillmer,which has since been "marred by unsympathetic renovations." (These photos by Ezra Stoller supplement the post I made of the house a few months back.)

A profile of Hillmer in SFGate tells you a bit about the man:

Hillmer's use of natural materials helped define the Bay Region Style in the years after World War II... Hillmer also earned a reputation as a perfectionist, and by 1960 Architectural Forum summarized his career as "20 years of practice (that) have produced few buildings but very expressive ones." All told, Hillmer produced fewer than 10 finished homes -- but they have had an inordinate influence because of their purity and beauty, even spirituality.

"My approach to architecture was as an art," he says. "The approach of most other architects is as a business. I never really thought about how much money I was getting."
Note his ingenious use of light and and of raw, natural materials, even down to the delightful wooden basins ...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Great photographs of some of the best modern house architecture anyone has produced. Darrell Caraway Architect

therav said...

Renovators always make me shudder, regardless of the architectural style. Beautiful documentation of a most excellent and fair home.