Nancy Pearlman is once again offering tours of her wonderful mountain cabin in Idyllwild.
Date: February 23, 2019
Lunch included, at noon. For cost, directions, all information, contact Nancy at nancysuepearlman@aol.com or, better, call 310 559-9160.
On September 26 of last year, John de la Vaux died. Builder of some of John Lautner’s most memorable buildings, de la Vaux brought unique qualities and experience to the job, along with a brilliant mind. It is unlikely such a builder will ever be seen again. It is no exaggeration to say that John Lautner’s name would not be as well known if his collaboration with de la Vaux had not happened, happily for both.
John de la Vaux’s daughters have created this beautiful testimony to his life:
John Douglas de la Vaux
1912 – 2018
With heavy hearts we announce the passing of our Dad, John de la Vaux, on September 26, 2018, at the age of 106. His mind remained sharp until the very end, but his body was just worn out.
John was born in Daley City, California, July 4, 1912, the fifth child of Alfred and Aimee de la Vaux. In 1916 the family moved to San Anselmo. He was enrolled in the First Grade in a one-room school in 1917, only to be removed when the Pandemic Spanish Flu broke out. John was again enrolled in school and again removed due to his father’s incarceration for being a German during WW I, an episode that his father never recovered from. John was enrolled and removed a third time when he was mis-diagnosed with polio. The family moved to San Diego in 1920, hoping for a better life in the wake of the War and John was finally enrolled in First Grade at eight years old. He was blessed with a photographic memory so was able to catch up quickly. During those years in san Diego, he fished for food for his family and frequented the boat-building yards, picking up skills he would use in the future. He even watched the building of Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis airplane! The family moved to Hollywood, California when John was about 16 years old and he was enrolled at Le Conte Jr. High School. He attended Hollywood High School and left school in the eleventh grade when he was 20 years old.
Life was tough during the post-War years and schooling was interrupted several times when John took jobs to help support his family. The move to Hollywood located the family across the street from the girl who would be the love of his life. His future father-in-law took him into the building trade and gave him the building education of a life-time. They helped to build the brand-new Beverly Hills community!
John married Marguerite Bell in 1933, a marriage that lasted 64 years until her death in 1997. They were blessed with three children: Johnette, Marguerite, and Douglas.
Employment of any kind was hard to find in the 1930s when the Country was still in the throes of the financial crash of 1929. John worked in building construction, on highway projects up and down the California coast, commercial fishing and boat building. When WWII started, he was too old for the Draft. The building trades dried up. Boat-building and commercial fishing supported his family. He built speed-boats for the Actor and Actress John Hall and Frances Langford, and Actor Errol Flynn. When the U.S. Navy wanted to increase the speed of 45-50 mph P.T. Boats, John was involved in a top-secret modification, designing and building a wood hull that would withstand speeds of up to 120 mph. He was on-board the boat when it was tested with new super-charged engines in Long Beach Harbor. The test was successful, but the Navy was daunted by the ultra-speed and cancelled the contract. In 1942, Lockheed Overseas Corporation contracted John as a crew supervisor and sent him to Northern Ireland to build an airstrip for the Allies. He crossed the Atlantic, in a convoy, on the Queen Elizabeth which had been modified as a Troop Ship, at a time when German submarines had become a deadly threat.
In 1947, Marguerite had become friends with the wife of an up-and-coming modernistic Architect, John Lautner, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright. John Lautner was looking for a builder to construct a very modernistic house in the Hollywood Hills. The two Johns were introduced, and a liaison of 40 years was sealed. Through those 40 years, John de la Vaux built seven John Lautner designs; the most famous (throughout the world) is the Chemosphere house which is still known as the most modern house ever built.
Another design, the Harpel house, built beside a small lake in Anchorage, Alaska, was featured in the October 6, 1967 issue of Life Magazine. As John states in the documentary, “Infinite Space,” his life wouldn’t have been complete had he not built those homes. The homes he built:
Carling Residence
Harvey Residence
Malin Residence (Chemosphere)
Harpel Residence no. 1 and no. 2
Began the Reiner Residence (Silvertop)
Most of the Tolstoy Residence
Remodeled Stevens Residence
John built many more homes designed by other Modern Architects, including a home for George C. Page, founder of Mission Pack. John was subsequently hired as a consultant on the construction of the George C. Page Museum La Brea Discoveries at Rancho La Brea, Hancock Park, in Los Angeles.
John and Marguerite retired to Carson City, Nevada, in 1987, to be nearer his son and daughters as Marguerite was taken away by dementia. He cared for her for 10 years until her death in 1997. For the past 12 years, John was writing a book on how the Pyramids at Giza were constructed: how the stones were moved, lifted and put in place. He was also writing his life history. His Daughter, Marguerite, hopes to complete his Pyramid book.
Besides being a “builder extraordinaire”, our Dad had a love affair with food throughout his life. He was truly a gourmet cook! He was an avid reader of scientific and nature publications and his phenomenal memory allowed him to quote minute details about a myriad of subjects. It is said that when a centenarian dies, an encyclopedia of knowledge dies with them. He was our encyclopedia.
John was pre-deceased by his parents and 5 siblings; wife, Marguerite; grandson, Leonard Bright; daughter-in-law, Jeanine de la Vaux; granddaughter, Danielle de la Vaux; and granddaughter, Laura Dolan Bright-Ruecker. He is survived by his daughters, Johnette Deane and Marguerite Dolan (Joe), son, Douglas de la Vaux (Mary), 2 grandsons, 3 granddaughters, 8 great-grandchildren and 9 great-great-grandchildren.
Dad, we could ask you about anything and you would always know something about it.
Your cooking was beyond amazing; you could dream up a recipe and create a gourmet feast.
We miss you so — you gave so much to so many. Thank you for all you gave to us.
We’ll meet again in your Great Beyond.
Are you interested in purchasing the English edition of Lautner A-Z, the new book by Tycho Saariste and Jan-Richard Kikkert? It isn’t available yet but when it is you can buy it from the Foundation. To make sure you are notified when we receive the copies, please complete this simple form.
About the book:
Lautner A-Z
An Exploration of the Complete Built
by Jan-Richard Kikkert & Tycho Saaristewith an introduction by Alan
English version to be released Spring 2019
paperback, size: 6.7 x 9.4 inch (17 x 24 cm)386 pages with
Publisher: ArtEZ Press
From the front flap:
The American architect John Lautner (1911-1994) was well ahead of his time. His original, unconventional and very versatile oeuvre was never repetitive. His concern for the dreams and desires of his clients, his sensitivity to the location of his buildings and his interest in the latest technical developments in were constants in his work.
Lautner blurred the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces, between nature and architecture
Lautner’s work developed greatly throughout the years: he started off close to his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright and ended with an uninhibited, unique and personal architectural style.
This book provides an unprecedented treasury of information about all of Lautner’s built works. It is an odyssey, the story of two architects on a mission: Jan-Richard Kikkert and Tycho Saariste located, visited and described all the surviving buildings. This began with finding the correct addresses through Google Earth and ended with studying dusty rolls of drawings in owners’ attics. Each house visit is described separately, with a focus on striking architectonic elements, the locations
Kikkert and Saariste also conducted extensive (archival) research on buildings that no longer exist and designs that were never built. The book is richly illustrated, often with photographs made
‘The purpose of architecture is to improve human life.’ John Lautner
‘After years of indefatigable research, Tycho and
Get thee to the Sheats-Goldstein residence – if there is room.
The next one:
You might want to join this meetup for future notifications of this and other tours. As always, we welcome suggestions for tours of other Lautner buildings. Just send your suggestions to comments (at) johnlautner (dot) org.
Palm Springs Modernism Week is celebrating John Lautner this year, by dedicating a sidewalk star to him and offering several other Lautner-related events. Most of the events take place on Friday, February 17, 2017, the day after Modernism Week officially begins. Here is your itinerary, should you choose to attend:
Begin with The Visionary John Lautner, a lecture by Alan Hess at the Annenberg Theatre inside the Palm Springs Art Museum. The lecture is from 10 – 11 am; tickets are $12 each.
Appropriately following at 11:30 in the same place is Arthur Elrod = Diamonds are Forever, a lecture by Adele Cygelman. Cygelman will demonstrate that Elrod in his own right was a designer of lasting value. The event ends at 12:30; tickets are $12 each.
Next on what has informally become known as “Lautner Day” is the dedication of the star. The star will be inset in Palm Canyon Drive outside the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center. There will be brief presentations by special guests and light refreshments afterwards. The event is free and there are no reservations.
The star was one of the goals of Karol Lautner Peterson, who headed The John Lautner Foundation from its inception in 1995 to her death in August 2015. We of the Foundation Board are especially pleased that the architecture and preservation groups in Palm Springs worked so hard to make it happen.
The final event of Lautner Day is the screening of Bette Cohen’s wonderful documentary, The Spirit in Architecture: John Lautner, at the Annenberg Theatre at 4:30 – 6:00 pm. Tickets are $10 each. The film is the 25th anniversary edition, newly updated and remastered from the original 1991 film by Bette Cohen. The screening is dedicated to Bette, who died in October 2016. Bette’s co-producer, Evelyn Wendel, will introduce the film. (See an account of the making of the original film, written by Cohen.)
While this list of events completes Lautner Day, there is still more.
On Sunday, February 19, Hotel Lautner will offer tours of the remodelled Desert Hot Springs Motel at 10 am, 11:15 am, and 12:30 pm. Visitors will be able to tour two of the units. Tickets are $50 each, a portion of which will be donated to the John Lautner Foundation. Members of the Foundation Board of Directors and volunteers will be at a table at the event, offering DVDs of Infinite Space and Tributes for sale and answering questions about Lautner’s work.
That night is a party with a purpose: Hotel Lautner – A Night for Preservation. Hotel owners Tracy Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge will host another tour of the hotel and will introduce founders Ron Woodson and Jaime Rummerfield of Save Iconic Architecture (SIA). Proceeds will benefit SIA. Tickets are $125 each, 21-and-over only.
And finally, on Wednesday, February 22, Tracy Beckmann, co-owner of Hotel Lautner, will present what she has learned from renovating the Desert Hot Springs Motel (original name). Beckmann will speak at the Palm Springs Woman’s Club from 3-4 pm. The event is free but reservations are recommended.
Other lectures and tours include mention of Lautner, including, among others, some of the bus tours, California Modernism, and Claremont Modern.
Modernism Week has become a popular more-than-a-week event and some activities sell out early. Get your tickets now!
The Iconic Houses program at the Getty Center features the Sheats and Garcia residences, among others. There are many activities scheduled for this month. The registration deadline is tomorrow, February 7. There are still a few seats left. Click on the logo below for a schedule.
A cabin designed for Stephen and Audrey Bosustow in 1972-1976 is for sale. The Lautner-designed home is in Lake Almanor, CA, and features slanted glass panels facing the lake. Bosustow built the cabin along with Clarence Bergman, using wood throughout.
The home is not in original condition. Additions have been made on both sides and its redwood exterior has been painted. A railing was added in front of the glass, and the concrete floor was carpeted. A terrace was added later.
Partly because of its remote location the home is not well-known. The glass panels achieve the effect of no barrier, similar to the Pearlman cabin, because there is no reflection.
For more photogra
phs and details of the sale check the realtor’s site.
The “Multiple Property Submission” of eight Lautner homes to the State Historic Resources Commission was approved in Sacramento this morning, January 29, 2016. The eight properties are the John & Mary Lautner House, the Foster Carling House, the Schaffer House, the Harvey House, the Harpel (Hollywood) House, the Pearlman Mountain Cabin, the Elrod House, and the Walstrom House.
The commission noted that seven letters had been received in support of the nominations.
The primary authors of the application, Lauren Bricker and Luis Hoyos, both teachers of architecture at Cal Poly Pomona, were present, as was Christine Lazzaretto of Historic Resources Group, who prepared the final revisions, and Judith Lautner representing the John Lautner Foundation. Students in the Cal Poly classes did the initial research and preparation of the application. Commissioners complimented the Cal Poly professors on their efforts in introducing their students to this process.
The multiple property submission will now be forwarded to the State Historic Preservation Officer for nomination to the National Register. The final determination is made 45 days after receipt by the Keeper of the National Register in Washington, D.C. As there have been no objections to the listing and the properties meet the criteria of the National Register they are expected to be listed.
The success of this application opens the door for additional applications by Lautner building owners and others. Much of the base work has been done. The Foundation is happy to assist with research and other aspects of the process. Please contact the Foundation through this form if you would like more information:
The Elrod House, one of the best known of the homes designed by John Lautner, will be listed for sale early this coming week, according to owner Michael Kilroy. Built in 1968 atop a ridge overlooking Palm Springs and the southern Coachella Valley, providing views also of the San Jacinto Mountains to the west and San Bernardinos to the north and east, this home has been featured in the James Bond movie “Diamonds Are Forever” and in many high-end advertising campaigns. As well-known and high-profile as the Elrod House is, Kilroy has helped create different kinds of memories of it for many people.
Judith Lautner first saw the house as a young woman working for her father, when the two visited Arthur Elrod soon after it was built and then later when he was working on the Hope residence. Lautner and Elrod had become good friends during the design and construction of Elrod’s house. Judith says that she loved visiting it at different times of the day because it became a different house every hour. Arthur’s death was a great loss to all who knew him and to the broader design world. He was both a major design force — John Lautner once remarked that no house he designed was better furnished than when Arthur furnished the Elrod House — and a kind man who generously helped many in the various communities around him.
Judith Lautner didn’t see the house again until many years later, when she and her sister Karol Lautner Peterson first met Michael Kilroy after he bought the property in 2003. Judith says, “Michael spoke highly of both the work of John Lautner and of the efforts of the John Lautner Foundation, then asked if Karol and I had ever stayed in a home designed by our father. Moments later, he offered to lend the house to us and members of the extended Lautner clan, so that we could all stay together in a home designed by John Lautner. It was a week-long stay which none of us will soon forget, one during which we drew lots for the privilege of spending the night in the main bedroom and cooked each night in the generous kitchen. I liked the guest bedroom so much I didn’t give it up all week.”
This generous sharing of the Elrod House with others became the norm under Michael’s ownership. When the Hammer Museum was organizing its landmark exhibition of the work of John Lautner, the first comprehensive exhibit of his work, and Michael learned that architectural historian Nicholas Olsberg and the other curators of the exhibit had never stayed in a Lautner house, he lent them his, his only caveat being that they stay for at least three nights, so they could “start to really get some of the subtleties of the design.”
As noted in the film “Infinite Space: the Architecture of John Lautner,” when the Dutch architects and students who were traveling to every known Lautner project arrived in Palm Springs and reached Michael by phone that morning, he asked where they were staying that night, then put them up in the house. Michael also provided the house to numerous groups for charity events, like the Palm Springs Preservation Society’s Retro Martini Party in 2010 (half of the profits went to the Foundation), and a series of TEDActive events in 2012, and opened it to the general public for multiple days of tours during Modernism Week 2012 with the proceeds donated to the Los Angeles Conservancy. Michael continued to share the property while a dispute over lender manipulation of mortgage interest rates dragged on between a multinational bank and hundreds of property owners including himself; the dispute lasted more than seven years and involved more than four years of litigation in half a dozen legal venues before that bank settled with him last year.
Michael’s sharing of the Elrod House in a variety of different ways, for more than a dozen years now, has meant that many more people than would otherwise be the case have been able to experience first-hand one of the greatest works of John Lautner. We are fortunate that owners like Michael Kilroy have been so impressed by John Lautner’s work that they not only buy and preserve these wonderful properties but also go out of their way to share them with others in ways which can greatly spread the enjoyment and understanding of these great designs.
The Elrod House will be listed by Tyler Morgan, Keith Markovitz and Todd Monaghan of HK Lane/Christie’s International Real Estate in Palm Springs.
The Foundation is pleased to announce the submission of eight Lautner buildings, a “Multiple Property Submission”, to the National Register of Historic Places. The application is to be heard on the State Historic Resources Commission agenda on January 29, 2016, in Sacramento. Members of the public are welcome to attend. The meeting will start at 9 am at
Sacramento City Hall Council Chamber
915 I Street
Sacramento, Ca 95814
The application was prepared by two Cal Poly professors: Lauren Weiss Bricker and Luis Hoyos, with assistance from their students, and with revisions by Christine Lazzaretto of Historic Resources Group. It was a joint project of the Cal Poly professors and The John Lautner Foundation, which provided information and funding where needed.
The eight buildings are:
The application is the culmination of several years’ work, primarily by Bricker and Hoyos, and contains historical and architectural detail of each building, along with photographs. If the state commission approves the nomination it will be forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register, who will approve or deny the application.
It is rare for a nomination to be denied after the state office has approved it. If the application is approved, the listing will pave the way for further nominations of Lautner buildings. The Foundation intends to pursue additional nominations either on its own or in collaboration with others and encourages all owners of Lautner buildings to look into the potential for listing their Lautner property. We are happy to assist.
The application is expected to be on the “consent” agenda, which means that it will not be discussed separately. However, any consent item can be pulled from the agenda and discussed. Bricker and Hoyos expect to be at the meeting, along with representatives from Historic Resources Group, and members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation.
While not required, support in the form of letters is encouraged. There is no required format for such letters. We have provided a sample letter (in Microsoft Word format) to get you started.
Letters should be sent to
State Historical Resources Commission
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
Or you can send comments by email to calshpo@parks.ca.gov
The Foundation’s primary purpose is the preservation of Lautner buildings along with the education of the public on the value and importance of Lautner’s architecture. Listing of these eight homes will provide a level of protection for the buildings as well as increased visibility of this architecture. We are therefore very excited about this application and mark it as a significant point in the Foundation’s history.
