Name:
Eames House/ Case Study House #8
Eames House/ Case Study House #8
Address:
203 Chautauqua Bld. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272, Los Angeles, California,
Location:
Located in the Pacific Palisades, the Eames House sits on a
bluff overlooking the Pacific. The Pacific Palisades is a community that sits between
Santa Monica and Malibu in Los Angeles, California.
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Kauffman, Eric. “Climate and Topogrpahy.” Accessed December 7, 2012.
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California is low in relation to
sea level, and Pacific Palisades, being right in a peninsula on the coastline
of the Pacific Ocean, is less than 100 feet below sea level. However the city
is guarded by mountains north of it, which are up to 4000 feet above sea level.
The land was first inhabited by the Native Americans who had
settled and made home along the seaside canyons. In 1839, the 6656 acre of wooded
canyons, broad plateaus and low valleys was granted by the Governor of
California to Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes establishing Rancho Boca de
Santa Monica. Pacific Palisades was founded on this land by Reverend Charles H.
Scott in 1922 as a site for the Summer Assemblies of Chautauqua Movement. The
movement grew from the idea of a summer school for Sunday teachers of the
Methodist Church back in the 1870s. The Pacific palisade assembly took place
over a six week period, drawing people from throughout the southwest. In 1945, February
15, John Entenza purchased five acres of land in the community of Pacific Palisades
which became the core of the Case Study Program.
The Eames house clustered with four other single family case
study residences. Like the other houses, the Eames House was located on a
hillside lot along the urban periphery of Los Angeles. Despite being surrounded
by densely populated core cities, the foothills create a sense of privacy and
isolation. Historian Reyner Banham describes the foothills as “that is what the
foothill ecology is really all about: narrow tortuous residential roads serving
precipitous house plots that often back up directly on unimproved wilderness
even now (1972); an air of deeply buried privacy even in relatively broad
valley-bottoms in Stone Canyon or Mandeville Canyon . . . [T]his is a landscape
that seems to cry out for affluent suburban residences, and to flourish when so
employed.” Ester McCoy suggested that the foothills were already prime geography
for avant-garde architects; dating their popularity back the 1920s when the
lots were labelled “unbuildable” and sold for a fraction of average prices.
The Pacific Palisades consist of mild microclimates. It sits
on a warm dry climate, being warmest in August and rainiest in February.
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World Climates. “California Climates.” Accessed December 8, 2012.
http://www.world-climates.com/region-climate-california-usa-north-america
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The Weather Channel. “Monthly Averages for Pacific Palisades, CA.” Accessed December 8, 2012. http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/90272
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The property is not visible from the street and is accessed through a private asphalt road from Chautauqua Boulevard. The road first leads to 201 Chautauqua which is Case Study House #9, the Entenza House, and then leading onto the property of the Eames. To the north, the drive is edged by a serpentine brick wall that is part of Richard Neutra’s landscape design for Case Study house #20, the Bailey House. The Southern drive is edged with wooden fencing and shaded by mature over hanging trees. The Eames House occupies an oddly shaped 1.4 acres. The land is mainly flat with a steep slope on the western tip which is parallel to house. To the east lies a creasy meadow. The immediate property is densely populated by greenery and interesting landscapes. To the far edge of the property lies an earthen mound. Metal fences are covered by grown shrubs which also screen of the neighbouring Entenza House. The western façade is shaded by eucalyptus trees.
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| http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf |
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| http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf |
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| http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf |
Summarizes the Eames House in the context of domestic postwar housing including construction, location, and origins.
Infrastructural:
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Google. “203 Chautauqua Blvd.” Accessed December 9, 2012.
https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
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| Neuhart, John., and Neuhart, Marilyn., and Eames, Ray. Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Japan: A Times Mirror Company, 1994, 115 |
The Eames house is surrounded by forest and is lined on the long side of the house by eucalyptus trees. The trees create privacy which expands over time. Between the study and the home is a courtyard and garden. A patio is also located on the far end of the house.
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| Neuhart, John., and Neuhart, Marilyn., and Eames, Ray. Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Japan: A Times Mirror Company, 1994, 115.. |
As seen in the infrastructure map, the Eames house is surrounded by large expensive homes and below the cliff is a beach. Off from the Eames house and the beach is a small shopping zone.
How the house has transformed over time:
The Eames house hasn't changed in the years from construction. Charles and Ray maintained the house until they both passed. From there the home was overseen by the family until Charles' daughter founded the Eames foundation, which is who has preserved the home since 2004.
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