Los Angeles and its Architecture (1900-1970)

In Los Angeles, very diverse architectural languages have been used. At first sight, they do not seem to share many common traits. Are they nevertheless products of a common local architectural culture? With this question in mind, we will trace the development of Los Angeles and its architecture from the beginnings of the Mission Revival around 1900 to the advent of postmodernism in about 1970. We will embrace the remarkable variety of Los Angeles architecture, no matter whether international or regional, progressive or traditional, artistic or commercial. For example, we will focus on midcentury commercial architecture, on diverging concepts for postwar living as realized in ordinary tract houses or the Case Study House Program, and on the work of outstanding individuals such as Irving Gill, Greene & Greene, Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra and John Lautner.