I was out last weekend checking out an open house for Schindler's Westby House in Silverlake. While in the neighborhood I decided to do some "archeological work" at Schindler's Falk Apartments at 3631 Carnation Ave. down the street.
Architect William Krisel's "roots" so to speak, as a professional designer began while still in school at USC in 1949. Krisel apprenticed with noted architect/interior designer Paul Laszlo in the summer of 1946 where the focus was on residential design and residential and commercial interiors. The next three summers and after school during the school year Krisel worked in the office of Victor Gruen on office buildings and commercial work where he met future partner Dan Palmer. Dan had moved to California in 1947 with wife Doris and moved into R. M. Schindler's Falk Apartments commissioned by S. T. and Pauline Falk (Dan's aunt) in 1939.
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Lane Publishing, 1953. Jerry Anson photo. Details by William Krisel. Scanned from my collection.
Krisel's first professional job was to design the pergola and deck improvements seen in the Sunset publication above and my photo below in the spring of 1949 during his last semester at USC. The project was published in 1951 in Sunset magazine and in 1953 was anthologized in "Sunset Ideas for Hillside Homes." Palmer's aunt Pauline allowed the pergola to be built and even paid for the construction. It is amazing that the pergola is still in such good shape 60 years later.
While conducting an Oral History interview with Krisel I learned that his first office in 1950 was literally on the ground floor, i.e., in a dirt-floored, glorified crawl space below the apartments (see below).
Falk Apartments, Silverlake, R. M. Schindler, 1939. Photo by John Crosse.
Architect William Krisel's "roots" so to speak, as a professional designer began while still in school at USC in 1949. Krisel apprenticed with noted architect/interior designer Paul Laszlo in the summer of 1946 where the focus was on residential design and residential and commercial interiors. The next three summers and after school during the school year Krisel worked in the office of Victor Gruen on office buildings and commercial work where he met future partner Dan Palmer. Dan had moved to California in 1947 with wife Doris and moved into R. M. Schindler's Falk Apartments commissioned by S. T. and Pauline Falk (Dan's aunt) in 1939.
Falk Apartments, 3631 Carnation Ave., Silver Lake, R. M. Schindler, architect. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, J. Paul Getty Research Institute. From USC Digital Archive.
Patio before Palmer & Krisel pergola and deck improvements, Falk Apartments, 3631 Carnation Ave., Silver Lake, R. M. Schindler, architect. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, J. Paul Getty Research Institute. From USC Digital Archive.
Lane Publishing, 1953. Jerry Anson photo. Details by William Krisel. Scanned from my collection.
Krisel's first professional job was to design the pergola and deck improvements seen in the Sunset publication above and my photo below in the spring of 1949 during his last semester at USC. The project was published in 1951 in Sunset magazine and in 1953 was anthologized in "Sunset Ideas for Hillside Homes." Palmer's aunt Pauline allowed the pergola to be built and even paid for the construction. It is amazing that the pergola is still in such good shape 60 years later.
Palmer pergola designed by William Krisel with Schindleresque details. Photo by John Crosse.
While conducting an Oral History interview with Krisel I learned that his first office in 1950 was literally on the ground floor, i.e., in a dirt-floored, glorified crawl space below the apartments (see below).
First Palmer & Krisel office below the Falk Apartments. Photo by John Crosse.
Dungeon life was short-lived as when Bill's father heard about it he said "You can't be an architect and be in a basement. You'll never get a client that way." He fronted the boys $60.00 for their first month's rent for a real office at 1072 Gayley Ave. in Westwood and they never looked back.
For much more on Bill Krisel's early years see my "William Krisel and George Alexander in Hollywood."
Dungeon life was short-lived as when Bill's father heard about it he said "You can't be an architect and be in a basement. You'll never get a client that way." He fronted the boys $60.00 for their first month's rent for a real office at 1072 Gayley Ave. in Westwood and they never looked back.
For much more on Bill Krisel's early years see my "William Krisel and George Alexander in Hollywood."
edited by James Steele published by the USC Architectural Guild in 2002 (see below) for background material prior to the design of Case Study House No. 20, 1958, Saul Bass House, 2275 N. Santa Rosa Ave., Altadena.
edited by Frank Harris and Weston Bonnenberger, with design by Alvin Lustig, and with all photography by Shulman. Shulman's marketing skills were highly evolved by the late 1940s as were his relationships with a wide variety of publication editors. He had learned how to create a steady stream of income from his back-catalog of prints, especially for architects whose work he admired. His exposure to Richard Neutra's masterful and relentless self-promotional techniques and contacts developed with editors Neutra courted all came into play as he resold the prints from many of his assignments to the same publications. 
published by Reinhold. (see above). Shulman provided the lion's share of the photography. The book is still in print with the third edition available at Hennessey & Ingalls. (See my related article 
organized by Elizabeth A. T. Smith and published by the MIT Press in conjunction with the much-publicized exhibition of the same name on display at the Temporary Contemporary of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles from October 17, 1989 to February 18, 1990 and the massive 
by Elizabeth A. T. Smith, edited by Peter Goessel and epilogue and principal photography by Julius Shulman published by Taschen in 2002.
published in 2004 by Birkhauser. The CHS 20 chapter heading "Sacred Temple, Aged Body" said it all and was backed up by 8 depressing images of the decay. Thankfully, preservation-minded new owners lovingly restored the house to respectability in time for the October 15, 2005 tour celebrating the firm's work. (see catalog above). 
edited by Robert Winter, University of California Press, 1997. (from my collection).
