Thursday, December 29, 2011

Gordon Drake's First Project: The Lt. and Mrs. H. M. Drake Residence, Coronado, 1939-40

(Post Under Construction. Stay Tuned)

In the meantime, for more on Drake go to my The Post-War Publicity Partnership of Julius Shulman and Gordon Drake.

Photo courtesy of Drake's great nephew, Gordon Converse Hiler Drake.


The precocious Gordon Converse Drake received his first architectural notoriety in the spring of 1940 while still a student at USC for the design of his brother Max's house at 374 Avenue D on Coronado Island in San Diego. (See above). He designed and built the house in 1939, two years after enrolling in USC's School of Architecture and Fine Arts while under the tutelage of Carl Troedsson, first as a student and later a draftsman in his private practice. Drake won the special award for architecture in USC's annual Art Appoliad for his "House in Coronado" which was exhibited in the Fisher Gallery on the USC Campus. (See below). ("Creative Art Contest Winning Entries Show", Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1940, p. I-10).

Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1940, p. II-10.


Blueprint courtesy of Drake's great nephew, Gordon Converse Hiler Drake.


Photo courtesy of Drake's great nephew, Gordon Converse Hiler Drake.

Photo courtesy of Drake's great nephew, Gordon Converse Hiler Drake.