September 28, 2001 - Whittier Daily News

By Linda Hutchinson
Staff Writer

A modern house. What does that mean, really? A number of different home styles are familiar -- Craftsman, Victorian, French country, traditional, California mission -- but the definition and the look of a modern house is elusive to many people.

See and experience the modern homes of this region at the Modern Arroyo Home Tour on Sunday. Sponsored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Highland Park Heritage Trust, The Modern Arroyo Home Tour will feature eight different homes in the Pasadena and Mt. Washington areas. Of the eight, five have never before been opening for viewing.

"This area is really known for the Craftsman architecture, very few people know the legacy of modern architecture in this area," said Diana Barnwell, executive director of the Pasadena and Foothill Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Although the AIA began in 1895, the local chapter started in 1948, "when this kind of modern architecture began here, and a number of the early architects -- some still alive, some not -- who built in that area are just now beginning to be discovered," Barnwell said.

The architects behind these homes include Harwell Hamilton Harris, Boyd Georgi, James DeLong, Holly Bieniewski and designer Joseph W. Putnam.

Barnwell said this type of architecture incorporates a philosophy and design ethic that protects the environment and respects the individual home site.

One new house is included on the tour to serve as a counterexample. While all the other homes on the tour were designed and built between 1940 and 1960, the new house, situated on Mt. Washington, is "a conscious effort to use the same design philosophy: respect for the site, incorporating the mature native trees and landscaping, the use of renewable, ecologically sound materials and finishes," Barnwell said.

In addition to viewing the structures themselves, the tour will also show how modernism is translated into home environments, and how new materials and finish of the time, such as linoleum, Formica, aluminum, polished concrete, and masonry interiors were incorporated into the overall design."

Barnwell hopes what emerges after people take the tour is a new perception that a modern home can be user friendly. Unlike some of the very early, much harder and severe beginnings of the movement, Barnwell says these homes are actually identified and written about by a well-known local writer on modernism, Esther McCoy, as the "Pasadena or USC" style because, among other qualities, it is influenced by the Craftsman-era aesthetic and ethic. This regional effect on modern design, which uses a more organic palette like wood framing and wood surfaces, replaces earlier coldness and rigidity, according to Barnwell.

Modernism is worth the attention.

"We are building to excess now, and we are building for show, instead of comfort," Barnwell said. "These houses show how you're really going to live there. Not what you're going to show the neighbors."

-- Linda Hutchinson can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2611 or by e-mail at linda.hutchinson@sgvn.com.

What: The Modern Arroyo Home Tour Where: At various locations in Pasadena and the Mt. Washington area, maps available with tickets. When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday Cost: $25 in advance, $30 day of the tour Info: (323) 223-4895