The Whipple Events- Long Beach Mid-Century Modern Home Tour

The Seeley House, Edward Killingsworth, 1953 Image credit © Denise Dube

Much has been said about the Arts and Architecture of Long Beach, California.
We are notorious for our lengthy beaches, our amazing eats and our mid-century modern pocket neighborhoods. On October 15th we decided to join the University of Art Museum and their tour of 9 Long Beach Mid- Century Modern homes.

Stops along the tour included homes designed by Hugh Davies, Edward Killingsworth, Cliff May, George Montierth, Richard Neutra and Raphael Soriano.

The tour was organized by the UAM to raise funds in support of its upcoming exhibition, Frank Bros.: The Store That Modernized Modern, on view Saturday, January 28, 2017 - April 16, 2017. 
The Long Beach retailer, Frank Bros. furniture was the primary U.S. source for the most coveted mid-century design at the height of the modernist era, furnishing nearly half of the Case Study Houses for Arts & Architecture Magazine. The store emphasized the principles of aesthetics and functionality in furniture design, and blurred the boundaries between art, design, and commerce with their exhibitions, innovative graphic design, marketing, and public relations.

Frank Bros. advertisement, 1949 MidCentArc @ flickr

We found ourselves in the lovely International/Streamline Moderne-style Hugh R. Davis 1936 designed home known as the "20th Century House". The staircase is a dream.

We stopped by Long Beach's Virginia Country Club neighborhood to visit the house by Case Study architects Edward Killingsworth and Jules Brady. It was built in 1970 as Brady's own residence. It's distinguished by it's Alice-In-Wonderlandishly tall foors that open into a two-story atrium with double height ceilings and large expanses of glass.

The tour included two designed by Cliff May, the father of the California Ranch House
(The Whipple Residence is located in the Cliff May Ranchos neighborhood!). He designed modern residences to answer the postwar housing demand, creating a neighborhood of 700 homes.

The 20th Century House (Hugh Davies 1936) Image Credit Denise Dube

Cliff May Ranchos, 1953 Image Credit Denise Dube

The stunning custom built 1951 mid-century modern showplace by accomplished architect George Montierth also in the prestigious Virginia Country Club location.

We had the pleasure of passing by the modest pitched-roof, two story Hafley House and its companion one-story Moore House next door created by modernist master Richard Neutra. 

The Moore House, Richard Neutra, 1953.

And lets just say Raphael Soriano can sure design a bank of windows.
We headed to Long Beach's Alamitos Heights to scope the 1940 Long Beach
house. We could really appreciate the cause of it all, the major part of the Long Beach Mid-Century Modern Home Tour, bringing the Frank Bros exhibition to life.

He believed that everybody deserved good design.

Exterior of Case Study House No. 25, designed for Eddie Frank by the firm of Killingsworth, Brady, Smith & Associate, 1961 © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Barcelona chairs and coffee table mix with an Eames ottoman and Van Keppel-Green sofa in the Long Beach home of Eddie Frank (Case Study No. 25) © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Appointments in the study of Eddie Frank’s home included a Hans Wegner arm chair, a lounge chair by Yngve Ekstrom, and a sofa by Rasted & Relling. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)