West Coast Residential: The Modern + The Contemporary

The Charles H. Scott Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition that investigates the development of modernist architecture on the West Coast and its influence on contemporary architectural practice with a focus on five cities, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The exhibition features a pair of houses from each of these five cities, one mid-century modern and one contemporary.

The project involves five curators, one from each city represented in the exhibition. Their task was to choose the two houses, make a comparison, and discuss the elements that link them. Chris Macdonald of Vancouver chose B C Binning’s 1940 Binning House, along with Battersby/Howat’s Gulf Island Residence, currently under construction. Susan Boyle of Seattle selected Paul Hayden Kirk’s 1951 Blair Kirk House, along with Eggleston/Farkas’ 2001 Mathieson House. From John Cava in Portland came the choice of John Yeon’s 1939 Jorgensen House, along with William Tripp’s 2001 Packer House. Marc Treib of San Francisco selected William Wurster’s 1940 Lyman House, along with Stanley Saitowitz’s 1990 Di Napoli Residence. Kurt Helfrich of Los Angeles chose Maynard Lyndon’s 1949 Maynard Lyndon House, along with Barton Myers’s 1999 Barton Myers House and Studio.

The idea was not to simply choose the best known houses but rather to have the selections act as generators of a wider discussion about the legacy and relevance of modernism in relation to contemporary architectural practice. In what way are the lessons and traditions of modernism being integrated into contemporary houses? As well, the exhibition seeks to reveal the connections between cities on the West Coast, to look at how each region manifested its own variant of modernism and to investigate West Coast houses in distinction to elsewhere. What defined a West Coast vernacular in the mid-century and does it still exist at the turn of the century? The intent is not to see modernism as an isolated historical moment, but to look at it from a contemporary perspective as a continuum of innovation that is still taking place today.

Along with the exhibition the Charles H. Scott is organizing a one-day symposium on June 21, with presentations and discussions by the participating curators and architects which will expand on the themes addressed in the exhibition. As well, from June 13 to July 13 in the Concourse Gallery there will be an exhibition, Western Homes and Living, which features a selection of West Coast houses that were published in Western Homes and Living magazine from 1950 to 1969. Some of the architects represented in the exhibition include Ron Thom, Arthur Erickson, Fred Hollingsworth and Barry Downs.