California Architecture: San Diego and San Francisco Buildings Term Paper

Introduction

Architecture is one of the activities, which help to track the history of the places, people, and their traditions. With the help of various architectural buildings, people learn more about their own history and their cultures. Such unbelievable architectures like William Wilson Wurster, Irving John Gill, or Greene Brothers. These and many other architectures added lots of innovations to modern architecture and tempted people with their unusual vision of ordinary things and surroundings. They created so many buildings, which play a significant role for some people nowadays: The Gamble House, The New Children Museum, La Jolla Woman’s Club, The Becker House, and many others. Due to such works, a new concept, called California House, is appeared; the traditions of northern and southern California have considerably influenced the further development of the California House, and this is why it is necessary to find out and analyze the changes and provide captivating and appropriate examples to prove the chosen point of view.

Discussion

The concept of the California House

It is known that “American architecture has been dependent on external sources, generally European, for both tradition and innovation should make it easier t detect the specifically American elements in it, if there are any.” (Whiffen and Koeper, 1981). This is why it is quite possible to track the peculiar features of foreign tendencies in many American buildings. The California House is any type of building in California. Northern California architecture is created to charm the eye of its visitors and “tends toward the electric, a mix of Victorian, colonial, mission, and various European styles.” (DiLeo and Smith, 1983). In comparison to the Northern California architecture, the Southern one has more similarities with Spanish domestic tendencies (Winter, 1997). However, in spite of all those similarities to some other countries, California houses represent the spirit of America, and California in particular. With the help of certain examples of California houses, it will be easier to clear up their major characteristics.

Boke House (23 Panoramic Way) is a Northern California house, built by Bernard Maybeck in 1902. The architect himself said that this house, made of wood and shingles, was not created in order to glorify: mild climate and suburban context are the major characteristics of this California House.

Ennis House is a Southern California house, created during the times before the World War II. Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect of this building, presented this masonry in 1923. The peculiar features of this building are dry climate, hilltop context, and Deco Modern style – all this is so inherent to the location requirements, along Vermont Avenue. Its concrete location is 2607 Glendower Avenue, Los Angeles.

Gehry House, somewhere between 26^th Street and Wilshire Blvd, is Frank Gehry’s own house, built during the times after the World War II, in 1978. It is made of light wood frame and corrugated metal. Presented in mild temperate style, this California house represents the spirit of ad-hocism. Admiration of Christo, the desire to add more and more new techniques – this is what creates a view of something that has to be re-build.

Bateson building (1600 9^th Street) is a southern California house built by Sim van der Ryn in 1977. This government office introduces a warm temperate climate with its passive cooling strategy – the major features of this magnificent building, the construction of which was so inherent for the 1960-1970s.

California Is a Trend Setter in Architecture

Without any doubts, California houses deserve attention and recognition in many countries. With the help of its architectural buildings, countries may demonstrate their preferences and abilities. The examples of such California houses are really great in numbers; these are the Santa Barbara News Press (southern California), Neutra VDL Research House (Los Angeles, southern California), and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (northern California). It is necessary to admit that lifestyle of people from Southern and Northern California is quite different, and it considerably influences the architecture, people prefer for their houses. Where it is warm, people prefer to have pools in their yards in order to enjoy swimming any time. Frank Lloyd Wright is one the representative of the Southern California, who pays enough attention to weather and preferences of inhabitants (Vlahides, et al., 2007).

The architects like Wright prefer to use modern technologies and unusual architectural forms in order to correspond to socio-economic factors as well. Garden Grove Church is one of the examples, which demonstrate richness and prosperity of American people. Its glazed space frame walls and the roof of the same material attract the attention of all visitors.

San Diego and San Francisco Buildings

San Diego and San Francisco are two bright representatives of Southern and Northern California. Their buildings are usually magnificent and different from each other. They underline how powerful and rich the culture of the United States, and underline the fact that such richness does not prevent to share all this beauty with the others. Because of population’s growth, people need more houses to live in. Urban development is a kind of expansion within such natural areas like forests and deserts. This is why people have to build more and more houses, California houses, and provide citizens with opportunities to live and spend their time in comfortable places, taking into consideration new technologies and people’s demands.

San Diego’s La Jolla Woman’s Clubhouse is one of the most outstanding works created by Irving Gill at the beginning of the 20^th century. This genius architect used the most innovative techniques, which were inherent to tilt-slab constructions. People say that California architecture reached its perfections in the works created by Irving Gill (Abu-Lughod, 1999). The walls in La Jolla Woman’s Clubhouse are all flush with the casing. The point is that Gill did not want to concentrate on moldings and baseboards. With the help of proper constructions, the building takes as much light as necessary and illuminates the house.

Westfield Horton Plaza is one more sight in San Diego, architecture of which attracts attention and charms the visitor. This shopping mall amazes by its tricks and rhythms. This tourist attraction was built by Ernest Hahn in 1985.

Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most known constructions in San Francisco. This project of Joseph Strauss links San Francisco with Marin County. (Shulte-Peevers et al., 2006) The painting of this bridge turns out to be an endless work, where more than 25 workers have to add about 1000 gallons every week.

San Francisco’s City Hall is another magnificent building that occupies two city blocks. This building plays an important role for the city because its underlines its importance and uniqueness. In spite of the earthquake and other events, each detail of this creation by Arthur Brown Jr. is on its proper place.

Works Cited

1. Abu-Lughod, J. L. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles: America’s Global Cities.
2. DiLeo, Michael and Smith, Eleanor. Two Californias: The Truth about the Split-State Movement. Island Press, 1983.
3. Shulte-Peevers, Andrea, Benson, Sara, Downs, Tom, and Landon Robert. California. Lonely Planet, 2006.
4. Vlahides, John, A. and Hersher, Alex. Coastal California. Lonely Planet, 2007.
5. Whiffen, Marcus and Koeper, Frederick. American Architecture 1607-1976. Routledge, 1981.
6. Winter, Robert. Towards a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts & Crafts Architects of California. University of California Press, 1997.

Internet Sources

1. La Jolla Woman’s Club. Web.
2. Golden Gate Bridge. Web.
3. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Web.
4. Westfield Horton Plaza.