Gregory Ain

Gregory Ain (March 28, 1908–January 9,1988) was an American architect active in the mid-20th century. Working primarily in the Los Angeles area, Ain is best known for bringing elements of modernism to lower- and medium-cost housing.

Biography

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1908, Ain was raised in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. For a short time during his childhood, the Ain family lived at Llano del Rio, an experimental collective farming colony in the Antelope Valley of California

He was inspired to become an architect after visiting the Schindler House as a teenager. He attended the University of Southern California School of Architecture in 1927–28, but dropped out after feeling limited by the school's Beaux Arts training.

His primary influences were Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra. He worked for Neutra from 1930 to 1935, along with fellow apprentice Harwell Hamilton Harris, and contributed to Neutra's major projects of that period.

Beginning in 1935, Ain cultivated a practice designing modest houses for working-class clients. In these projects he wanted to address "the common architectural problems of common people," which prompted flexible floor plans and open kitchens.

Ain was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1940 to study prefabricated housing. During World War II, Ain was Chief Engineer for Charles and Ray Eames in the development of their well-known plywood chairs.

After the war, in Ain's most productive period, he formed a partnership with Joseph Johnson and Alfred Day in order to design large housing tracts. His major projects of this period included Park Planned Homes, Avenel Homes, Mar Vista Housing, and Community Homes. He collaborated with landscape architect Garrett Eckbo on each of these projects.

These projects attracted the attention of Philip Johnson, the curator of architecture at the Museum of Modern Art, who engaged Ain to build a house in the museum's garden in 1950. At the same time, Ain was perceived as a communist, and the growing "Red Scare" caused him to lose several opportunities, including participation in the Case Study Program.

He also taught architecture at USC after the war. Then, from 1963 to 1967, he served as the Dean of the Pennsylvania State University School of Architecture. He died in 1988.

Buildings

* 1936: Edwards House, Los Angeles, CA
* 1937: Ernst House, Los Angeles, CA
* 1937: Byler House, Mt. Washington (Los Angeles), CA
* 1937-39: Dunsmuir Flats, Los Angeles, CA
* 1938: Brownfield Medical Building, Los Angeles, CA (later destroyed)
* 1938: Beckman House, Los Angeles, CA
* 1939: Daniel House, Silver Lake (Los Angeles), CA
* 1939: Hay House, North Hollywood, CA
* 1939: Tierman House, Silver Lake (Los Angeles), CA
* 1939: Vorkapich Garden House, for Slavko Vorkapich, Beverly Hills, CA (later destroyed)
* 1941: Ain House, Hollywood, CA
* 1941: Orans House, Silver Lake (Los Angeles), CA
* 1946: Park Planned Homes, Altadena, CA
* 1947-48: Mar Vista Housing, Mar Vista (Los Angeles), CA
** designated as a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone by the city of Los Angeles in 2003 [ [http://cityplanning.lacity.org/complan/othrplan/pdf/AinMarVistaHPOZ.pdf Gregory Ain Mar Vista Tract Historical Preservation Overlay Zone (City of Los Angeles)] ] .
* 1948: Avenel Homes (cooperative), Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA
** listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
* 1948: Hollywood Guilds and Unions Office Building, Los Angeles, CA (later destroyed)
* 1948: Miller House, Beverly Hills, CA
* 1948: Community Homes [cite journal
last = Denzer
first = Anthony
title = Community Homes: Race, Politics and Architecture in Postwar Los Angeles
journal = Southern California Quarterly
volume = 87
issue = no. 3
pages = 269–285
date = Fall 2005] (cooperative), Reseda (Los Angeles), CA (unbuilt)
* 1949: Schairer House, Los Angeles, CA
* 1950: Beckman House II, Sherman Oaks, CA
* 1950: Hurschler House, Pasadena, CA (later destroyed)
* 1950: MOMA Exhibition House, New York City (later destroyed)
* 1962-63: Ernst House II, Vista, CA
* 1963: Kaye House, Tarzana, CA

References

Bibliography

*cite book
last = Denzer
first = Anthony
title = Gregory Ain: The Modern Home as Social Commentary
publisher = Rizzoli Publications
date = 2008
url = http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/results.pperl?title_auth_isbn=denzer&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit
isbn = 0-8478-3062-4
* cite book
last = McCoy
first = Esther
title = The Second Generation
publisher = Gibbs Smith
date = 1984
isbn = 0879051191
*cite book
last = Gebhard
first = David
coauthors = Harriette Von Breton and Lauren Weiss Bricker
title = The Architecture of Gregory Ain: The Play Between the Rational and High Art
publisher = Univ of California, Santa Barbara
date = 1980

External links

* [http://fixupaddon.blogspot.com/ Gregory Ain Model Home Redo & Add On]
* [http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/shulman/architects/ain/projects.html LA Obscura: Ain Projects]
* [http://www.modernsandiego.com/Ain.html Modern San Diego biography]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/taotakashi/213224006/ Gregory Ain - Mar Vista Residence (1948). Recreation in "Second Life"]