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Image: Buff, Straub, Hensman; Source: usmodernist.org

Calvin Chester Straub was an American architect who helped shape Southern California’s postwar, modernist architectural style. Born in 1920, Straub graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1944. Upon graduation, Straub served in the Navy during the remainder of WWII before returning to Pasadena to resume his architecture career. 

In 1946, Straub took a teaching position at USC, later becoming dean of the university's College of Architecture. During his time at USC, Straub focused on architectural responses to social issues, including low-income housing needs. This focus helped shape his architectural style, which emphasized function,

Source: palmspringslife.com

Born in Los Angeles in 1919, Robson Chambers is an American architect who helped to create California’s unique, desert-modern architectural style. Chambers received a degree in architecture from the University of California in 1941. Shortly after graduation, Chambers went on to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII, helping to design Camp Pendleton in Oceanside. 

After the war, Chambers briefly worked as an independent architect before joining the firm of modernist architects Albert Frey and John Porter Clark in 1946. By 1952, Chambers was a partner in the firm, with the three remaining partners for five years until Clark left to focus on non-residential work. 

Source: psmodcom.org

Despite Clark’s absence,

Project: United States Courthouse — Los Angeles • Architect: @skidmoreowingsmerrill • 2018 AIA Awards - Architecture / Source: @aianational

Founded in 1857, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) was created by a group of 13 New York City architects with a mission to “promote the artistic, scientific, and practical profession of its members; to facilitate their intercourse and good fellowship; to elevate the standing of the profession; and to combine the efforts of those engaged in the practice of architecture for the general advancement of the art.”

Shortly after its founding, the AIA began recruiting new members from other major cities, creating its first chapters in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston before expanding to additional cities such

Source: archeyes.com 

Widely regarded as one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, Louis Kahn was born in Estonia but immigrated to the United States with his family when he was just a child. Kahn displayed an early gift of drawing, which led him to pursue architecture school at the University of Pennsylvania. During school, Kahn received Beaux Arts architectural training from famed professors and architects, such as Paul Philippe Cret. 

True to Beaux Arts tradition, Kahn’s architectural training discouraged the use of excessive ornamentation in favor of restraint and integrity of form. Kahn would apply this principle throughout his career, becoming known for his unique style that combined the organic feel of modernism with the

Source: latimes.com 

Born in 1895, Wallace Neff was a California architect who many attribute to developing the quintessential Southern California architectural style the state is known for. Neff studied architecture under Ralph Adams Cram in Massachusetts before returning to his birthplace of California to to work as a shipyard draftsman. 

After spending several years working as a draftsman, Neff began his career as an architect, designing structures that were heavily influenced by Spanish and Mediterranean architectural styles. One of Neff's earliest designs was his own church, the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, built in 1926 in Altadena. 

The church featured a Spanish Medieval design, complete with a bell tower modeled after a

Source: mcmdaily.com

Born in Pasadena in 1911, Whitney R. Smith was a pioneer in postwar modernist architecture. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Southern California in 1934 but because it was difficult to find architectural work during the Depression, Smith took a position as a movie set designer shortly after graduation. 

After a few years of movie set design, Smith finally began working with several different architects, including Harwell Hamilton Harris, a modernist whom Smith said had a heavy influence on his work. In 1941, Smith opened his own architectural firm before meeting his soon-to-be partner, architect Wayne R. Williams, in 1946. The two formed an official working partnership shortly thereafter,

Source: digs.net

When it comes to architects to the stars, few are more iconic than John Woolf. Born in 1910 in Atlanta, Georgia, Woolf studied architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology before moving to Hollywood in 1936. Initially, Woolf hoped his Southern accent would secure him a role in Gone With the Wind, but when he met the film’s director, George Cukor, his career took a very different turn. 

While Woolf didn’t land a part in the film, he and Cukor formed a strong friendship that would pave the way for Woolf’s architecture career. Through Cukor, Woolf met many influential Hollywood figures who took interest in the architect’s drawings, including art dealer and interior decorator James Pendleton and his wife, Mary Frances. The two

Source: archpaper.com

Barbara Bestor is a ground-breaking architect known for experimental designs and masterful renovations. Bestor knew in the eighth grade that she wanted to be an architect, eventually joining the likes of Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid by studying abroad at the Architectural Association in London for a year before earning her degree from Harvard in 1987. Bestor went on to earn a master’s in architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles in 1992. 

The architect began practicing shortly after graduating with her master’s degree. She earned early acclaim for her inventive and meticulous renovations of Los Angeles residences, which led to her becoming a go-to preservationist, renovating homes by

Source: laconservancy.org

Born in 1922, Richard Dorman was raised in Los Angeles and helped shape the architectural landscape of the city. Before he was an architect, Dorman fought in World War II as a pilot, flying 35 missions over the Pacific. After the war, Dorman used funds from the GI Bill to attend architecture school at the University of Southern California. 

Upon graduating from USC, Dorman was invited to work for Welton Becket and Associates where he was the assistant chief designer for five years before leaving to start his own architectural firm in 1956. Initially, the architect primarily designed industrial buildings, but he ultimately moved on to the commercial and residential designs for which he became most popular. 

Dorman was

Source: latimes.com

William Krisel is among the pioneering architects who helped define and drive affordable, modernist tract housing in Southern California. Born in Shanghai in 1924 to American parents who were working abroad for the U.S. State Department, Krisel drafted his first house at just 11 years old. Krisel’s father sent the drawing to an architect who said that Krisel had the talent to become an architect himself, which is exactly what he did. 

Krisel remained in China until he was 13 before moving back to the United States. When he was 18, Krisel was assigned as a Chinese interpreter during World War II. While in the Army, he spoke with other soldiers about their plans for after the war, which ultimately informed his architectural