Irving Gill and the Architecture of Reform: A Study in Modernist Architectural Culture

During the first third of the twentieth century, the work of American architect Irving Gill radically redefined the architectural landscape of Southern California―especially San Diego, where his practice was based―and set the stage for a later, more widely celebrated generation of modernists who would continue his experiments with new forms and construction techniques. This first definitive study of the architect traces his journey from his native Syracuse to a Chicago apprenticeship with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright to the development of his career as an early modernist and his singular role in the genesis of the modern movement. Architectural historian Thomas S. Hines places Gill’s work within an international as his identification with the modern movement developed, his work evolved from the influence of the East Coast Shingle Style and Wright’s Midwest Prairie Style to become closer in spirit to the work of the Austrian Adolf Loos. Hines also explores the social dimensions of Gill’s work, notably his interest in the contemporary Progressive Movement and its ethos of social, gender, and economic equality. The buildings shown (illustrated with archival photographs as well as color plates) include the Lewis Courts, Sierra Madre; the Dodge House, Hollywood; and Horatio West Court, Santa Monica.