The Ullman Residence

Photo ©Darren Bradley

The Ullman Residence was designed by local San Diego architect John Mock in 1964. Like Ellwood's Bobertz Residence, it's a perfect example of what can happen when the right owners find the right house. It's without question one of the nicest and most pristine modernist homes in San Diego. But it wouldn't be this way if not for the herculean efforts of its owners, Loretta & Mark Chavez. 

The Bobertz Residence

Bobertz Residence by Craig Ellwood (1953). Photo ©Darren Bradley

 

The Bobertz Residence is the only home designed by Craig Ellwood (with Ernie Jacks and Jerrold Lomax) in San Diego County. The young couple who commissioned it - Gerry & Charles Bobertz - had recently arrived from upstate New York by way of a brief stint in the SF Bay area. They were avid fans of John Entenza's Arts & Architecture magazine, and chose Ellwood as the architect of their new home after seeing his work in the Case Study House Program. And indeed, this could easily have been one of the homes featured in that program.

Columbus, Indiana

North Christian Church by Eero Saarinen (1954). Photo ©Darren Bradley

In my previous blog post, I talked about my visit to the famous Miller House in Columbus, Indiana. That house was the legacy of one exceptional man - J. Irwin Miller, CEO of the Cummins Diesel Engine Company. But his legacy didn't stop at the front door of his own home. Turns out, Miller left an extensive legacy of modernist architecture in his home town - enough to make this small city of 40,000 in southern Indiana one of the most important concentrations of significant architecture in the country, if not the world. 

The Miller Residence

A view from the conversation pit. Photo ©Darren Bradley

In 1953, a man in a small, mid-western town in southern Indiana asked his good friend - who happened to be an architect - to design a new home for his family. It had to be relatively modest in scale and intimate, but also practical and functional for both raising a family and entertaining hundreds of guests. Not an easy task. But in this case, the man was J. Irwin Miller, the small, mid-western town was Columbus, and the architect was Eero Saarinen. And the result is magical.