A look into George Nelson’s publication “Tomorrow’s House” (1945) and how it relates to the architectural designs of Charles and Ray Eames. How does the Eames House reflect a great example of “tomorrow’s house”? What problems did it solve — for society in terms of showcasing new housing construction techniques and for the psychological health of its dwellers, Charles and Ray? And how do these ideas relate to their overall design process?
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The Importance of Landmark Status
Read MoreThe Eames House received its designation as a National Historic Landmark and was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in September 2006. Why is it important for a historic residence, commercial, or industrial building owner to apply for either or both of these designations?
A Tablescape within a Landscape
Read MoreMuch like the interior of the house and studio structures, Charles and Ray also utilized the exterior courtyards as a functional testing grounds for various furniture prototypes.
A Feeling of Japan
Read MoreNumerous visitors to the Eames House verbalize a curiosity about the connection between the home’s architecture and the aesthetics of Japanese culture. While Charles and Ray had not visited Japan prior to building their home in the Pacific Palisades, particular elements of the home and its surrounding gardens are reminiscent…
A Tumbleweed to Celebrate Love
Read MoreA particular object in the house has no monetary value, but is overflowing with sentimental value to the Eameses: their honeymoon tumbleweed. Charles and Ray Eames were wed at a close friend’s home in Chicago in the year 1941. The two were in agreement that it would be best to…
Performing Eames
Read MoreCharles and Ray Eames equated their efforts of hosting to the circus act; while a clown’s movements are meticulously planned, the act must appear spontaneous and natural to the viewer. Case Study House #8, the home affectionately known as the Eames House, was the stage for the couple’s many hospitable…
How the Eameses Found their Land: A Bluff for a New Housing Program
Read MoreJohn Entenza, the editor of the modernist publication Arts & Architecture, purchased a five-acre plot of land neighboring the sea in the Pacific Palisades in 1941. This land—formerly part of a failed residential development project by Abbot Kinney in the late 1890s— was mostly undeveloped and an impossibly far distance…
Meet the De Pree House: Michigan's Eames House
Read MoreIt is often assumed that Charles Eames, with his studies in architecture and with the steel-framed Eames House under his belt, had a career that boasted dozens of commissions in architecture. In actuality, Charles and Ray’s residential architecture endeavors stopped in 1954, merely five years after they built the Eames…
Getting into the Structure
Read MoreFebruary 8, 2018: Historic American Building Survey: the Eames House in 2013; Charles in 1934. It’s all about the connections.
Painting the Palette: How the Eames House got its Color
Read MoreRay, a former student of esteemed painter Hans Hofmann and founding member of the American Abstract Artists in New York City, claimed: “I never gave up painting, I just changed my palette.” Arguably, the Eames House is the largest canvas the Eameses collaborated on—and we say collaborate because Charles “blamed…
