Letter

Author(s): David Gebhard and Robert Winter

Source: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 38, No. 2 (May, 1979), pp. 212-
213
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural
Historians
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/989452
Accessed: 28-12-2015 00:58 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Society of Architectural Historians and University of California Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve
and extend access to Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 28 Dec 2015 00:58:08 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
212
his nuance, his sense of ensemble, and the sad
wit of his Hotel Elite next door to a Wimpey's.
There is so much talk these days about how
visual we have all become, especially the
young. Anyone teaching undergraduateswith
visual materials knows this is a bleary-eyed
perception, while Mfiller documents how
blind this vaunted visual sensitivity is to the
eyesores called progress.
To the Book Review Editor:
During his recent invasion of California,
Reyner Banham referred to himself as the
Hedda Hopper of architecture, and indeed
this would often seem to be his calling. He has
done more than any other Englishman to sell
California and especially Los Angeles, not only
to an English audience, but also to America's
east-coasters. His love affair with surface
aspects of Southern California's laissez faire-
ism has provided just the relief which he and
his countrymen have needed to distance them-
selves from the decades of "dreary socialism"
in their native land. He is well suited to
exploit Hedda's style (really it is more like
Louella's),for the myth of the place as conveyed
by the Hollywood film is exotic and far enough
away so that he has been able to manipulate
history to produce any product he might have
in mind at the moment.
L.A. and the aura of the Hollywood star
provide the perfect stage for Banham's self-
worship. Thus in his B.B.C. film on L.A., we
must spend 5o-plus agonizing minutes trying
to see L.A. (through a rear-view mirror!)
rather than Banham the superstar. The film is
a good production in Hollywood terms, but if
one stops for a moment and asks just what was
presented on L.A., the answer is Banham.
In his Los Angeles: The Architectureof Four
Ecologies (i971), he is equally successful in
sampling what he needs from the writings of
J. B. Jackson, Mel Scott, Robert M. Fogelson,
EstherMcCoy, Carey McWilliams, and others.
To anyone not familiar with the literature on
planning and architecture in Southern Cali-
fornia Banham's flashy re-packagingmay seem
new. It was.old hat when the book, fashionably
referringto "ecologies," first appeared. Again,
pure Banham! Indeed, if anyone believes that
we are overstating our case, she or he need only
go to the last paragraphof Banham's article in
the same issue of the Journal, xxXVII, 1978,
197, in which he reviewed our book, and pon-
der the implications of it. Obviously the pro-
fession should devote itself to scrutinizing
Banham and save him from his errors. As is
our way, we modestly embark on this labor.
This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 28 Dec 2015 00:58:08 UTC
These two volumes, deficient as history and
sociology, reward the reader as art and peda-
gogy. They are attractive and fascinating to
look at (the countryside folio won a Swiss
prize for its design), and beyond the coffee
table, teachers at all levels should find them
useful tools, whether or not they share the
artist's attitude on modernism. An improved
outlook may be one solution to better milieus,
LETTER
Banham'sHedda Hopper opening of his
reviewof our Guide to Architecturein Los
Angelesand SouthernCaliforniawould un-
questionablypleasehis clone.We gatherthat
the readerof the reviewis expectedto come
away with the impressionthat therehas been
a majorlapseof intellectual/academic integrity
on the part of the authorsby the inclusionof
theirown houses.The reviewershouldreread
such volumes as CaliforniaDesign 9rgo to
understand theimportance of ErnestBatchelder
andhis housefortheartsandcraftsmovement
in SouthernCalifornia.The Batchelderhouse
(thepresentresidenceof RobertWinter)is now
on the National Registerof Historic Places
anda Landmarkof the Cityof Pasadena.The
Gebhardhouse in Montecito has been pub-
lished and written about in both national
and regional architecturaljournals. As to
the Hollywood column device of quoting
a "mutualfriendof both authors,"one can
only say that Banhammighthavequestioned
the designerhimselfas to his purpose,and in
thisway haveobtaineda correctquotation.
Banhamis often at his best when he is
commentingabout personalitiesratherthan
planningand architecture. ButRobertWinter
has hardlyturnedantiquarian anddisappeared
into a bygoneCraftsmanenvironment.He is
Vice Chairmanof both the Los Angelesand
PasadenaCulturalHeritagecommissions,as
well as chairmanof the HistoryDepartment
at OccidentalCollege. David Gebhardhas
devoted17 yearsto planningin SantaBarbara
and SantaBarbaraCounty;his involvement
with SantaBarbara'smore than So years of
architectural consistency(theSpanishColonial
Revival)has muchmoreto do with planning
thanwitharchitectural imagery.
The rationalewhich lies behindthe Guide
and its selectiveprocessis, we feel,reasonably
well presentedin the Prefaceand in the Intro-
duction.Basicallythe intenthas been to pro-
vide the user, via text and actualvisits,with
a senseof what has occurredin man'strans-
formationof theSouthernCalifornia landscape.
Equally,we wereinterestedin encouragingan
intelligentpreservationof fragmentsof that
environmentso thatitshistorywill be readable
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
better change. And for those so inclined,
Miiller's work will help to focus more strongly
their own malocchio.
WILLIAM E. HIGGINS
Center for Hellenic Studies,
Harvard University
in the years to come. Banham's comment that
we should leave the strip, parking lots, and
bungalow courts to others to treat more fully,
as a series of "Freak Supplements" (p. z14),
is ridiculous. We have presented a historical
sampling of these environmental and architec-
tural forms since they must be experienced to
understand any given moment in the past of
Southern California. We certainly hope that
detailed and highly specialized guides on this
or that aspect of the L.A. scene will be pub-
lished in the years ahead. The material is rich.
We know all too well Banham's fondness for
Naylor's Drive-In restaurant, but we feel that
the examples selected and included present
a good sense of Southern California's contri-
bution to the history of drive-in architecture,
from the 192os on.
As to the specific errorswhich Banham cites,
he was aware, since he discussed it with us in
1977, that there were well over 250 changes
(in addition to the errata) which were not
included in the first edition. Regarding Gill's
Pacific Electric Station at Torrance, no one
who is half-alert would have any difficulty in
finding it, with or without our small map of
central Torrance. This map is certainly not as
clear as it might be, but all of the entries are
essentially situated where they should be. As
to the photograph of this station, it is a period
piece, having been taken by one of the authors
in 1964. Why old photographs have been used
on occasion is explained in the Guide, and in
the case of this building it is important to see
it as it was built, rather than in its present
denuded form.
The format of the Guide designed by Marc
Treib was meant for a much thinner volume,
but it would still work in its present size if
a sewn binding had been used (as planned)
so that the pages would open up fully. The
authors regret that the index system which
they had planned was not used in the Guide,
for as it now stands the index is not a very
useful tool. The new edition of the Guide will
contain a separate index of architects: under
each architect's name will be the name of
each building, its date, place, and the page
number of the entry in the text. In addition we
had plannedan index of majorbuildingsin
SouthernCalifornia,also to be includedin the
new edition.
Size?Thereis no questionthat it would be
easierto haul aroundif it were dividedinto
two volumes-one for L.A. proper,and one
for the rest of SouthernCalifornia.On the
otherhand,the telephone-directory sizeof the
presentvolumewell fits what it is describing.
The new (1979) edition will be even larger;
when Banhamnext descendsupon Southern
California,he woulddo wellto renta Cadillac
Sevillewithitsmuchlargerglovecompartment.
DAVID GEBHARD
ROBERT WINTER
CORRECTIONS
In RichardPommer,"TheArchitecture of Ur-
ban Housingin the UnitedStatesduringthe
Early193o's"JSAH,December1978, thecap-
tions for Figs.6, 7, and 8 werepartiallymis-
placed.ForFig.6, "View"and "Detail"were
reversed.For Figs. 7 and 8, the captiontexts
were interchanged:Fig. 7 illustrates"Unit
Plans,"andFig.8 illustrates"Westfield
Acres."
This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 28 Dec 2015 00:58:08 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Basilisk
Press
publishesdistinguished
workson
architectural,landscape
and botanicalhistory.
Gardens of Delight - 2 volumes showing the gardens
and landscapes of England between 1740 and 1774, a
time for which no garden paintings were known until
these gouaches on vellum by Thomas Robins the Elder
were discovered by John Harris, Director of the RIBA
Gallery. Robins shows, and Harris describes, the
gardens of numerous great houses and the development
of the city of Bath. $1,115
The Red Books of Humphry Repton - 4 volumes on
Britain's most influential landscape gardener. Exact
facsimiles of his Red Books for Anthony House,
Cornwall; Attingham Park, Shropshire, and
Sheringham Hall, Norfolk. Printed collotype on paper
made to match Repton's own. Modern volume by
Edward Malins with sepia photographs by Eric de Mare.
$1,240
The Australian Flower Paintings of Ferdinand
Bauer - I volume of 2a plants painted on Flinder's
voyage, I 8o i/5. The specimen plants published here for
the first time are usually that from which the genus was
named. Each watercolour contains a brilliant flower
portrait plus microscopic dissections of its components.
Text by Dr William T Steam, BM (NH); introduction
by Wilfrid Blunt. $1,075
I. Please send me the f6llowing. Payment enclosed.
Gardensof Delight$i,iiy
Red Booksof HumphryRepton $1,24o
Australian Flower Paintings $I,o07
z. Please send me a prospectus for the work ticked above.
Name
Address
Basilisk Press and Bookshop
32 ENGLAND'S LANE, HAMPSTEAD, LONDON NW3 IYB
01-722 2142