Doric-columned pool courtyard for Alphonzo Bell, Jr.
Entertaining at the Pemberton Residence
Ira Gershwin's staircase
Interior for Loretta Young
House for Myrna Loy[Photos scanned from the Vanity Fair 2009 Hollywood Issue, also found online here]
The other morning I was having coffee and fondling a back issue of Vanity Fair--the 2009 Hollywood Issue--when I suddenly said to myself, "Is it too early to switch to vodka?" And then, soon after that, "How can I get my nutbag neighbor to stop wasting my time with stories of his wolf telepathy and his part-time job as a superhero?" And then, finally, "J.T. will like these!" So I retrieved the scanner from where it was propping up the short leg of the trailer fridge and scanned 'em up.
This is the work of an architect/interior designer team, John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch Woolf, pioneers of the early modern Hollywood Regency style beginning in the early forties (the only set of early forties I can get excited about at the moment, if you're feeling me) and tapering off in the early sixties. Woolf was considered by many to be a master of modern innovation in the traditional style, and the signature mansard roof and comparatively delicate scale of the rooms and structures became so popular that other California architects copied it like gangbusters.
A noteworthy nugget is that after he learned he had Parkinson's disease, Woolf legally adopted his lover Robert Koch and Robert's other lover Gene as his sons (and later adopted Gene's lover William), and they all lived together as a legally sanctioned family in a remote hillside compound in Montecito, outside of Santa Barbara, until John Elgin Woolf died in 1980--hence the same last name of the architect and interior designer.
I know such flagrant flouting of familial boundaries sounds pervy, but it wasn't--it was the only way in a stylish but less-than-liberated era that his fortune could legally transfer to the people he considered his family and the rightful recipients of his estate. That is extremely awesome for its ingenuity and sheer oddness, if you're asking me. You're not asking me? That's OK. Enjoy the photos.
Hugs,
Alexa
This is the work of an architect/interior designer team, John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch Woolf, pioneers of the early modern Hollywood Regency style beginning in the early forties (the only set of early forties I can get excited about at the moment, if you're feeling me) and tapering off in the early sixties. Woolf was considered by many to be a master of modern innovation in the traditional style, and the signature mansard roof and comparatively delicate scale of the rooms and structures became so popular that other California architects copied it like gangbusters.
A noteworthy nugget is that after he learned he had Parkinson's disease, Woolf legally adopted his lover Robert Koch and Robert's other lover Gene as his sons (and later adopted Gene's lover William), and they all lived together as a legally sanctioned family in a remote hillside compound in Montecito, outside of Santa Barbara, until John Elgin Woolf died in 1980--hence the same last name of the architect and interior designer.
I know such flagrant flouting of familial boundaries sounds pervy, but it wasn't--it was the only way in a stylish but less-than-liberated era that his fortune could legally transfer to the people he considered his family and the rightful recipients of his estate. That is extremely awesome for its ingenuity and sheer oddness, if you're asking me. You're not asking me? That's OK. Enjoy the photos.
Hugs,
Alexa
Love this post. Thanks Alexa!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo damn awesome in a million different ways. I dig their style, taste, and ingenuity! Thanks Alexa.
ReplyDeleteLadies, thanks so much for having me!
ReplyDelete