Edward H. Fickett; Award-Winning Architect Built Showplaces
Edward H. Fickett, award-winning Los Angeles architect who created stunning residences from Malibu to Palm Springs and such resorts as the La Costa complex in Carlsbad, has died. He was 76.
Fickett died in Los Angeles on May 21 of pneumonia and was buried after services June 4 at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 24, 1999 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday June 24, 1999 Home Edition Part A Page 28 Metro Desk 2 inches; 67 words Type of Material: Correction
Fickett obituary--In an obituary of Edward H. Fickett that appeared June 19, The Times reported that the architect did the seismic rehabilitation on 20,000 residences. In fact, Fickett built tens of thousands of homes from coast to coast and in foreign countries but did not do seismic rehabilitation work on residences. In addition, the characterization of one of his awards may have been misleading. He received a merit of honor award from the president of the United States.
Establishing his architectural firm in Los Angeles in 1950, Fickett created showplace homes in the wealthiest areas of Southern California, including Beverly Hills, San Marino, Malibu and Palm Springs.
When he was named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1969, he was cited for his “excellence of design, proportion and scale and the use of regional materials, redwood, adobe brick and handmade flooring tiles” and for his “continuity of detail and expression of structural elements.”
A former Times urban planning columnist called one of Fickett’s oceanfront homes in Manhattan Beach “a modern-styled post-and-beam delight” and said it was “an excellent example of the popular 1960s style, sited and constructed with sensitivity.”
Fickett worked for many years designing the La Costa complex in northern San Diego County. He started with its country club, moved on to create the health spa and eventually added condominiums.
In addition to La Costa, Fickett designed the Mammoth Mountain Inn, the Las Cruces Resort Hotel in La Paz, Mexico, the Hacienda Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and the Bistro Gardens Restaurant in Beverly Hills.
But his work was not limited to homes and resorts for wealthy clients. Fickett also pioneered modular and structural concepts for early low-cost housing developments that were adapted for private and government projects in the 1950s.
One of his projects that received notice was the Home Magazine House for a now-defunct Los Angeles Times publication called Home Magazine. This house, built in 1957 and 1958, was an attempt by the magazine to offer readers an inside look at the construction of a contemporary Los Angeles home. As the magazine pointed out, the house was not a pace-setter, or even a research home. It was an effort to build a house with the standard materials of the day with an eye both on quality and the budget.
The 2,200-square-foot home, in the Royal Highlands area of Encino, was built by Donald Buhler and Everett Johnston; the landscaping was by Warren E. Lausen, and Philip Anthony designed the pool. The Home Magazine House was featured in a number of issues of the magazine.
On a massive scale, Pickett also designed the Los Angeles Harbor cargo and passenger terminals in San Pedro, garnering a 1963 award from the American Institute of Steel Construction.
His other government projects included Los Angeles’ University High School and master plans for Edwards and Norton Air Force bases and Murphy Canyon Heights Naval Base.
He became adept not only at creating new complexes but also at expanding and renovating older and often historic facilities, and doing seismic rehabilitation on more than 20,000 residences and parts of Los Angeles’ City Hall.
On May 11, Fickett earned a Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award for his renovation of Fire Station No. 30 in South Los Angeles, which was built in 1913. He was to have participated today, along with City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, at the dedication of his Silver Lake Park Recreation Center.
Fickett had been widely praised by former Mayor Tom Bradley and several City Council members for his work on city recreation and parks facilities, and received numerous Los Angeles and Beverly Hills beautification awards for his commercial and residential designs.
The architect earned a presidential merit of honor and architectural awards from the National Assn. of Home Builders, the American Institute of Architects, the California Masonry Assn., the Pacific Coast Builders Assn., the Federal Housing Administration and such magazines as Good Housekeeping, Progressive Architecture, House and Home, Parents, Better Homes and Gardens and Practical Builder.
He served as president of the Southern California and the California chapters of the American Institute of Architects, and was an architectural commissioner in Beverly Hills, a member of Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Sr.’s Housing Board for California and an architectural advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Fickett was a popular lecturer at conferences and universities and an active arbiter of construction disputes for the American Arbitration Assn.
A fourth-generation Angeleno, Fickett earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture and did graduate studies in engineering and archeology at USC; he received a master’s degree in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After completing naval officer training at USC, he was commissioned a lieutenant commander and supervised construction of bases in the South Pacific by the Civil Engineering Corps (Sea Bees) during World War II.
He is survived by his wife, the former Joyce Helen Steinberg.
Memorial donations may be sent to the Edward H. Fickett FAIA Scholarship Fund, USC School of Architecture, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0291.
