Itinerary: Modernist Architecture

Modernism in architecture--also referred to as International Style or functionalism--emerged after World War I, utilizing--and drawing inspiration from--modern technology and new materials. As architects tried to bring a building’s purpose into harmony with its materials, structures stopped being just walls and started defining light and space.

Today

“Shaping the Great City” through May 6 at the Getty Center (1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, [310] 440-7300) traces the spread of Modernism through central Europe, from the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the growth of new nations after World War I. The first part of the exhibition looks at the pattern that cities throughout the empire followed, drawing heavily on the plan for Vienna as rendered in “View of the Aspern Platz” (1897) by Otto Wagner. The second half looks at architecture in cities such as Budapest, Prague, Krakow and Zagreb after the dissolution of the empire.

The exhibition includes the work of more than 100 European architects, but pays particular attention to Wagner and Adolf Loos, two men who influenced Rudolf Schindler, who brought those Modernist ideas to Southern California in the 1920s.

At 7 tonight, co-curator Eve Blau and cultural historian Carl Schorske discuss “Shaping the Great City” in the Harold M. Williams Auditorium. Reservations required.

Friday

Well-regarded Modernist buildings are scattered throughout Los Angeles County, from private homes in Malibu to federal housing projects in San Pedro.

Drive by Richard J. Neutra’s best-known work, the Lovell House (private home, 4616 Dundee Drive, Los Feliz), which uses steel, glass and concrete in a structure that still looks contemporary. His 1935 Bell Avenue School (3835 Bell Ave., Bell) uses open exterior corridors and sliding glass walls. Don’t miss Schindler’s only completed church, Bethlehem Baptist Church from 1944 (4900 S. Compton Ave., L.A.). Its sanctuary is protected from street noise by layered stucco walls and lighted by skylights.

Saturday

Schindler (1887-1953) was born and trained as an architect in Austria in the very era of “Shaping the Great City.” He joined a firm in Chicago in 1914, went to work in Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio in 1918. In 1920, he came to Los Angeles to supervise construction of the Hollyhock House and stayed, becoming one of the state’s key figures in Modernist architecture.

His former residence, the Kings Road House, also called the Schindler House, is now home to the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, L.A. (833 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood. [323] 651-1510). It was designed as living and work space for two couples, and embodies some of Schindler’s ideas about public and private space. The exterior is a Modernist classic--concrete slab walls and glass. But the interior shows the Craftsman influence on Schindler.

The MAK Center is open for tours Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Sunday

The Museum of Contemporary Art’s “The Architecture of R.M. Schindler,” through June 3 (250 S. Grand Ave., California Plaza, downtown L.A. [213] 621-2766), surveys his work from his student years in Vienna to his idiosyncratic homes in the 1940s. Schindler’s drawings, on loan from UC Santa Barbara, are the heart of the exhibition, along with photos and models. In addition, a full-scale beach house from Schindler’s 1937 A.E. Rose Beach Colony Project will be built in the galleries.