Our journey of preserving a 1955 eichler home in south land park hills + telling the current state & past history of mid-century modern in the Sacramento, California region.
Contact: atomicpear [at] comcast [dot] net
"Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Dreyfuss served in the Navy before going to architecture school at Tulane University and then the University of Illinois. He spent some time knocking around the Caribbean with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
He eventually went to work for the State Architect's office and started what later became Dreyfuss & Blackford in April 1950 after a developer friend asked if he wanted to design some apartments. Blackford came on board a few years later and was made partner in 1957."
"... a recent graduate of Berkeley’s architecture school, joined (Dreyfuss) in 1953, following a short stint in the Office of the State Architect. Although Blackford did not become a partner until after the completion of the SMUD building, according to Dreyfuss, he was a very important member of the firm, exercising considerable influence over designs from the mid-1950s."
"... design approach has been rooted in Modernism. A clear and intuitive understanding of steel, concrete and masonry construction has resulted in striking and innovative projects -- buildings that have timeless, lasting character. In the early years, the firm designed many public schools, private office buildings and, in 1959, the SMUD headquarters building -- a landmark project that stirred international interest and earned multiple design awards."
"The louvers were a very innovative means of glare and temperature control entirely in keeping with the mission of the utility company and its desire to have an energy efficient facility. The louver design created considerable interest among the architectural community of the time. Architectural Forum magazine featured a stylized photo of the louvers on the front cover of its May 1961 issue."
"... alludes to Sacramento's sitting near two major rivers. The mural suggests buildings aligned along a water way and the motion and reflectivity of moving water.... During the late 1950s Theibaud experimented with Abstract Expressionism and did other mural designs for the California State Fair. This is one of the few surviving representations of the early period of the artist's work before he adopted his mature and well-recognized realist painting style and the only work in a mosaic medium."
"... Born from the idea that a Gift Guide is better if you give the items away, we've arranged for over 100 shops to give great design items away to you. You can enter EVERY giveaway each day and the odds are GREAT, as over 100 people will be winners."
Yesterday I posted some additional information regarding Sacramento region mid-century modern architect Carter Sparks. I've also previously posted a little bit of history regarding Mr. Sparks. I wanted to do this so you had a little background on his life and work."A true master piece of relaxation. This warm inviting home offers custom wood working with vaulted ceilings, wood floors throughout, floor to ceiling glass windows over looking a meticulous landscape with custom ponds. You can totally relax with the privacy that will make you feel you are in the country while you are minutes away from downtown. This Carter Sparks Custom home is perfect for anyone who wants privacy with a flare. It also has a guest house for friends or staff. This is a beautiful home."More regarding this home directly from the realtor.
via Eichler Network Newsletter: Winter 2004, page 4Carter E. Sparks, an architect known for designing large custom homes with lots of glass and wood that blended in with the surroundings, died of cancer Wednesday at his Clarksburg residence.
He was 73.
"To me, he was a fine artist, not just a person creating a plan," said artist Greg Kondos, for whom Mr. Sparks had designed a home and studio. "His homes came out with a warm feeling."
Mr. Sparks designed some of Sacramento's most impressive homes, including some on the bluffs overlooking the American River.
Known primarily as a residential architect, he spent many years designing homes for Streng Brothers, which built thousands of units on subdivisions in Sacramento, Davis, Woodland and Elk Grove.
In addition to his work for Kondos, Mr. Sparks designed homes for Dr. Franklin and Sandra Yee, Dr. Israel and Joan Ore, Jim and Sharon McCuen and Dr. Thomas and Virginia Marshall.
A native of Ogden, Utah, he was the only child of Faye Carter Sparks and Cecil L. Sparks. His father was a master mechanic for Southern Pacific railroad and the family eventually ended up in southern Oregon.
Mr. Sparks studied engineering at Oregon State University before enlisting in the Navy as an aviation cadet in 1944. Dropping out of flight school, he was trained instead as a navigator, and commissioned as an ensign just as World War II drew to a close. Immediately after the war, he was transferred to Washington, D.C., and assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel, where he met his first wife, the former Billie Dare, an enlisted person assigned to an office job there.
They began dating and married a few months later. Leaving Washington in 1946, the two Navy veterans moved to Berkeley, where they both enrolled at the University of California under the GI Bill. She studied liberal arts, while he signed up for classes at the School of Architecture.
He graduated in 1950 and worked for two architectural firms in the Bay Area before moving in 1955 to Sacramento, where he went into partnership with another architect, Don Thaden. In addition to homes, they also designed schools.
After he and his first wife divorced in the late 1970s, Mr. Sparks married the former Dolores "Dodi" Hernandez, who survives him. Other survivors include his daughter, Jennifer Sparks-Bellarbi of Sacramento; stepchildren Dennison Sheya of Phoenix, Charles Sheya of Lake Tahoe and Edward Sheya of Folsom; and six grandchildren."
"The more idiosyncratic the client, the more interesting the house will be,'' says Sparks. "The same thing goes for the site. If it's interesting, it's easier to build an interesting house on it. One of my clients decided to build into a hill and that made for an interesting floor plan. Another couple, who were teachers, wanted a house that would be very flexible so they could teach at home after they eventually retired. So all the walls are storage units on wheels so they can be moved to change the number and the configuration of the rooms.While it is well-known that Sparks designed custom homes, commercial buildings, schools, and models for Streng Bros. Homes, many are unaware that he also designed homes specifically for Blomberg (of Blomberg Windows) that were built here in town. I'll have more details regarding this in a later post.
"At the moment, I am working on designs for inexpensive factory-built houses that young couples can afford. They average about 1,400 square feet and, including the lot, should cost about $75,000 in this area. My factory house designs are contemporary and can be put together in 'h,' 'l' and 't' shapes to make them more interesting.''
Carter Sparks says really listening to his clients is one of the ways he gets to know them. "I also like to look in their closets to see if I can find a favorite color and style of clothes they like.'' Though he says of the last group of volume house designs he did to fit a "general attitude,'' 35 of them sold to young architects. "I guess that says something about architects thinking alike,'' he said.
Plan FC-13 by Claude Oakland
Exterior to interior view
Plan FB-4 by John Brooks Boyd".... For many years, Boyd was Eichler's architect on the spot, customizing designs by Jones & Emmons, Anshen+Allen, and Claude Oakland to meet the demands of the clients and the site.More on John Brooks Boyd, including pictures can be found in the newsletter, available directly from the Eichler Network.
The Eichler custom homes were based either on standard Eichler tract designs or on homes specially designed by Eichler's architects for individual clients. While Boyd was rarely involved in designing the basic homes himself, at least two of his own Eichler designs were built: one in Foster City; and another in Mill Valley, near Eichler's Harbor Point development....
Born in Reno in 1931, Boyd served with the U.S. Navy's Sea Bees in the early 1950s, studied architecture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and then worked for Jones & Emmons before joining Eichler...."
