Honor the Past and Invest in the Future

THE LOS ALTOS NEUTRA HOUSE PROJECT PRESENTS...
"L.A. MODERN"
~ A Home Tour Celebrating Modern Architecture in Los Altos, California ~
~ Home Tour Marks Official Grand Opening of the Los Altos Neutra House ~
Save-the-Date!
"L.A. Modern" Home Tour / October 25, 2008 / 12:00 - 4:00 PM
Panel Discussion Featuring Dion Neutra / October 25, 2008 / 10:30-12:00 AM
"L.A. Modern" Evening Celebration / October 24, 2008 / 5:00 - 8:00 PM

Los Altos, Calif., September 25, 2008 -- Come tour exquisite contemporary modern homes in Los Altos, California, when the Los Altos Community Foundation (LACF) and Los Altos Neutra House committee present its "L.A. Modern" Los Altos home tour and grand opening celebration on Saturday, October 25, 2008 from 10:00-4:00 p.m. The tour will feature five contemporary modern homes, including the newly renovated Los Altos Neutra House, that reflect the branch of Modernist architecture known as "California Modern."  This architecture typically features glass walls, post-and-beam construction and open floor plans in a style indebted to Richard Neutra, Mies van der Rohe, and Joseph Eichler's many architects. The Los Altos homes on this tour highlight the integration of this architectural style with the many facets of the Bay Area lifestyle. The grand opening tour day activities will begin with an informative architectural forum on Neutra and his influence on Bay Area architecture at the newly renovated Los Altos Neutra House, from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. The forum will begin with a talk on preservation by Dion Neutra, Richard Neutra’s architect son and partner. A panel discussion will follow moderated by Jonathan Pearlman, design principal at Elevation Architects, and will include: Dion Neutra; Barbara Lamprecht, modern architectural writer and historian; Pierluigi Serraino, AIA, architect and author; and, David Weinstein, an architectural writer and reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. King Lear, project director for the Los Altos Neutra House, will also present a fascinating historical overview on the original owner of the Los Altos Neutra House, Jacqueline Johnson, a poet who later married the artist Gordon Onslow Ford. The tour will follow from 12:00-4:00 p.m. Reservations are not required for the forum, but space is limited. Cost for the forum and tour is $40 per person.

The tour festivities will kick-off with an "L.A. Modern Evening’" that will be held in Los Altos at the elegant modern home of Steve and Alison Hussey on Friday, October 24, 2008 from 5:00-8:00 p.m. Tickets are $150 per person and includes the Saturday, October 25, tour. All tour proceeds will benefit the Los Altos Neutra House Project Fund in care of LACF to help offset costs incurred during the renovation of the house. To obtain tickets or make a donation to the fund, go to www.neutrahouse.org or contact LACF at 650.949.5908, ext. 2, or via email at neutra@los-altos.org.

ABOUT THE "L.A. MODERN" LOS ALTOS HOMES

In celebration of the official grand opening, tour participants will be given the opportunity to visit the historic - and recently renovated - Los Altos Neutra House.  Completed in 1939 and designed by Richard Neutra for Jacqueline Johnson, this small house is now the only remaining example of early Modernist residential architecture in the City of Los Altos.  A modest 750 square feet, the house was moved to Los Altos City-owned land in November 2005 and is now being used as a community center. 

Other houses on the tour include one on a grander scale at 6,000 square foot designed and built by the owners. Inspired by Richard Meier's architectural style, the interior design is inspired by Richard Neutra's philosophy of indoor/outdoor living. It boasts a curved glass curtain wall that is nine by 21 feet, inviting morning sunlight that lights up the entire house.  This family home also boasts a 40 foot long indoor lap pool which can be seen from every angle of the house.  Also reflecting the indoor/outdoor concept key to the "California Modern" aesthetic is another 6,000 square foot home that incorporates the spatial and material qualities of a San Francisco loft exported to the suburbs. Built in 2000, the generating idea for the house was the Japanese garden design strategy of "shakkei" or borrowed landscape. With this strategy, the distant views of the Santa Cruz Mountains become a fourth wall of the primary living and sleeping spaces that provide an engaging experience with an ever-changing sense of nature.

The tour also will present an extensively remodeled 1955 ranch home that utilized the home's original foundation and footprint as it was transformed into a sleek modern home yet still honors the form and setting of traditional ranch-style homes in the neighborhood. This home takes full advantage of the California indoor/outdoor lifestyle by including a 15-foot folding door that opens the full length of the living room onto an expansive and integrated patio for entertainment and enjoyment of the backyard.  Another reinterpreted 4500 square foot ranch home features three roofs supported by concrete y-shaped walls. The light-filled living spaces are extended into the covered pool-side patios that blur the distinction between indoor/outdoor usages.

Please visit www.neutrahouse.org for more details regarding the homes on the tour.
"We are delighted to celebrate the renewal and adaptation of this historic house with the 'L.A. Modern' tour and architectural forum. The public can appreciate the work of Richard Neutra and the history of his clients, while enjoying a very modern small conference center,” said King Lear, Project Director. "To honor the influence of Richard Neutra, we selected modern homes for the 'L.A. Modern" Los Altos home tour based on unique characteristics, craftsmanship, and architectural contribution to the community. We sincerely thank the homeowners for sharing their homes with us,” he added.

PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS AND BIOGRAPHIES

• Barbara Lamprecht / Architect, Architectural Historian and Author of "Neutra: Complete Works"
  Barbara Lamprecht writes and teaches architectural history, concentrating on Modernism, and practices architecture, specializing in sustainability and small spaces. She contributes to Dwell, The Architectural Review, Architecture, Architectural Record and Fine Homebuilding. She is also the author of TASCHEN's "Neutra: Complete Works."
  
• King Lear / Project Director, Los Altos Neutra House
  A retired electrical engineer (BSEE 1960, Stanford), King Lear served eight years on the Los Altos City Council, including one year as Mayor. While on the council the City agreed to allow the Neutra House to be moved to city land as long as the City incurred none of the expense of moving, renovating and operating the house. The agreement was also conditioned on making the house serve a public function. King offered to lead the capital campaign and subsequently became the project director, working on behalf of the Los Altos Community Foundation.
  
• Dion Neutra / Principal of Richard and Dion Neutra, Architects and Associates
  Dion Neutra, architect, son and partner of Richard Neutra, began his training at age 11 in his father’s office. After extensive exposure to projects during his childhood, he graduated cum laude from USC, attending the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology architecture program in Zurich during his junior year. Upon graduation, he went to work with his becoming vice-president of the company in 1965, and assuming the presidency in 1970, when Richard Neutra died. After over a quarter century of personal collaboration and first-hand involvement with most of the firm’s projects created from the 1940s on, Dion Neutra continues the Neutra practice into the 21st Century. The firm celebrated its 75th year in practice in 2001.
  
• Pierluigi Serraino, AIA / Author: "NorCalMod: Icons of Northern California Modernism"
  Pierluigi Serraino is the author of “NorCalMod: Icons of Northern California Modernism” and an architect for Anshen-Allen in San Francisco (founded in 1940 by Robert Anshen, the architect company that did the designs for Joseph Eichler's first modern houses). Pierluigi graduated from the School of Architecture of the University of Rome, "La Sapienza," in 1994. He earned his Masters of Architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles in 1996 and his MA in Architecture at the University of California Los Angeles in 1999. Born in Messina, Italy, Pierluigi currently resides in San Francisco, California.
  
• Jonathan Pearlman / Design Principal, Elevation Architects (EA)
  Jonathan Pearlman is principal of Elevation Architects (EA), a San Francisco-based firm that specializes in custom single-family homes and multi-family residential buildings throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. EA also works with numerous non-profit organizations to create organization-specific programming, design spaces and buildings. He consults on California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) building evaluations and has served on the San Francisco's Landmarks Preservation Board. Pearlman holds a BA degree in Architectural History from Tufts University and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture, where he also taught Design Studios.
  
• David Weinstein / Writer and Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle
  Dave Weinstein, is author of the new book “It Came from Berkeley: How Berkeley Changed the World,” (Gibbs Smith) and “Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area.” He also wrote the text for “Berkeley Rocks: Building with Nature." In addition, he writes a popular series about Bay Area architects for the San Francisco Chronicle’s Home & Garden section and about modern architecture for CA Modern magazine, published by the Eichler Network. A longtime Bay Area journalist, Dave was a reporter and editor at the Contra Costa Times. A resident of El Cerrito for almost 30 years, Dave initiated the successful effort to preserve El Cerrito’s long abandoned Art Deco movie palace, the Cerrito Theater, and is chairman of the Friends of the Cerrito Theater

TOUR SPONSORS

The "L.A. Modern" Los Altos home tour is sponsored in part by the generous support of the Los Altos Community Foundation, KK Wealth Advisors, LLC, Rich Mathers Construction and Elevation Architects.

ABOUT THE LOS ALTOS NEUTRA HOUSE FUND

The Los Altos Neutra House Project is funded through generous gifts and donated services from those who respect architectural history. The Los Altos Neutra House Fund has been used to restore the house for adaptive reuse as a community meeting center and home for an architectural history exhibit.  The house is on Los Altos City property and the City owns the house. The LACF is acting as an agent for the City to restore and operate the house at no cost to taxpayers.  For information on how to donate, please visit the Los Altos Neutra House website at www.neutrahouse.org, or contact the Los Altos Community Foundation at 650.949.5908, ext. 2, or via email at neutra@los-altos.org.

ABOUT THE LOS ALTOS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

The Los Altos Community Foundation (LACF) serves Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and the surrounding area by promoting community building -- those activities and facilities that give the community its favorable character, making it a desirable place to live and work.  A 501(c)(3) organization, LACF supports the community by making grants for local programs, building an endowment for the future, and managing philanthropic funding for other organizations and individuals. LACF provides a vehicle for the community to express itself - through volunteerism and charitable projects, participation in events and programs, and exploring individuals' ideas for community involvement. LACF is located at 183 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos, CA 94022. Telephone: 650.949.5908 / Email: lacf@losaltoscf.org / Website: www.losaltoscf.org.