Barton Myers Toro Canyon House - Kitchen area
Climate and architecture have a great deal to do with each other. If you have snow and long cold winters you pitch your roof at a steep angle and make insulation and heating systems a primary concern. But in Southern California’s idyllic climate you can cross those factors off your list, so what do you do? I’ve seen three answers in the past week, each very different from the others, but all indicating a response to a climate that is the envy of most of the world. None of these three are Mid-Century Modern, the distinctive, forward-looking 20th c. style so associated with Palm Springs, but all are rooted in the history and tradition of Southern California, including the history and tradition of innovation.
Getty Villa Malibu
In the case of the Getty Villa in Malibu (where I spent a very pleasant afternoon yesterday) innovation takes the form of imitation, one man’s dream of paradise reclaimed from the past. Spurred by his love of Classical antiquity, with a collection and idea facilitated by great wealth, J. Paul Getty built his ‘folly’ on a cliff overlooking the Pacific around the same time Richard Neutra and others were forging ahead with Mid-Century Modern in Palm Springs.
Getty Villa Malibu
The Villa first opened to the public in 1974, then reopened in 2006 after a major renovation. It’s an important center for study and education - it’s also a great example of how climate shapes architecture. The climate that shaped the Getty Villa was, of course, that of Ancient Rome, particularly the port cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the combination of sea and season - or lack of seasons - was virtually identical to Southern California. A stroll through the garden is an exercise in the familiar–- the flowering plants that fill California gardens and overflow median strips on the freeways, the eternal bright blue sky reflected in the center pool, the seamless flow between inside and outside that only happens where gloomy skies are a rare and short-lived.
Barton Myers Toro Canyon Steel House
As different as can be from the Getty Villa, the most striking marriage of climate and design that I experienced this week (or ever) is in Santa Barbara, about 100 miles up the coast from the Getty. My husband and I were lucky to have the opportunity to spend a night with visionary architect Barton Myers and his wife Vicki in their revolutionary, climate-dictated house in Toro Canyon, high above the Pacific. To reach it we climbed up a dusty winding road past groves of eucalyptus, manzanita and citrus, gratefully leaving behind a Friday traffic-choked Rt. 101, to emerge into another world, accented by a shimmering silver construction wide open to soft breezes and broad vistas of sea, sky and mountain.
Barton Myers Toro Canyon House - Patio to Water Roof
Barton is a leading proponent of steel construction; his book 3 Steel Houses is a convincing testament to the beauty and functionality of the construction. I particularly liked his statement soon after we arrived: “This house is made of old Buicks and Chevrolets” – end of worries about using up finite resources. Living there for a day and a half was a taste of heaven - we gorged on blood oranges from their trees, drank wine from their grapes - and most amazing of all, swam in their roof. That’s right – swam in the roof! The roofs on Barton Myer’s Toro Canyon Residence are water roofs, which insulate and provide all-important fire protection - most of the roof is a shallow layer but - why not? - one end is a lap pool with a 50-mile view!
Barton Myers Toro Canyon - Living Room
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Barton Myers Toro Canyon House
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Barton Myers Toro Canyon House (with Jack the Cat)
What Southern California lacks in climate challenges it makes up for in fire danger, especially in the ubiquitous narrow canyons where the Santa Ana winds sweep over the mountains fanning dry hot air into a dry brush-filled landscape. Barton’s steel house is a paragon of fire readiness; not only the water roofs on the residence, his studio above the house, and a smaller guest house below, but features such as extra steel doors that pull down over the glass garage door facades, and a ring of water-laden cacti that extends fire protection into the surrounding land. As in the Roman villa design, with Barton’s steel house outside and inside flow back and forth easily and naturally, one barely distinct from the other - until it matters.
Santa Barbara Courthouse 1927
Finally, also in Santa Barbara, the great Courthouse makes yet another statement about climate and design. After a terrible earthquake in 1925, Santa Barbara decreed that building needed to be rebuilt in the old Spanish style - the courthouse dates from 1927 but has the timeless look and feel of old California Missions which were sited on the flats without access to mountain air. Thick whitewashed walls, loggias, a tower high enough to collect the breezes - with a 360 degree view - it’s a beautiful, gracious place that stays cool even on the hottest days.
Santa Barbara Courthouse
Decorations explode inside the building - colorful tiles of endless variety climbing the stairs and gracing the hallways, elaborate painted ceilings topping the stairwells, wrought iron banisters and railings that warm the hands but stay cool in the ever-present shade. The tiles were produced in Glendale at a time when Southern California was noted for arts and crafts ceramic production - one tile sequence tells the story of Saint Barbara who was, fittingly, imprisoned in a tower. If she’d been in this one she probably wouldn’t have minded.
Santa Barbara Courthouse
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Santa Barbara Courthouse
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Santa Barbara Courthouse - Assembly Room
One of the glories of the Santa Barbara Courthouse is the Assembly Room, seemingly untouched since Spanish rule, with leather benches and dark wood paneling. A treasure of a mural marches around the walls, painted in 1928 by Dan Sayre Groesbeck, who worked on historical films for Cecil B. DeMille. The mural tells the story of the discovery, exploration and settlement of Southern California - it’s said that you can find Douglas Fairbanks and other old movie stars sharing space with Father Juniper Serra, Spanish soldiers, and California Chumash Indians.
Most photos by Marilyn MacGregor
Some Toro Canyon photos courtesy Barton Myers
Websites for more information
http://www.bartonmyers.com/toro_01.htm
http://www.getty.edu/visit/
http://www.santabarbaracourthouse.org/sbch/
Is one of these your Vision of A California Dream? Leave a comment!
Most photos by Marilyn MacGregor
Some Toro Canyon photos courtesy Barton Myers
Websites for more information
http://www.bartonmyers.com/toro_01.htm
http://www.getty.edu/visit/
http://www.santabarbaracourthouse.org/sbch/
Is one of these your Vision of A California Dream? Leave a comment!
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