A Letter from Los Angeles

By: Rick Corsini; Anthony Fontenot

Immediately after World War Two and just before McCarthyism, ten Communists commissioned a modernist, racially integrated housing co-operative in the Silver Lake neighbourhood of L.A.

Previous page: Street view of the Avenel Cooperative, Los Angeles, CA, designed by Gregory Ain in 1946. Photographed by Julius Shulman in 1949. (Getty Research Institute (2004.R.10) / J. Paul Getty Trust)

Small

The Los Angeles-based modern architect Gregory Ain (1908–88) was a pioneer in low-cost housing in the 1930s and ’40s. During this period, Ain collaborated closely with the era’s design luminaries, including Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Charles and Ray Eames. He developed a series of innovative housing projects that today remain compelling models for high-quality, […]

Medium

The Los Angeles-based modern architect Gregory Ain (1908–88) was a pioneer in low-cost housing in the 1930s and ’40s. During this period, Ain collaborated closely with the era’s design luminaries, including Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Charles and Ray Eames. He developed a series of innovative housing projects that today remain compelling models for high-quality, […]

Large

The Los Angeles-based modern architect Gregory Ain (1908–88) was a pioneer in low-cost housing in the 1930s and ’40s. During this period, Ain collaborated closely with the era’s design luminaries, including Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Charles and Ray Eames. He developed a series of innovative housing projects that today remain compelling models for high-quality, […]

The Los Angeles-based modern architect Gregory Ain (1908–88) was a pioneer in low-cost housing in the 1930s and ’40s. During this period, Ain collaborated closely with the era’s design luminaries, including Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Charles and Ray Eames. He developed a series of innovative housing projects that today remain compelling models for high-quality, […]

Sorry, but this article is available to subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.