Last call for the KCMODERN Martini Modern Party and Tour: William S. Beckett, Architect

Name: James Kemper Residence
Architect: William Sutherland Beckett
Year Designed: circa 1951-52
Builder: Unknown
Year Completed: 1953
Size: Unknown
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Excellent

Last call for the KCMODERN Martini Modern Party and Tour: William S. Beckett, Architect. You can safely RSVP and pay in advance at:

http://www.acteva.com/go/kcmodern

Online ticket sales end at noon on Sunday, June 14, 2009. The remaining tickets will be available at the door on June 14 at 4:00 PM, the day of the event.

William S. Beckett, Architect - Shoor Residence

Name: Shoor Residence
Architect: William Sutherland Beckett
Year Designed: 1951
Builder: Unknown
Year Completed: 1952
Size: 1000 sq.ft. (2 bedrooms and1 bathroom)
Location: 12336 Deerbrook Lane in Brentwood, California
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Standing in unknown condition
Photographer: Julius Shulman

Beckett did a low budget house of 1000 square feet for $11,800 in 1951-52 at 12336 Deerbrook Lane in Brentwood, California. The flat roofed Shoor Residence was a very small two bedroom, one bath home on a steep lot. The exterior of the home featured a forty foot long glass wall looking out at a private terrace and the canyon below. That juxtaposed nicely with the much more solid stucco wall facing the street. The most prominent features of the interior were a freestanding triangular plan fireplace that tapered as it rose to the ceiling and built-in cabinetwork which divided the open plan. This house was featured with photos done by Shulman in the book Quality Budget Houses by Katherine Morrow Ford and Thomas H. Creighton. This is also the only William Becket House listed in the most recent version of An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles by David Gebhard and Robert Winter.

Offices of William S. Beckett, Architect - Case Study House Era Architect - Mid-Century Modern Architecture

Name: Offices of William S. Beckett, Architect
Architect: William Sutherland Beckett
Year Designed: circa 1949-50
Builder: Unknown
Year Completed: 1950
Size: Unknown
Location: 9026 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California
Type: Office
Style: Modern
Status: Standing in unknown condition
Photographer: Julius Shulman

William S. Beckett began his professional career as chief designer for Sumner Spaulding, the architect of Case Study House #2 for Arts + Architecture magazine. Around that time he was also on the faculty at the University of California.

By 1949, William S. Beckett had opened his own architectural practice in Los Angeles. In 1951, he designed his own architectural offices located at 9026 Melrose Avenue. The magical black and white Julius Shulman photographs of this building were widely published in the architectural press. The building garnered him an AIA National Honor Award, First Award in 1952, one of only three given nationwide that year. This prestigious award made his reputation as one of the architects of the stars and Beckett set off on a career designing many celebrity homes in Beverly Hills and other exclusive neighborhoods in LA. The new posh international style modernism of the office set the tone for his designs for his A-list clients. This small modern office building is still standing today.

William Sutherland Beckett, Architect - Raymond Evans Residence

Name: Raymond Evans Residence
Architect: William Sutherland Beckett
Year Designed: circa 1951
Builder: Unknown
Year Completed: 1952
Size: Unknown sq.ft. (4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms)
Location: 1255 Angelo Road, Beverly Hills, California
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Excellent
Photographer: Unknown

Another Early success for William S. Beckett was a house design for Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Evans at 1255 Angelo Drive in Beverly Hills. Evans was known for writing Oscar winning musical masterpieces such as Doris Day's Que Sera Sera, Dinah Shore's Buttons and Bows, and Nat King Cole's Mona Lisa. Completed in 1952 it was built of redwood, brick, glass and stucco on the exterior. The interior was done in plaster and cork walls and asphalt tile flooring over a radiant heated concrete slab. In plan the most dominant feature was a pair of solid curving walls-- one curve facing the front entry court and the other facing a private terrace at the rear of the house. A signature triangular fireplace was included here as well. The house which had an enclosed bridge connecting the main living areas to the sleeping pavilion was well documented in Architectural Record, Record Houses 1956. Mr. Evans lived in the house for 55 years until his death in 2007. The rather small house recently sold and the asking price was 9.995 million.

Please join us for a tour of Kansas City's only Beckett designed house this Sunday, June 14, 2009, 4:00 to 6:00 PM at 6612 Wyoming, Kansas City, Missouri. Admission is $20 in advance with reservations made at www.acteva.com/go/kcmodern. A featured Martini and other beverages will be served. A portion of your admission will go to the Historic Kansas City Foundation.

KCMODERN Martini Modern Party and Tour: William S. Beckett, Architect

KCMODERN will host a Martini Modern Party and Tour at the home of Scott Francis. Come tour this 1953 Modern home designed by California Case Study Era Architect, William Sutherland Beckett for the James Kemper Family. Beckett was best known for his Modern Celebrity Homes in Beverly Hills for A-listers like Charlton Heston.

Please join us for this fun event on Sunday, June 14, 2009, 4:00 to 6:00 PM at 6612 Wyoming, Kansas City, Missouri. Admission is $20 in advance with reservations made at www.acteva.com/go/kcmodern. A featured Martini and other beverages will be served. A portion of your admission will go to the Historic Kansas City Foundation.

More info about William S. Beckett and updates about this and other events can be found at http://www.kcmodern.blogspot.com/ or call 913.262.5056.

Kivett & Myers - A Synagogue designed functionally and aesthetically

Name: A Synagogue designed functionally and aesthetically - project
Architect: Kivett & Myers, Kansas City, MO
Year Designed: Circa 1952
Builder: N/A
Year Built: N/A
Size: N/A
Location: Unknown, probably Kansas City, MO or Central Plains
Type: Religious
Style: Modern
Status: N/A
Scanned from:
Climate & Architecture
Progressive Architecture Book
Jeffrey Ellis Aronin
Reinhold Publishing Corporation
New York, U.S.A. 1953

I was reading a vintage architecture book about "Climate and Architecture" and came accross this handsome little drawing. I love it when my two great interests, Mid-Century Modern and Sustainable Architecture, collide.

We know that Kivett and Myers designed several Jewish Synagogues, the most famous being the now demolished Temple B'nai Jehuda in Kansas City, MO. We also know there is a Kivett and Myers designed Synagogue in Omaha, Nebraska. It is unclear if this design was ever built somewhere, but I do not think it was built in KC.