Anshen & Allen, Architects; Robert D. Dewell, Civil and Structural Engineer; Earl & Gropp, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers; William Simpson Construction Co., General Contractors; Fred Coukos, Construction Superintendent; Bernard T. Espelage, O.F.M., D.D., Bishop of Gallup; John Driscoll, Pastor; Keith Monroe, Sculptor

The Chapel of the Holy Cross at Sedona, Arizona is an arresting building. It is also fine architecture. It combines more than the usually requisite assortment of identifiable satisfactions in such a way that the total effect renders analysis of its particulars, though pleasurable, an academic process only partially instructive because it is incapable of completion.

THREE MILES from Sedona, Arizona and one hundred fifty feet above the floor of the Verde River Valley, the chapel rises from a spur of deep red sandstone at the base of a fifteen hundred foot vertical cliff graduated in color from the red of the spur to a light cream top.

From the car turn around below and east of the chapel, steps lead to the textured concrete ramp, which curves up and around the cliff of the spur to the chapel entrance plaza.

The chapel itself, the gift of Marguerite Staude to the Roman Catholic Church in memory of her parents, is designed to seat approximately fifty people in the permanent pews along the side walls and across the rear. In the months when tourists may swell the size of the congregation, folding chairs will increase the capacity to one hundred fifty. In the basement are the confessional, office, two sacristies and services.

The building is a reinforced concrete shell, twelve inches thick, integrally colored and sandblasted to expose a rich textured aggregate on both the interior and exterior surfaces. The walls were poured in sections, eight feet high. The two ends of the chapel are glazed with a smoke colored glass which eliminates glare while permitting a clear view of the magnificent panorama beyond the altar. The orientation to the southwest and the projecting side walls and cross act as a large louver in preventing direct sunlight from falling on the glass.

The floor surfaces are trowel-finished concrete. The tall, slim entrance doors are aluminum with specially detailed horn-shaped handles.

Construction was carried out under most difficult. conditions and the architects are particularly grateful to the general contractor and his job superintendent for the high quality of the work. Interestingly the contractor as a young man had built the church which is the headquarters for the chapel pastor.

_______________________
source: Architectural Record | October 1956

 

To capitalize on a narrow (44') waterfront lot this house, on Lido Isle at Newport Beach, California, was designed to point out toward the bay like the prow of a ship. T-shaped living-dining room, right, has three walls of glass for an unobstructed view, and wide roof overhangs for protection against sun. From terrace, ten steps lead down to water and boat pier. Garage and entrance face street.

Owners: Mrs. J. D. Vail and Mrs. Alice Roemer
Architect: Philmer J. Ellerbroek

_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | July 1955

 

This house makes news in prefabrication because it fits a hilly site. It is a big house, 2,216 square feet of living space on the main floor plus a 512-square-foot garage and a lower level which includes family room and a full basement. It is two stories high at the rear and one story high at the front. Tailoring a house to the lot used to be strictly a custom-built undertaking but this is a model planned specifically for land that slopes, prefabricated for $39,000 by builder Donald Scholz. It is built of precut lumber, has prefabricated wall and roof panels, uses ready-made component parts which standardize construction and cut costs. In design it has the individuality of a custom-built house.

_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | June, 1955

 

COMPLETE SIMPLICITY in both plan and construction mark this new store building at Waikiki. When the project was started only two or three prospective tenants were interested, and maximum flexibility was called for to meet the needs of whatever tenants might eventually rent space. The site, on the grounds of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, is 120 ft deep, with a 438-ft frontage on Kalakaua Avenue, one of Waikiki's main thoroughfares. Off-street parking was a must. Another requirement. stipulated in the property lease, was that the total height. of the building be restricted to 30 ft.

To simplify financing, the building was designed as three identical units, each 136 ft long and 52 ft deep. which could be built one at a time, but which would look like one continuous structure when completed. The three units also made it easier to follow the slight curve in the street and the slight drop in sidewalk elevation.

Each unit consists of six 22 ft 8 in. bays, suitable for use either singly or in combination. Ceilings are high enough to permit installation of mezzanines if desired. Flexibility is further stressed in the basic structure a simple flat slab resting on three rows of seven columns each. Front walls are glass from floor to ceiling, rear walls concrete block, plastered. Dividing partitions are metal lath and plaster. A parking lot runs the full length of the building at the rear, reached by two 10-ft passages between units.

The three units are tied together chiefly by continuous concrete overhang. Tenants who leased space before building was finished had privilege of taking allowance for basic design to apply to cost of shop designed especially for their own requirements; McInerny's, in first building, had special front using a native sandstone.

_______________________
source: Design for Modern Merchandising | An Architectural Record Book | 1954

 

Here's a different kind of prefabricated house. It doesn't come from factory or prefabrication dealer but from the local lumber yard. It is built of standard 4' x 8' wall panels (there are solid panels, window panels, door panels) and roof trusses which can be assembled by the lumber dealer and put up by any builder. This system was developed by the University of Illinois Small Homes Council who also designed this compact 1,008-square-foot house. 

_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | June, 1955

HOUSE & GARDEN's second House-of-the-Month is a bargain in good living because its split-level floor plan takes advantage of a sloping site and because it uses many space-making tricks. From the front it is a long (70'), low one-story house; inside, it has three floors. The living-dining room, on grade level, is joined to the entrance foyer but screened from it by a plant box, and borrows space from the outdoors through a floor-to-ceiling window-wall that opens to a rear living terrace. Also on this floor are kitchen-laundry, a lavatory, and a two-car garage with storage room for outdoor furniture and garden tools. Six steps up, but as removed from everyday comings and goings as a regulation second floor, are three bedrooms and a bathroom. Down six steps is a big, sunny playroom which, because it has an adjoining full bath, might double as a guest suite. (Building economy: because it is on the downhill side, the large playroom requires excavating only a half-basement.) 

_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | February, 1955