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Building History

The Architectural Forum, like most professional journals during the late 1930s, had a very enthusiastic attitude toward Bay Area Regional architecture of that period. Magazines were filled with houses designed by such figures as William W. Wurster, Gardner Dailey, John E. Dinwiddie, Clarence Mayhew, John Funk, Francis Joseph McCarthy and others including Francis E. Lloyd. Editors of the architectural press eagerly promoted an Americanized version of Modernism, one very different from the stucco boxes promoted by Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus. They sought out recent work that synthesized Modern stylistic characteristics and technologies with indigenous architectural features, buildings that seemed well-adapted to their local conditions. This desire for a more "humane" Modernism, influenced by regional building traditions and popular with the developing suburban middle class, was actively encouraged by such figures as Lewis Mumford, Elizabeth Mock and others. This residence in the then-remote Marin County city of Fairfax, was Francis E. Lloyd's best known work. Photographs taken of the Fairfax House by Philip Fein were reproduced frequently; writers inevitably discussed the openness and apparent spaciousness of Bay Area dwellings, and how a new, higher level of indoor-outdoor living promoted leisure, comfort and family well-being. A writer for Forum exulted of this dwelling: "Nowhere have the possibilities of regional expression in modern architecture been more excitingly realized than on the West Coast, and this recent example provides an excellent illustration. The house is by no means large, but it shows an impressive freedom in planning and breadth of treatment which take full advantage of view and climate. Due to the steep slope the rooms are strung out in a narrow line with the deck and large openings on the south side. The dining room is merely an expansion of the corridor to the living room, with generous windows on two sides to create the desired impression of spaciousness." In many ways, this house by Lloyd followed planning and stylistic precedents set by William Wurster, particularly in the way the bedroom corridor became an additional living space as it was located next to expansive windows and a huge wooden deck.

The Fairfax House cost $8,139 and contained 20,200 cubic feet of space.

PCAD id: 16144