AKA: Fellowship Park House, Los Angeles, CA
Structure Type: built works - dwellings - houses
Designers: Harris, Harwell H., Architect (firm); Harwell Hamilton Harris (architect)
Dates: constructed 1935
The Fellowship Park House was one of the most photographed houses of the 1930s, striking for its economy, openness and strong Japanese character; it cost approximately $3.50 per square foot, a low figure even by Depression-era, 1935 standards; Harris laid the floorplan out on a 3-foot square module. (The traditional dimensions of Japanese tatami mats was 3 shoku by 6 shoku, roughly 3' x 6', probably a guiding principle for Harris's modular measurement.)
Harris Armstrong's Weekend Cottage in the Ozarks, (Architectural Forum, 08/1949, 91:2, p. 76-77), owes a great deal to Harris's earlier house; additionally, photographic representations of the Armstrong House paralleled those of the Harris House; the Harris House occupied a small, very hilly piece of property; the steep topography made the lot affordable to the young couple.
Harris's first house for himself has been greatly altered.
PCAD id: 24