Résumé

Draftsman, B. Marcus Priteca, Architect, Los Angeles, CA, c. 1929-1930. Ain worked for Priteca at the time he was designing the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, CA.

Collaborator, Richard J. Neutra, Architect, Los Angeles, CA, 1933-1935.

Principal, Gregory Ain, Architect, Los Angeles, CA, 1935-1944.

Ain associated with Charles and Ray Eames in the formation of the Plyformed Wood Company in Los Angeles's Venice neighborhood, in 1942. Plyformed got a needed cash infusion from the Detroit-based Evans Products Company which took a majority stake in the Eames start-up. (See the Vitra Design Museum link below.)

Chief Engineer, Evans Products Company, Moulded Plywood Division, Los Angeles, CA, 1944-1945. Ain worked on the famous molded plywood chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames with the Evans Products Company. According to the Vitra Design Museum: "In 1943, a portentous meeting took place between Charles Eames and Edward S. Evans: Eames was in search of financing for the Plyformed Wood Company, which he had founded in 1942 with John Entenza, Harry Bertoia, Gregory Ain, and others in Venice, Los Angeles. The company was contracted by the US Army to produce three-dimensional, moulded plywood leg splints for war invalids. Evans took over the company, renamed it the Molded Plywood Division and placed Eames at the helm of research and development. The subcontractor in Venice started production of splints and stretchers and conducted intensive research into the use of moulded plywood parts in aircraft construction. Before the end of World War II, the group associated with Eames also began to develop furniture and children’s toys made of moulded plywood, which were briefly produced starting in 1945 in Venice, and distributed by Herman Miller." (See Vitra Design Museum.de.com, "Evans Products Company, Molded Plywood Division, Venice, California, United States," accessed 03/08/2018.)

Partner, Ain, Johnson and Day, Architects, Los Angeles, CA.

Principal, Gregory Ain, Architect, Los Angeles, CA, c. 1955.

Visiting Critic, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, 1949-63; Director, Department of Architecture, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 1963-67;

House Beautiful Award, 1937; 1938 House Beautiful Award, House of the Year Award, Edwards House, Los Angeles, CA; Pittsburgh Plate Glass Award, 1938; House Beautiful Award for a house, Los Angeles, CA, 1940; Fellow, American Institute of Architects, 1940; Guggenheim Fellowship for study of low-cost housing, 1940, one of 66 Americans and 7 Canadians to receive the prize in that year; the Guggenheim Fellowship paid Ain $2,500, enough money to support him for one year to do his research on small house design in Southern California.

Archival documents on Gregory Ain housed at the Architecture and Design Collection of the University Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Physics coursework, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Westwood, Los Angeles, CA; architecture coursework, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA.

Ain was born in PA, and died in Los Angeles County, CA, at the age of 79.

He married Agnes Budin in 1929, divorced; married Ruth March, 1938. (The American Architects Directory, 1955, p. 4, indicated that he was married in 1940.)

He had two children, Emily and Christopher.

SSN: 565-24-4301; Ain would have worked with Charles and Ray Eames while at the Evans Products Company, c. 1944.

• Pittsburgh, PA (Architect's Birth)
  Pittsburgh, PA

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• Los Angeles, CA (Architect's Death)
  Los Angeles, CA

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  Gregory Ain

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