The (R.M.) Schindler List: December 2017

R.M. Schindler's archives include the 1934 design for a residence for Mr. and Mrs. Haines for Dana Point. It's a gorgeous house clearly designed to admire a gorgeous view.

But was it built?

The answer is a resounding "Yes!" since Steele (1999 p 175) includes a photo of the house--apparently the only one known to exist (Steele doesn't include a credit for the photo)--in a list of executed works in the back of his book. According to Sarnitz (1986), Schindler also includes the Haines House in his personal list of completed buildings.

from Steele (1999 p 175)

A post by Chris Jepsen titled "R.M. Schindler in Dana Point?" (accessed December 21, 2017) questions whether the house was actually built in Dana Point.

Schindler generally included an address on his plans, so the plans for this house are notable for not including an address or even a town on them (this is based on the plan and axiometric drawing included in this post; I plan to look at the Gebhard 1993 volume to see what else is included in there).

Further complicating the story is that an address subsequently associated with the house doesn't exist. Sarnitz (1986) and Smith and Darling (2001) list 5112 Alishia Drive, Dana Point, as the address. As Jepsen points out, there is no Alishia Drive (or street, or avenue, or anything) in Dana Point; however, there is an Alicia Drive, a short stretch of road up on a hill that would be appropriate for a house like this to take full advantage of a view of the ocean. Smith and Darling note that any addresses from Schindler's archives are subject to later changes (and Schindler struggled from time to time with spelling). The address numbers for Alicia Drive are in the 25000s for the dozen houses that line the street.

Using Google Streetview, there does not appear to be a house that looks like the one Schindler designed for the Haines (although there is a gorgeous mid-century modern house there). Furthermore, most of the housing stock in the area appears to be from the last few decades.

I decided to do some research on whether or not the house was built in Dana Point. First, I tried to locate older maps of the town to see if the street name had changed or not, and that is where I got my first clue.

First, for reference, here's what Dana Point looks like today via Google Maps in map and satellite view:

The marker is at the centerpoint of Alicia Drive.

In particular, take note of a curved street in the left-center part of the map:

This is a nice landmark for placing yourself in the subsequent maps I'm going to show you. To simplify the discussion, I'm going to refer to the "Alicia Drive area" as "Alicia Hill".

Going back in time, I was able to find a developer's promotional map from 1928:

source

I include this to show that the development hadn't reached Alicia Hill by 1928 (the gaudily bordered text in the upper right hand corner is on top of Alicia Hill). Yeah, yeah: A lot could have changed between 1928 and 1934; however, it's not likely: the Great Depression hit in 1929, putting a real damper on construction and the market for vacation homes.

Striking out on finding any more historic street maps, I started searching the archives for aerial photography. I found this photo that confirms that, even by 1946, there wasn't a whole lot going on over at Alicia Hill:

Here's a brutally unsatisfying zoom in of Dana Point (aerialarchives.com wants $136 for the hi-res download; I'm not sure I care that much about this whole issue...).

You can see the beginnings of several north-south streets down from the hill towards the ocean (towards the bottom of the image), but the broad, curvey streets of Alicia Hill haven't been laid out yet. You can see the beginnings of Mariana Drive and the lower swoop of Alicia Drive. There appears to be a structure on the downhill side (toward the ocean) of the proto-Alicia Drive.

These photos don't prove that the Haines built a Schindler-designed house on Alicia Hill, but they do show that (1) the reason Schindler doesn't include an address for the house is probably because there weren't named streets or addresses on Alicia Hill at the time of construction and (2) something was built out there at least as far back as 1946.

And then--bingo!--I found hi-res aerial photography from Orange County from 1947 that shows the house:

Zooming in:

If you flip Schindler's floorplan at the top of this post 180 degrees (see below), you can clearly see the footprint of the house (which appears to have already been extended on the western side by this point).

At first I wasn't completely convinced: why, with breathtaking views of the ocean toward the south, why would you orient the living room's primary window bank toward the east? If you look closely at the Steele photo (shown again below), the grade is definitely down along the primary axis of the living room windows, consistent with the main window bank facing east. The aerial photo above is, indeed, of the Haines House.

Using Google Maps, I found that there is a combined view of ocean and mountains to the east, so its likely that's what Schindler was after:

So when did the Haines House come down?

It's a terrible quality image, but the house is still there in 1952:

By 1970, someone is starting to develop Alicia Hill. Haines House is still there, but now it has a neighbor to the east and several neighbors down the hill:

I came across an aerial photo of the christening of Dana Point Harbor in 1971:

And here's a zoom of Alicia Hill:

The house is still there in 1980 (with more neighbors):

But by 1981, the house appears to be gone:

And the house (and all its landscaping) is definitely gone by 1982:

The lot was still empty in 1988 but had been redeveloped with four new houses by 1990:

So the Haines House was a victim of its great view, large lot, and a then-underappreciation of Schindler.

Here's what that intersection looks like today via Google Maps:

looking oceanward down Zarzito

looking up towards the intersection

So there you have it: mystery solved! Dana Point did have a Schindler-designed house, and that house was located immediately downhill from the intersection of Alicia and Zarzito drives. What a gem this would be for the community if the house still existed today! It was one of Schindler's classic plaster skin designs when he was (arguably) at the peak of his skills. Hopefully more photos of this house will surface with time. It's surprising that Schindler himself didn't have photos made of this spectacular spectacularly-placed house. Perhaps it wasn't executed to his liking (unclear if he was the contractor, although it wasn't that much farther away [30 miles] than the Lovell Beach House) or the relationship with the clients fell apart or he simply couldn't afford it. That detail may be lost to history...

[Check back in a few weeks as I plan to inspect the documents included in Genhard 1993 in detail sometime soon!]

Bless the MAK Center for setting up these tours of R.M. Schindler homes. This year it was three spec houses Schindler designed and built in Inglewood circa 1940 (Richard Lind, a Shindler protege, is given co-credit in some places). All three homes were open for the tour with two of the three allowing indoor photography.

The houses were, of course, stunning. It's always good to get inside one of Schindler's places from time to time to be reminded of his brilliance. Even though these are small and economical homes, their designs are expansive and highly livable.

Article about the restoration of one of the homes.

Two of the three places are side-by-side and considered a duplex with a shared front yard.

The third place was a few houses down the street.

The front wall cantilevers over the landscape.

One of my favorite Schindler details is how beautifully abstract his fireplaces are.

Also beautifully abstract (and functional) are his intersections and corners.

This plywood volume is the backdrop to the dining room. The volume extends out from the wall, leaving a space above, and hosts the closet for a bedroom.

Schindler liked to sink his lighting into the ceiling.

A light for the walkway.

A better look at the cantilever and the deep overhang. The houses face west, so Schindler was protecting the living room from the sun.

Although each house is similar, each house sports subtle differences. For example, the fireplaces.

Nice corner window in the 1980s era remodel of the kitchen.

Windows in the bedroom.

The original bathtub/shower.

Nice detailing in the living room corner.

That railing ain't original...

I arrived in Inglewood with time to eat before the tour. Since I was leaving the tour to hightail it back to San Diego to see Maya Jane Coles spin at a show downtown (and would not have time for dinner), I googled for a nearby, hearty meal, and Pann's popped up, just down the street. What a find! The food was good ("What are you famous for?" I asked. "Chicken and waffles!" replied the waitress). Turns out that a Chinese-American woman who was instrumental in early Googie architecture, Helen Liu Fong, designed the place.