Charles & Ray Eames’ June 20 Anniversary, Their House & Grandson

A house full of light and air, made of prefabricated materials and hidden by eucalyptus trees, overlooks a meadow on Chautauqua Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. Known as the Eames House, it embodies the ideas and ideals of the mid-century design team of Charles and Ray Eames through their association with the Case Study House program of 1945-1962.

And if you’re a member of the Eames Foundation, you get a free tour of the exterior and the interior on Saturday, June 21, held every year close to the June 20 wedding anniversary of the Eames couple, who have attained iconic status.

But even if you’re not a member, the property is, fortunately, open to the public on a reservation basis. You can view this exemplary mid-century modern home from the outside, peek through the windows into the first floor, and wander the grounds.

We are fortunate that the home has been preserved and is open to the public. We are fortunate that this husband-and-wife team brought their unique talents to a partnership that is considered one of America’s most important and influential design teams. Their work literally helped shape the second half of the 20th century and remains culturally vital and commercially popular today.

And I am fortunate to count their grandson Eames Demetrios – who has been the keeper of the flame of the Eames legacy and who is one of the most fascinating humans on the planet today – as my friend. More on him later, but first a little more about the Eames’ Case Study house.

The Case Study House program was an innovative program conceived by John Entenza, the editor of Arts & Architecture magazine, designed to promote a series of prototype homes that would provide a modern alternative to tract housing, especially in consideration of millions of G.I.s returning from World War II. The Case Study House program embraced the belief that wartime technology and materials could be better used for peacetime design. Each of the case studies was intended to represent the needs of a particular client, yet solve the needs of each client in a universal way. The Eames couple designed their home using themselves as the hypothetical clients, a working couple with no children at home, who needed space for living and working quarters.

The structure is made of steel with a frame of painted black.  Façade panels are filled with opaque materials, some painted in colors of yellow, red, and blue.  The structure is actually two two-story buildings, the living quarters and the studio, connected by a patio.  The living area boasts a 17-foot high area and a skylight over the stairwell. The interiors are filled with Eames-designed artwork and furniture, mixing the Eames’ ethnic collections with modern materials of plywood and linoleum. A strong relationship with nature is a key element of the design. 

Several years ago I wanted to write an article for a Westside newspaper about the Eames House. So, I contacted grandson Eames Demetrios, a world-famous artist-filmmaker-geographer (and much more) who lectures internationally. I called him cold, and he responded graciously and granted me the interview.

Demetrios is a Geographer-at-Large who travels the world exploring stories of imaginary peoples, movements, even physical laws. His ideas and works, to use a phrase from the 60s, are mind blowing.

I encourage you to take a little time to research his work (and I’ve provided several helpful hyperlinks). When you do learn more about his work, or hear him talk, at first you might come away a bit puzzled. But once you hear more and more about his work, you realize he’s so in tune with the universe. He starts to make sense and you recognize he’s talking about a universal truth, the wisdom of the universe, the wisdom of the ancients.

But what I want to talk more about is Eames Demetrios the person. He’s so warm and generous that whenever I take my students to the Eames House, he has often made it a point to meet us there.

And I love the stories of his memories of his grandparents.

“It was an incredibly fun house to visit,” he told me in our first interview. “It was a warm and wonderful place. I remember going to the meadow with my grandfather to take pictures of spider webs. My siblings and I would have breakfast on the patio with my grandparents. It has always been a special place.” 

And he had a special benefit as the grandson of gifted designers. Charles and Ray would often have him test out the toys that they designed.

These intimate anecdotes make even richer the story of an extraordinary family and the iconic Modernist house they built and left for public enjoyment.

Proponents of Modernism had a social message: that good design would transform society itself, making our lives healthier, more stable, and attuned to the needs of a rapidly changing social structure. The Case Study House program and the legacy of the Eames family certainly reflect that lofty ideal.

Eleanor Schrader is an award winning architectural and interior design historian, professor and consultant who lectures worldwide on the history of architecture, interiors, furniture, and decorative arts. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.