Raphael Soriano was born in Greece but moved to Los Angeles in 1924. He attended college to become an architect and, in 1931, worked as an intern in Richard Nuetra's office alongside Gregory Ain and Harwell Hamilton Harris. Soriano briefly interned with Schindler but quickly returned to Neutra's office, finding Schindler's architecture too personal.
Shortly thereafter, Soriano set out to start his own practice, leveraging the International Style with his use of steel, aluminum, and glass. Sadly, only 12 of the 50 buildings he built remain, including the Polito House. Designed in 1938 and finished in 1940, this home is textbook International Style down to the bridge in the back. One unique element is the entrance stairwell filled with a wall of natural light through sandblasted windows.
When the current owners bought the house, the interior had been gutted leaving little of Soriano's original design. This allowed the owners to update and somewhat reconfigure the interior.
After spending much of the afternoon touring Schindlers, it was interesting to then visit an International Style home to compare and contrast. While all the homes are quite nice, Schindler's spaces are much more lively and dynamic whereas the Soriano, while lovely, seemed more formalic. This formalism ultimately led Soriano to mass-produced homes.
Regardless, it was the first Soriano we've seen, and that was a treat. Based on my reading, Howard Roark of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead borrows quite a bit from Soriano's biography (Rand interviewed him, among other architects, as background).
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