So a friend of mine from Lampasas has found herself is the unbelievably fortunate spot of living in a Schindler, specifically an apartment in El Pueblo Ribera Court. A San Diego dentist commissioned R.M. Schindler to build a complex of beach-side rental units in La Jolla that would draw attention yet be southwestern. For the project, Schindler tapped into his visit to New Mexico; the concrete construction he had been experimenting with his builder, Clyde Chace; his own house; and Modernism. Designed and built between 1923 and 1925, Schindler designed each unit to be open to the outdoors, have views of the ocean, yet maintain privacy between units. The result has been described as "Pueblo Revival" (Gebhard 1972) and "a masterpiece of early California Modernism" (Dirk Sutro as quoted in Shess 2006).
The unit with (presumably) Schindler's roof-top addition.
I've visited the Court several times to gawk at exteriors, but on this trip I was able to see the interior of one of the units. All of the units have been substantially altered. Once burned to the ground as has been replaced with a Schindler-puebloesque structure, another burned as has been rebuilt into an almost unidentifiable building, and the rest have been modified, the most common being closing the rooftop deck (one of which Schindler himself closed in [which subsequent closures seem to have drawn their inspiration from]). One unit, picture above, appears to have been restored back to its original splendor (a unit that I would eat Trump's toenails to see...).
The unit I visited has also been heavily modified, yet the spirit and charm of Schindler's vision remains.
Post stolen from my other blog.
Full references available at The (R.M.) Schindler List.
Photos of other units:
Some serious deterioration here...
A "replacement" unit (neo_Schindler)
An overgrown unit
This unit burned down, but if you look closely at the bottom, it appears they worked in the concrete from the original in the rebuild.
Same unit as the previous photo
Scenes form the hood:
Fell in love with this cat...
This message of the day really pissed me off.
Termites are an issue in La Jolla
Looking down the street from in front of the pueblos.
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