The John Lautner papers contain the comprehensive archive of this Southern California architect who became famous for such innovative structures as Chemosphere (the Malin House) and Silvertop (the Reiner House). Comprised of about 10,000 drawings, photographs and slides, and 17 models, plus Lautner's office and correspondence files, the archive is an important resource for the study of Southern California modernism in all its diverse aspects. The drawings detailing the structural engineering that enabled Lautner to create his sculpturally innovative houses will be of particular interest to historians of architecture and science.

Born in Marquette, Michigan in 1911, John Lautner grew up in a world of ideas and art, the first child of parents who believed that a person is formed by the physical and intellectual environment in which he is raised. The young Lautner was immersed in a carefully crafted set of balancing influences: an academic father and an artistic and mystical mother; the wild, elemental landscape of the Upper Peninsula and extended visits to the urban worlds of New York City and Boston. By Lautner's account, one of the most formative influences of his youth was the family's cabin on the wild shore of Lake Superior, Midgaard. Here, each summer from 1923-1928, Lautner helped his father construct the building designed by his mother. This first exposure to architecture set him on his path, the merging of the natural and the fabricated, of landscape and enclosed space.

876.1 linear feet (207 boxes, 711 flatfiles, 119 rolls)

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Open for use by qualified researchers, with the exception of the unreformatted audiotape and some oversize material that is still in process. Contact the repository for information regarding access to the architectural models.