Jack Hillmer Question
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ihaveaquestion
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:01 pm
Jack Hillmer Question
hi everyone, i posted this question on another board and somebody suggested that I should post here too. I'm trying to find pictures of Jack Hillmers houses and was hooping someone here might have some or might now where some are. All I've been able to really find so far is this link (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN). I saw a profile on one of his houses in some book entitle "signature architects of the bay area" or something like that and have been dying to see more.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN)
This article was published April 28 in the San Francisco Chronicle's Home & Garden section:
SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2007
Jack Hillmer practiced architecture as fine art
By Dave Weinstein SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Six weeks before he died, architect Jack Hillmer told a gathering of architects and architecture fans at the American Institute of Architects
about his first view of the Bay Area, describing with a painter's eye flying toward Hamilton Air Force Base (now Hamilton Field) to deliver a newly
built bomber from the factory where he worked in Southern California.
"It was a golden sunset behind the Golden Gate. We flew over the shipyards in Richmond, and there were hundreds of welding torches like
little blue stars. I met a friend from Texas, an ensign in the Navy who took me up to the Top of the Mark. It was a full moon coming up over the
bay and I was stuck here."
Born and raised in Texas, Hillmer was in fact first touched by Califoruia as a boy when he visited the Century of Progess exposition in Chicago.
He was impressed by redwood boards at the California exhibition.
"They had no finish on them," De recalled. "The wood had a sheen like satin. I had never seen any wood so beautiful. I guess that imprinted me
with the beauty of the wood left completely alone, nothing done to it."
Hillmer, who died at the age of 88 in a hospital in Marin County on April 2, did as much as anyone to define Bay Area Modernism. It wasn't because
he created so many buildiugs - fewer than 10 were built - but because his homes have a Zen-like purity about them, a sense of adventure both in
their structure and their expressive use of raw wood, and a concern for
detail that turns homes into uuified works of art. His homes are the platonic ideal of the modern Bay Area house.
A Hillmer home, whether in the East Bay hills, Belvedere or Napa, is
rough-hewn but jewellike, intellectually acute yet sensuous. It's always based on a mathematical module, but playfuJly, like a puzzle. He loved
hexagonal rooms, dramatic shifting spaces, long spans and bold
cantilevers. One early house is believed to have used the first post-tensioned concrete structure in the state.
"His architecture is assertive, but it's always benevolent," says architect and historian Pierluigi Serraino. "It's always very delicate in the way it fits
onto the site. It's not architecture that wants to scream, but it has its own monumentality."
His work was written up in journals and in Life magazine and helped attract other modern architects to the Bay Area.
But Hillmer never made a living from architecture, spending too much time on each project and rejecting clients he found unsympathetic. He
also declined to get licensed, arguing that creativity cannot be controlled. "Money is not a major thing for me," he said.
Hillmer taught at UC Berkeley for a decade, did remodeling, briefly quit architecture for acting, and house-sat - "but only in good buildings." He
was a member of Telesis, a group of socially conscious planners and architects.
As a founder of the Society for the Preservation of Golden Gate Park, Hillmer helped restore the torii gates at the Japanese Tea Garden and
fought plans to run a freeway through the Panhandle.
A tall man who gave an impression of strength even in his 80s, Hillmer never married. His life was all about art, and he was generous in his
praise for fellow architects. In his rattletrap car he continued to drive
himself and his onetime architectural partner, Warren Callister, to classical concerts in San Francisco. Hillmer and Callister, who were
friends for 71 years, shared a home in Novato.
Recently, Hillmer basked in renewed attention. He enjoyed presenting a slide show of his work, accompanied by anecdotes and laughter. Yet he
recently told a friend, "Architecture can break your heart." Hillmer was as straightforward and honest as his work. And as expressive. When people
clapped for him, he'd cry. Nothing bothered him more than seeing his
houses altered. He called them "my children."
Hillmer is survived by his houses. A memorial is being planned.
___________________________________________________________
Dave Weinstein became friends' with Jack Hillmer in 2003 while profiling the architect for the Home&Garden section. E-mail him at [email protected].
This article was published April 28 in the San Francisco Chronicle's Home & Garden section:
SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2007
Jack Hillmer practiced architecture as fine art
By Dave Weinstein SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Six weeks before he died, architect Jack Hillmer told a gathering of architects and architecture fans at the American Institute of Architects
about his first view of the Bay Area, describing with a painter's eye flying toward Hamilton Air Force Base (now Hamilton Field) to deliver a newly
built bomber from the factory where he worked in Southern California.
"It was a golden sunset behind the Golden Gate. We flew over the shipyards in Richmond, and there were hundreds of welding torches like
little blue stars. I met a friend from Texas, an ensign in the Navy who took me up to the Top of the Mark. It was a full moon coming up over the
bay and I was stuck here."
Born and raised in Texas, Hillmer was in fact first touched by Califoruia as a boy when he visited the Century of Progess exposition in Chicago.
He was impressed by redwood boards at the California exhibition.
"They had no finish on them," De recalled. "The wood had a sheen like satin. I had never seen any wood so beautiful. I guess that imprinted me
with the beauty of the wood left completely alone, nothing done to it."
Hillmer, who died at the age of 88 in a hospital in Marin County on April 2, did as much as anyone to define Bay Area Modernism. It wasn't because
he created so many buildiugs - fewer than 10 were built - but because his homes have a Zen-like purity about them, a sense of adventure both in
their structure and their expressive use of raw wood, and a concern for
detail that turns homes into uuified works of art. His homes are the platonic ideal of the modern Bay Area house.
A Hillmer home, whether in the East Bay hills, Belvedere or Napa, is
rough-hewn but jewellike, intellectually acute yet sensuous. It's always based on a mathematical module, but playfuJly, like a puzzle. He loved
hexagonal rooms, dramatic shifting spaces, long spans and bold
cantilevers. One early house is believed to have used the first post-tensioned concrete structure in the state.
"His architecture is assertive, but it's always benevolent," says architect and historian Pierluigi Serraino. "It's always very delicate in the way it fits
onto the site. It's not architecture that wants to scream, but it has its own monumentality."
His work was written up in journals and in Life magazine and helped attract other modern architects to the Bay Area.
But Hillmer never made a living from architecture, spending too much time on each project and rejecting clients he found unsympathetic. He
also declined to get licensed, arguing that creativity cannot be controlled. "Money is not a major thing for me," he said.
Hillmer taught at UC Berkeley for a decade, did remodeling, briefly quit architecture for acting, and house-sat - "but only in good buildings." He
was a member of Telesis, a group of socially conscious planners and architects.
As a founder of the Society for the Preservation of Golden Gate Park, Hillmer helped restore the torii gates at the Japanese Tea Garden and
fought plans to run a freeway through the Panhandle.
A tall man who gave an impression of strength even in his 80s, Hillmer never married. His life was all about art, and he was generous in his
praise for fellow architects. In his rattletrap car he continued to drive
himself and his onetime architectural partner, Warren Callister, to classical concerts in San Francisco. Hillmer and Callister, who were
friends for 71 years, shared a home in Novato.
Recently, Hillmer basked in renewed attention. He enjoyed presenting a slide show of his work, accompanied by anecdotes and laughter. Yet he
recently told a friend, "Architecture can break your heart." Hillmer was as straightforward and honest as his work. And as expressive. When people
clapped for him, he'd cry. Nothing bothered him more than seeing his
houses altered. He called them "my children."
Hillmer is survived by his houses. A memorial is being planned.
___________________________________________________________
Dave Weinstein became friends' with Jack Hillmer in 2003 while profiling the architect for the Home&Garden section. E-mail him at [email protected].
I have several more interiors of the Ludekens house, somewhere -- and an issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine from the late 'eighties
had an article on the house with color, including illustrations produced for the article that made the construction clearer. There was a long stainless
kitchen counter in one piece, pierced at one point for the electric burners.
Hillmer seems to have favored that wonderfully minimalist glazing detail that makes a window wall seem to be a row of plain rectangular-section
posts, at regular intervals, with no top or bottom rails.
I too would like to see more of his work. SDR
had an article on the house with color, including illustrations produced for the article that made the construction clearer. There was a long stainless
kitchen counter in one piece, pierced at one point for the electric burners.
Hillmer seems to have favored that wonderfully minimalist glazing detail that makes a window wall seem to be a row of plain rectangular-section
posts, at regular intervals, with no top or bottom rails.
I too would like to see more of his work. SDR
I've found my copy of the Fine Homebuilding issue with the Ludekens house article, so I will post my scans of that and also the other relevant images at my disposal.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN
SDR
Thank you for these wonderful images of a great obscure architectural work. The photographs and the description of the construction technology are quite fascinating. The house clearly exhibits FLW influences. I find the projecting plane that extends toward the lake a bit curious. I wish that a piece of the deck extended out with it. All things considered this house is wonderful.
Thank you for these wonderful images of a great obscure architectural work. The photographs and the description of the construction technology are quite fascinating. The house clearly exhibits FLW influences. I find the projecting plane that extends toward the lake a bit curious. I wish that a piece of the deck extended out with it. All things considered this house is wonderful.
Paul Harding FAIA Restoration Architect for FLW's 1901 E. Arthur Davenport House, 1941 Lloyd Lewis House, 1952 Glore House | www.harding.com | LinkedIn
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Roderick Grant
- Posts: 11815
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:48 am
Actually, Paul, it wasn't so obscure. If you were old enough to remember periodicals from the 50s, you would have seen images of that kitchen used in countless print ads. I have always thought of it as the ultimate in kitchen design, and was disheartened to read in the Fine Homebuilding article that it had been remodeled. Also the lignum vitae bathroom sinks were removed, as was the huge eucalyptus in the court, replaced by a hot tub. People just cannot leave well enough alone.
There was an exhibit mounted which featured the house in large b+w photos and text, with drawings, made when the house was fairly new. I've forgotten where it was shown, but it was mounted for a memorial to the architect last fall, in Tiburon, CA, at the studio he shared with Warren Callister.
The NorCal Mod page (linked above) has a bittersweet anecdote relating to publicity: the editor of Architectural Forum and his wife asked to see the house, but the owner told Hillmer that he would be away and denied them access. They viewed the house from outside. . .
SDR
The NorCal Mod page (linked above) has a bittersweet anecdote relating to publicity: the editor of Architectural Forum and his wife asked to see the house, but the owner told Hillmer that he would be away and denied them access. They viewed the house from outside. . .
SDR
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Ed Jarolin
- Posts: 277
- Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:06 pm
- Location: Wyoming
NorCalMod
Having just finished reading NorCalMod, I can recommend it highly. An architecture book more valuable for it's text than it's pictures; though the pictures are nice also. I found the interviews with many of these 'forgotten' architect/designers to be most enlightening. Perhaps the most valuable part of the book, for me at least, was Serraino's proposition on the critical role photography and publicity play in putting and keeping a work of great architecture on the critical radar screen. Architects practicing today would do well to read this and pay heed.