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Image / Cliff May: Smith speculative house (Bel Air, Calif.)

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Title
Cliff May: Smith speculative house (Bel Air, Calif.)
Creator
Cliff May, architect W.P. Woodcock, photographer
Date Created and/or Issued
circa 1937
Publication Information
Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara
Contributing Institution
UC Santa Barbara, Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design and Architecture Museum
Collection
Cliff May (1908-1989): Custom Ranch Houses
Rights Information
Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. University of California Regents.
Description
The Hollywood Citizen-News reported that though the grand speculative house May built for John A. Smith resembled an “ancient ‘dobe ranch house,” the walls were actually hollow tile and filled with plumbing, electricity, and other modern conveniences. On the photographs of this house, May wrote, “Rancho goes moderne.” May saw no conflict between making a house look old (a “rancho”) and filling it with the newest appliances and fixtures (“going moderne”). The same Citizen-News article noted that the 5,000-square-foot house had sold to Mrs. W. H. Lyman Jr. of Beverly Hills for $39,500. The average cost of a new home in the U.S. in 1935 was $3,450.
Type
image
Format
image/jpeg
Identifier
adc_156
http://www.adc-exhibits.museum.ucsb.edu/items/show/466
Language
English
Place
Bel Air, Calif.
Source
Cliff May papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.
Relation
adc_156

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