Eames House Wins Preservation Award

By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter

The Eames House Conservation Management Plan, a plan to protect the 20th century Palisadian landmark, has been awarded the 2019 Preservation Design Award for Cultural Resource Studies from the California Preservation Foundation.

Decided by a panel of architects and designers who meet to judge the top preservation projects across California, the award will be given at the 36th annual California Preservation Awards in San Francisco taking place on October 18.

This year, the jury selected 21 winning projects that range “from the meticulous restoration of a single home, to reports that will guide the infill and development of entire neighborhoods,” according to the CPF. They will all join the over 500 projects that have been given the award every year since 1983.

“They’ve done something that other people can learn from, and they’ve done it really well,” the jury said in a press release. “Providing this information for other people is really, really useful.”

The Eames House Conservation Management Plan, developed by the Getty Conservation Institute, was made to care for the Eames House, located at 203 Chautauqua Blvd., while demonstrating how conservation planning can be applied to modern buildings. 

Built by husband-and-wife designers Charles and Ray Eames in 1949, the house “epitomizes the couple’s embrace of livable modernism with its brightly painted outdoor surfaces and intricately appointed indoor spaces.” 

The duo carefully considered and modified every detail of the home over the 40 years that they lived there, making their home a “fascinating case study of their evolving aesthetic values and taste.” It was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Getty Foundation in 2014.

Other winning projects included The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Beverly Gardens Park Rehabilitation and the Spruce Goose hangar.