Dimendberg/Doe/Olsberg on Lovell Health House

Date: Sep 07, 2025

Location:

United States

Virtual and in-person program. Zoom registration details below.

Join SAH/SCC and the Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design as we welcome authors Edward Dimendberg, Crosby Doe, and Nicholas Olsberg for a discussion of Richard Neutra and the Making of the Lovell Health House, 1925-35 (Lundh Humphries/Getty Research Institute, 2025) on Sunday, September 7that 11 am Pacific Time via Zoom and in person at the Neutra office in Silver Lake.

Designed and built by Austrian American architect Richard Neutra (1892–1970) and perched on a steep hillside with panoramic views of Los Angeles, the Lovell Health House pioneered the use of concrete and steel; radically advanced the ideals of hygienic, carefree, and open-air living; and explored new relationships between space, structure, the natural world, and physical and psychological well-being. It was widely documented and written about in leading architectural journals when it was erected, and these publications elevated the house to the status of an icon in the history of modernism and an essential work of the international modern movement. It also helped to launch the global career of one of the central figures of twentieth-century architecture. Through the analysis and reproduction of many little-known images and texts, the book provides a detailed account of its design gestation, construction, and early reception.

Edward Dimendberg is Professor of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine, and has taught at the University of Michigan, UCLA, the Southern California Institute of Architecture, and Columbia University. His research for books on Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Los Angeles geography, and Weimar Germany has been supported by the American Academy in Berlin, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Getty Research Institute. He is now writing a book on documentary films about architecture.

Crosby Doe is Founder and CEO of Crosby Doe Associates, real estate specialists in history and architect-designed  properties in Southern California

Nicholas Olsberg was Director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal and Founding Head of Special Collections at the Getty Research Institute. He holds an honors degree in Modern History from Oxford University and a doctorate in Modern History from the University of South Carolina.  He has written books on Herzog & de Meuron, Carlo Scarpa, John Lautner, Cliff May, Arthur Erickson, and William Butterfield and has been a columnist for the Architectural Review and Building Design.

Authors on Architecture: Dimendberg/Doe/Olsberg on Lovell Health House—Sunday, September 7th, 2025; 2379 Glendale Boulevard, Silver Lake; 11AM-12:30 PM Pacific; $5. Zoom link sent upon registration.