Importance Irving Gill

cossitt house, san diego, california

irving gill concerned social impact of architecture , approached projects equal skill , interest, whether designing bankers , mayors or indian reservations, african american church, or migrant mexican workers , children.

gill s architecture established new beginning in life , art , represented grand rejection of common architectural mise en scene other times , places, according historian kevin starr. work described cubist in publications of time.

gill s interiors concerned removing unnecessary detailing, partly reasons of economy , hygiene. houses known minimal or flush mouldings; simple (or no) fireplace mantles; coved, , therefore fluid, floor-to-wall transitions; enclosed-side bathtubs; plentiful skylights;, plastered walls occasional, featured, wood elements; flush five-piece doors; concrete or sorel cement floors; , general avoidance of dividing lines, ledges, , unnecessary material changes. according joseph giovannini, desire maintained, sanitary home drove gill s aesthetic toward purity.

gill s aesthetically best work, of dating 1910s, favors flat roofs without eaves, unity of materials (mostly concrete), casement windows transoms, white or near-white exterior , interior walls, cubic or rectangular massing, plentiful ground-level arches or series of arches creating transitional breezeways in manner of california missions.

his best-known work still in active use today includes ellen browning scripps residence (now museum of contemporary art san diego), earliest buildings of bishop s school, la jolla woman s club, la jolla recreation center , george w. marston house. designed ten churches, of best known christian science church @ second , laurel streets in san diego. woman s club , marston house among listed on national register of historic places (nrhp).

despite frequent recent references gill forgotten or unappreciated, reasonably documented during life. example, work more published in gustav stickley s craftsman magazine other western architect, including greene & greene firm.

gill s reputation did fade after death, , languished until included in 1960 book 5 california architects esther mccoy , randell l. makinson. book (still in print) helped renew interest in work, , in california architecture in general. in decades since publication irving gill has come recognized major figure in modern movement.