The Architectural Vision of Harry Gesner

“My basic philosophy and approach to architecture is from somewhere primeval. It comes from the heart as well as the head.”

Post by ERIC SWENSON

Houses of the Sundown Sea:

The Architectural Vision of Harry Gesner

By Lisa Germany

New Photography by Juergen Nogai

“My basic philosophy and approach to architecture is from somewhere

primeval. It comes from the heart as well as the head.” —Harry Gesner

For more than sixty years, observers and architectural aficionados alike have strained to catch glimpses of maverick architect Harry Gesner’s spectacular homes in Southern California. Cantilevering over a sixty-foot drop-off in the hills above Calabasas; and another, tucked away on the grounds of the Getty Museum Center in Los Angeles. A self-taught architect and green design pioneer, Gesner (b. 1925) is still inventing, still creating, still designing.

Houses of the Sundown Sea: The Architectural Vision of Harry Gesner (Abrams; April 2012; U.S. $75.00/Can. $86.00; ISBN 978-1-4197-0049-1) by Lisa Germany is the first book to examine Gesner’s architecture, tracing his long life and his career from 1945 to the present and opening the doors to fifteen intriguing homes, all located in or near Los Angeles and built, for the most part, during the 1950s through the 1970s. An insightful and revealing text accompanies new photography by Juergen Nogai along with historical photographs and Gesner’s own drawings, floor plans, and blueprints drawn from his remarkably rich archive. Gesner’s utterly unique, often eccentric and unorthodox designs are outside the canons of doctrinaire modernism, yet he is undoubtedly a Modernist, and one whose romantic, quixotic nature has caused his truly extraordinary body of work to be overlooked by many—until now.

Malibu, Calif.- On Saturday, April 28th, Chocolatebox Café & MLY Art Gallery hosted a reception and book signing for “Houses of Sundown Sea: The Architectural Vision of Harry Gesner” by Lisa Germany and new photography by Juergen Nogai, based on the captivating life journey of one of California’s most legendary architects, Harry Gesner.

Harry Gesner draws inspiration from nature and the energy of having lived by the ocean in Malibu all his life. Gesner, an avid surfer, whose Malibu Wave House has given inspiration to such architectural icons as the Sydney Opera House, describes his experience in 1956, sketching the ideas right onto his balsa-board with a grease pencil, sitting out in the ocean facing the beach where he camped for a few nights to get to know the elements. The event took place from 4:30 to 6:30 pm at the Malibu Lumber Yard, 3939 Cross Creek Road. MLY Gallery invites the Malibu community and beyond to join her in celebrating the life of Harry Gesner and his great contribution to modern architecture. The exhibition of the same name will continue at the MLY Gallery will through June 2nd.