Name Alan Hess | Role Architect | |
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Education University of California, Los Angeles People also search for Alan Weintraub, Michael Stern, Julius Shulman Books Frank Lloyd Wright, Googie, The architecture of John L, Forgotten Modern: California, Julius Shulman: Palm Spri | ||
Preserving sprawl part 2 of 6 introduction by alan hess
Alan Hess (born 1952) is an American architect, author, lecturer and advocate for twentieth-century architectural preservation.
Contents
- Preserving sprawl part 2 of 6 introduction by alan hess
- What pros alan hess says
- Biography
- Published works
- References
"Alan Hess [is] a prominent California architecture critic who has written extensively on roadside strips," writes the New York Times (March 6, 1994). Through 2012, Alan has written and/or co-authored nineteen books, published numerous articles on the architecture of Googie, Las Vegas, Frank Lloyd Wright, Oscar Niemeyer, John Lautner, Ranch Houses, Palm Springs, Organic architecture, Mid-century Modern design, and suburbia. He has been the architecture critic for the San Jose Mercury News since 1986.
What pros alan hess says
Biography
Born in California in 1952, Hess received his BA at Principia College, a master's degree in architecture from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and is a licensed architect. After working with architects William Coburn, and Callister Payne and Bischoff, Hess started his own firm specializing in residential work and historic preservation. His first book, Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture (Chronicle Books 1985) focused on a neglected and popular Modern form. Following books continued to explore overlooked chapters in twentieth-century architecture and urbanism. He is responsible for qualifying several landmark buildings for the National Register of Historic Places, including the oldest operating McDonald's in Downey, Stuart Company Plant and Office Building and Bullock's Pasadena in Pasadena, and the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Arizona. Through his writing, lectures, and educational outreach, Hess has shed light on many forgotten and neglected styles of postwar American architecture - especially in the realm of commercial modern architecture. Google coffee shops, he said, "brought modern architecture to ordinary people in their everyday lives." The Los Angeles Conservancy has named him "The preeminent authority on Southern California Modernism." He won the group's "President's Award" in 2015.