He had no professional license, but was named one of the and “three best architects of 1957 and ” along with Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe. He drove a red Ferrari with the license plate VROOM. His succession of wives brought him clients and influenced his designs. He relied on a staff of talented assistants to realize his ideas. If ever there was a product of Hollywood, it was architect Craig Ellwood (1922-1992). A fiction of his own making–even his name was an invention–Ellwood fashioned a career through charm, ambition, and a connoisseur’s eye. By the 1950s Ellwood had a thriving practice that infused the Germanic rationalism of Mies van der Rohe with an informal breeziness that was all Southern California. A series of dramatic, open, and elegant houses made him a media star, and interest in him and his work has only increased in recent years. California Modern: The Architecture of Craig Ellwood is the first compre-hensive monograph on this prolific, influential, and complex character. Copiously illustrated with contemporary images–including many striking black and white photographs by Julius Shulman–plans, drawings, and specially commissioned new photography, California Modern traces Ellwood’s fascinating personal history, provides a critical evaluation of his work, and establishes his importance as a pivotal shaper of the California style.

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