The Iconic Eames House Turns 70

WORDS Cheri Morris VIDEO via Eames Office on YouTube

The famed Mid-century Eames House, designed by the late industrial design icons Charles and Ray Eames, is celebrating its 70^th anniversary.

Set on a 1.4-acre plot, the Eames House is a National Landmark in the Pacific Palisades of California. This is the home in which many of the designers’ most critically-acclaimed furnishings were born, including the timeless Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman – which, along with a number of other classic Eames designs, is available to South African buyers as part of the Herman Miller Collection, through All Office.

Beginning as Case Study House No. 8 as part of a programme envisioned by Arts & Architecture magazine, the 1945 brief sought a structure that expressed modern living using materials and techniques stemming from the Second World War. Designed with the surrounding eucalyptus trees’ protection in mind, the house is steeped in the seclusion of nature. Its geometric steel-framed structure seamlessly merges functionality and natural beauty.

Charles wrote, “In its free relation to the ground, the trees, the sea – with constant proximity to the whole vast order of nature – [the house] acts as a reorientor and ‘shock-absorber’ and should provide the needed relaxations from the daily complications arising within problems.”

This year, more than 200 eucalyptus trees were harvested for maintenance purposes, resulting in a limited-edition of the classic Eames Low Table Rod (LTR) table being released with solid-wood table tops made from two of these trees. Talk about taking a little piece of Eames home with you…

For more information about Eames House, visit eamesfoundation.org.