Irving Gill was ahead of his time. In the beginning of the 20th century in Southern California, Gill was creating buildings and homes with streamlined forms, flat roofs, and concrete walls.
Curbed reports that a new symposium, “Irving J. Gill and the Chicago School,” will be held in San Diego on October 20.
Gill was a father of modern architecture that was willing to experiment with new materials and ideas.
He created homes that were cream-white, stucco structures, with no roofline, set against the clear, blue sky. “San Diego and Southern California influenced Gill the way that the prairie influenced Frank Lloyd Wright,” says architect James Guthrie. “Gill used the geography of canyons, looked at them as an architectural element. He captured the breezes, sunlight and views. He look at his work as bigger than the building itself, which is a very modern approach.”
