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First Event for the Newly Launched San Fernando Conservancy Highlights Palmer and Krisel’s Corbin Palms Enclave


Saturday, June 11th inaugurated the first event of the newly constituted San Fernando Conservancy of the Museum of the San Fernando Valley. Six homes from the Corbin Palms housing development, designed by the renown midcentury architects Dan Palmer and William Krisel were opened to the public by their proud owners. The homes, built between 1953 and 1955, were precursors to their most well known work, their famous “butterfly” houses built in Palm Springs for the Alexander Construction Company.

The Corbin Palms homes, which featured five original floor plans, plus a sixth house which was rebuilt as a two story home by the owner after a fire, share an open plan design, which makes relatively small homes seem larger as the outside spaces are brought inside by the use of many large windows, as well as an almost organic relationship to the lot, dotted with many small courtyard spaces.

The homes on display share a common love of modern design and a dedication to preserving the midcentury architecture of the San Fernando Valley. Each home was surprisingly unique, as individual tastes and preferences made for interesting contrasts in floor plans that were more or less identical.

The Corbin Palms house tour was followed by an optional cocktail party fundraiser at Richard Neutra’s Baldwin House, built in 1962 within blocks of the original Corbin Palms development. At the fundraiser, the new conservancy’s interim board, comprised of Scott Sterling, Lee Davis, Daniela Grozdich and Jackie Langa thanked those present and shared their goals for the newly formed group.

Special guests for the evening’s fundraiser included Dione Neutra, son of the architect Richard Neutra, and a world famous architect in his own right. Neutra, a longtime friend of the Museum of the San Fernando Valley, appeared at an event supporting valley modernism at Elizabeth Waldo’s Rancho Cordillera del Norte in 2011, accompanied by Lloyd Wright, the grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright.

 Another guest at the cocktail fundraiser was Shari Stahl, daughter of Clarence Stahl. Clarence Stahl commissioned Pierre Koenig to build his dream house, better known as Case Study house # 22, in 1957. The house was completed in 1960 and has remained an architectural icon ever since, made famous by the photography of Julius Schulman. Shari Stahl, and her brother Bruce, are the current owners of the Stahl House, one of the best know of the Southern California midcentury modern houses of the 1950s, and which is visited by hundreds of architecture enthusiasts from around the world every year.

Those interested in becoming part of the conservancy can contact the Museum of the San Fernando Valley through their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/themuseumsfv/. The museum’s hours are Tuesday 1:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Thursday and Saturday from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The museum’s address is 18860 Nordhoff St, Suite 204, Northridge, CA
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