Master Architects of Southern California 1920–1940
Master Architects of Southern California 1920–1940 is dedicated to the important work of architects who made an indelible imprint on the region in the first half of the 20th century. Pockets bulging with money, clients native and newcomer hired the most talented architects to design their dream homes. James Coke Brasfield founded a publishing house in Los Angeles in 1920 and created The Architectural Digest. It was not the only publication catering to architects, but it was perhaps the most popular, and it survived to become the most successful and enduring of them all. Its early issues are now extremely scarce. Driven by an esoteric but zealous interest in the architecture of Southern California, the authors of this series managed to assemble a nearly complete archive of early issues of Brasfield’s Digest. They intend to make reproductions of the work of many of its great—but overlooked—architects available in a limited-edition series of monographs which place the work in context. Gordon B. Kaufmann, Roland E. Coate, Wallace Neff, and Paul R. Williams are the focus of the first four volumes.

Master Architects of Southern California 1920–1940