When I heard the news that Dave Brubeck had died on Dec. 5th, I immediately thought of the jazz great’s mid-century modern house in Oakland, Calif. The steel-framed residence, built in 1954, was designed by Beverley David Thorne, a young architect who would go on to design Case Study House #26 a few years later.
I first saw photos of the Brubeck House in the book Forgotten Modern, written by Alan Hess and shot by Alan Weintraub. (There’s also a nice story about the home, with pictures, on the blog JazzWax.) I love the way the cantilevered house perches on its steep site, and the fact that it was designed on a tight budget, just before its owner became famous. Its open floor plan suited the family, which consisted of Brubeck, his wife Iola, and their four young children at the time. And Thorne also included a separate studio where Brubeck could compose.
Check out this excerpt from another book called NorCalMod by Pierluigi Serraino for more images and information.