Cory Buckner’s Triumph at Restoring Mid-20th American Architecture

Since we are celebrating Canada Day and the Fourth of July this week, let’s talks about preserving our cultural heritage. Our history is also expressed through residential architecture. After all, how we imagined and designed our neighborhoods and the houses we are living in is linked to what is going in our society. They reflect our values.

The Story of Crestwood Hills in West LA.

As you can see, those were affordable housing with a modern architecture. They were part of a community initiated by the Mutual Housing Association. The community is better known as Crestwood Hills in West LA. Out of the 150 houses that were built, a lit bit more than 30 houses still exist today.

There is hope to protect that era since so far 16 homes in Crestwood Hills are currently declared Historic-Cultural Monuments by the City of Los Angeles thanks to the initiative of architect and Crestwood Hills Association board member Cory Buckner. This post-war II modern housing community was designed by architect A. Quincy Jones and Whitney R. Smith.

Cory Buckner worked as an architect of several restorations and alterations of these houses to bring them back to their original glory. She also published a book about the work of A. Quincy Jones. Buckner lives with her husband in one of the original houses. She worked hard since 1996 so that Los Angeles recognized the historical value of the mid-century houses in Crestwood Hills. I am glad that she succeed. I would love to live in one of these houses.

I invite you to read an old article on Dwell about the story of this community and the efforts of Cory Buckner. The photos by Darcy Hemley come from the article on Dwell.

MORE:
+ Blog of Crestwood Hills
+ Cory Buckner
+ A. Quincy Jones by Cory Buckner $22.76 USD at Amazon.com