Review: Nothing Permanent: Modern Architecture in California

Book Review| June 01 2024 Review: Nothing Permanent: Modern Architecture in California Todd Cronan. Nothing Permanent: Modern Architecture in California. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2023, 400 pp. , 18 color and 147 b/w illus. 160 (cloth), ISBN 9781517915193; 39. 95 (paper), ISBN 9781517915209 Christopher Long Christopher Long University of Texas at Austin Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2024) 83 (2): 244–246. https: //doi. org/10. 1525/jsah. 2024. 83. 2. 244 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures Review: Nothing Permanent: Modern Architecture in California. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 June 2024; 83 (2): 244–246. doi: https: //doi. org/10. 1525/jsah. 2024. 83. 2. 244 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search In our time, the term "California Modern" has become a watchword—a style, a design ethos, a shorthand descriptor for midcentury modern, and, still more, an evocation of a state of mind and a way of living. Like many labels, it is often tossed off as settled and complete, a closed and consummated story. Todd Cronan's brilliant rereading of modern California architecture, Nothing Permanent, is anything but a glib response to the question of what "California Modern" is, how it came about (primarily in Los Angeles, it should be noted), or what it might mean. Cronan has not written a history as such, and many key players involved in the rise of the new building in California do not appear in his account. Most of this longish book is about four figures: R. M. Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Charles and Ray Eames. Other significant architects, such as Gregory Ain, Craig. . . You do not currently have access to this content.