Irving Gill - Importance

Importance

Irving Gill was concerned with the social impact of good architecture, and worked with equal skill and interest on projects for bankers and mayors as he did on projects for reservation Indians, an African American church, and for migrant Mexican workers and their children.

Gill's work established "a new beginning in life and art" and it represented a "grand rejection" of the common "architectural mise en scene from other times and places," according to historian Kevin Starr. His work was described as "cubist" in publications of the time.

Gill's interiors were concerned with removing most unnecessary detailing, for reasons of economy and hygiene. His houses are known for minimal or flush mouldings, simple (or no) fireplace mantles, coved floor to wall transitions, enclosed-side bathtubs, frequent skylights, plastered walls with only the occasional, but featured, wood elements, flush five-piece doors, frequent concrete or Sorel cement floors, and a general avoidance of cracks, ledges, and unnecessary material changes. According to Joseph Giovannini, "the desire for an easily maintained, sanitary home drove Gill's aesthetic toward purity."

Aesthetically, Gill's best work of the 1910s is identified by: flat roofs with no eaves, a unity of materials (mostly concrete), casement windows with transoms above, white or near-white exterior and interior walls, cube or rectangular massing, frequent ground-level arches or series of arches creating transitional breezeways in the manner of the California missions.

Despite frequent recent references to Gill as "forgotten" or "unappreciated " he was reasonably well documented during his life. For example, his work was more frequently published in Gustav Stickley's "Craftsman" magazine than any other Western architect, including the Greene & Greene firm.

Gill's reputation did quickly fade after his death, and it languished until he was included in the 1960 book Five California Architects by Esther McCoy and Randell L. Makinson. This book (still in print) helped to renew interest in his work, and in early California architecture in general, and in the decades since its publication Irving Gill has come to be recognized as a major figure in the modern movement.