Five Things You Probably Didn’t Know about the Eames House

Sure, you know that the Eames House (pictured at right) was originally designed by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen in 1945, and that it stands rather unassumingly in leafy Pacific Palisades, California (good luck finding a parking spot!), but here are a few things you may not know about good ‘ol Case Study House #8, courtesy of the Eames Foundation website and Richard B. Woodward‘s recent Wall Street Journal ‘Masterpiece’ column on the utopian dwelling that would have made Mondrian either smile or sob, we still can’t decide.

5. Charles and Ray Eames decided to alter the original design while waiting for the off-the-shelf parts ordered from catalogues to arrive. With the wartime shortages, they had a while to wait. The steel didn’t arrive until 1948.

4. A special interior guided tour of the house is given once a year on June 20th and is restricted to Eames Foundation Members. (Anyone can make an appointment to visit for a self-guided tour of the exterior.)

3. Assembly of the steel shell took five men a mere 16 hours.

2. Charles and Ray moved in on Christmas Eve of 1949 (here’s how we like to imagine their Christmas card).

1. There’s a rope swing in the backyard. Swing high enough and you can see Case Study House #9 on the adjacent lot.

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