A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle introduced me to the work of San Francisco architect, Olof Dahlstrand.He built 7 wonderful Usonian style houses for clients around the SF bay area.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/09/HOHRTLQBP.DTL
Here is some information about him.
* Born 11/26/1916 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
* First visited Taliesin in 1934
* Graduated from Cornell's School of Architecture in 1938 - Tau Beta Pi. Winner of numerous design/architecture medals and awards at Cornell
* At Cornell, introduced fellow architecture student and fraternity brother, Allen Lape "Davy" Davison to Wright's architecture
* Moved to California in 1948 after Davison sent letters of introduction and recommendation to former Taliesin Fellows Fred Langhorst and John Lautner. Langhorst was also a Cornell Architecture graduate
* Associate in the offices of Fred and Lois Langhorst from 1948-50. In charge of office in 1950 as Fred and Lois moved to Europe to resolve personal issues. Suffered heart attack in 1950, at age 34
* Discussed partnership with John Lautner in 1950 as it came clear that Fred and Lois were extending their stay in Europe
* 1950-58 Worked as Project Manager at SOM in San Francisco. During this period, designed 8 residences in the East Bay area of Northern California
* 1959 Moved to Carmel, CA. Practice was largely commercial and institutional, though he designed a number of Organic residences in the Monterey Bay area.
* Served in Carmel as City Councilman and Head of the Planning Commission
* 1984 Closed his architectural practice
* 2006 Carmel's Citizen of the Year
* 2007 UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design asks that his project records, illustrations, and renderings be donated to their archives. Only sixty architects have been asked to donate their records to the CED archives. Other architects include: Bernard Maybeck, William Wurster, and Julia Morgan
