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DATE: April 10, 2019 MEDIA CONTACT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Alexandria Sivak

Getty Communications (310) 440-6473 ASivak@getty.edu

GETTY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE AND EAMES FOUNDATION ANNOUNCE ADOPTION

OF CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR HISTORIC EAMES HOUSE

Announcement comes on the 70th anniversary of the iconic home’s construction

LOS ANGELES – The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and the Eames Foundation announced

today the completion of a comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for the Eames

House. The house, built by renowned designers Charles and Ray Eames, is a National Historic

Landmark. The plan provides the framework for the ongoing care, management, conservation,

display, and interpretation of the site, including the house and studio, the collection of objects

in the home, and the landscape. The Eames Foundation’s adoption of the plan celebrates the

70th anniversary of the home’s construction. An overview of the plan can be viewed here.

“While the GCI undertakes initiatives all over the world, it is critical to recognize the

important organizations that we engage locally, like our work at the Eames House,” says Tim

Whalen, John E. and Louise Bryson Director of the Getty Conservation Institute. “The Eames

Foundation have been excellent stewards of this site, and have been enthusiastic collaborators

since they invited us to work with them. We are pleased that the completion of the

Conservation Management Plan will now guide future conservation efforts.”

LEFT: The historic eucalyptus row, dating to the 1880s,as it appeared in 2013. Branch drop and leaf litter are significant visitor and building risks. The CMP provides policies on managing the eucalyptus row. Photo: Leslie Schwartz, © Eames Office.

RIGHT: Ray and Charles outside the living room on a rainy day in March 1978. Photo: Hap Johnson, © Eames Office

Nestled into a coastal hill in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, the

Eames House stands as a glass and steel icon of modern architecture. The 1949 home and

studio was designed by husband-and-wife team Charles and Ray Eames as part of the

influential Case Study House Program created by Arts and Architecture magazine editor John

Entenza. The Eameses designed the house for themselves—they would live there until their

deaths—and they introduced many novel ideas about materials, construction and industrial

design.

Charles and Ray Eames were an

unstoppable design force in midcentury

America, and their impact is still visible

today through everyday objects such as

chairs. They were emblematic of a fresh

Southern California design approach, but

they quickly became global influencers,

leaving a widespread legacy in the fields

of architecture, filmmaking, furniture,

graphics, and exhibition and industrial

design. From its earliest days, the Eames

House has attracted worldwide attention as an expression of their creativity and design

principles.

The Eames Foundation was founded in 2004 in order to preserve and protect the

Eames House, as it faced several conservation challenges. After consulting with a number of

experts, the Foundation partnered with the GCI in 2012 to create a long-term conservation

strategy. At the time, the GCI was beginning to develop its Conserving Modern Architecture

Initiative, and determined that the Eames House would make an excellent inaugural project.

Conserving and protecting the house for future generations is a goal shared by both

the GCI and the Eames Foundation. The Eames House Conservation Management Plan was a

multiyear effort spearheaded by the GCI’s Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative team,

and represents a milestone in the preservation and protection of the home. Based on an

understanding of the significance of the Eames House, both as a major work of architecture

and as a representation of Charles and Ray Eameses’ lives as designers, the Conservation

Management Plan offers the Eames Foundation a critical tool for managing the house.

An Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman in the living room, 2016. The original lounge chair was in deteriorating condition following years of use and environmental exposure. It was replaced with this later version. Photo: Leslie Schwartz, © Eames Office

Before beginning work on the

Conservation Management Plan, the GCI assisted

the Eames Foundation with targeted technical

investigations to facilitate problem-solving.

Together with project architects

Escher GuneWardena Architecture, Inc., the GCI

and Eames Foundation assembled a

multidisciplinary team of conservators, scientists,

architects, and engineers to tackle diverse

conservation challenges. The severely damaged

square vinyl-asbestos tiles were removed from

the living room and replaced with vinyl-

composite tile flooring, adding a new moisture

barrier system to mitigate damage to the floor.

The GCI investigated how the Eameses used

color and paint in the house, carefully examining

the paint stratigraphy (paint layers) to record the

series of painting campaigns over the life of the house. Research revealed a first-generation

paint layer of warm gray created with pigments possibly tinted by hand, supporting the

Foundation’s oral histories of Ray Eames mixing the paint. Conservators also studied the

golden tallowwood paneling inside the home, and recommended a treatment for the wood

that preserved its patina and added protection from ultraviolet light.

“In developing the Conservation Management Plan, the team started with the history

of the house and its design, its physical features, and how the house embodies Charles and

Ray’s creative spirit. From there, it identifies what is significant about the Eames House and

presents policies that will protect this significance,” says Chandler McCoy, a senior GCI project

specialist who manages the Eames House conservation project. “The plan will be a vital tool in

the creation of a long-term strategy to ensure that the house may be enjoyed by visitors well

into the future.”

The Conservation Management Plan takes a holistic view of the site, recognizing that it

is more than a great work of architecture. The Eames House is also filled with Charles and

Ray’s belongings and sits in a significant landscape, and these elements of the site are

interconnected and all are fundamental to its importance. The contents of the house—

Contractors undertaking conservation treatment on the wood paneling in the Eames House living room in 2012. Photo: Arlen Heginbotham, © J. Paul Getty Trust

artwork, objects collected from foreign travel,

flower arrangements, colorful textiles, vintage

toys, and Eames-designed furnishings—are a

window into their approach to life and

design. In addition, the landscaped site itself

is part of the sensory experience through the

aroma of the surrounding eucalyptus trees,

the play of light and shadow on the glass

walls, and views to the Pacific Ocean. All of

these intangible qualities contribute to what

makes the place significant and all have been

addressed in the Conservation Management

Plan’s conservation policies, ensuring that in

preserving the house, the spirit of place is not

lost.

Policies of note within the Conservation

Management Plan include:

• Ensure that conservation projects retain, respect, and maintain the authenticity of the

original elements of the home.

• Seek the advice of conservation specialists for all repairs to and conservation of original

building materials.

• Conserve interior finishes and contents to demonstrate how the Eameses approached

living and working in the space.

• Expand Eames family, friends and colleagues’ knowledge about contents, collections,

and housekeeping practices.

• Develop a landscape management plan for the site.

“We want the Eames House to look as though Charles and Ray just stepped out for the

day, and working with the GCI has helped us clarify what the site needs in order to meet this

goal,” says Lucia Dewey Atwood, director of the Eames Foundation’s 250 Year Project, which

aims to preserve the house for generations to come. “I’m happy to say that our approach

The Eames House Conservation Management Plan assesses the significance of the Eames House and develops policies to guide decision-making about its use and conservation to ensure this significance is maintained. Photo: Joshua White, © Eames Office

mirrored the iterative process the Eameses used in their designing—they tested several ideas

at once, refined and adjusted, then tested again in order to arrive at the best design solution.”

The Eames House Conservation Management Plan was prepared by a cross-disciplinary

and multi-skilled project team of heritage specialists. GML Heritage, in Sydney, Australia, was

commissioned by the Getty Conservation Institute’s Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative

to prepare the CMP and provide advice and peer review on conservation management of the

site. The authors include Sheridan Burke and Jyoti Somerville of GML Heritage, and Gail

Ostergren, Laura Matarese, and Chandler McCoy of the GCI.

A survey of the home’s architectural finishes was also funded by a Getty Foundation

grant as part of its Keeping It Modern initiative. This work will be completed later in 2019.

Generous support for the Eames House Conservation Project was provided by the GCI Council, the Dunard Fund, USA, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Vitra, Herman Miller, the Eames Office, the Ludwick Family Foundation, Nebo and hundreds of individuals.

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The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs serve a varied audience from two locations: the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades.

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) works internationally to advance conservation practice in the visual arts—broadly interpreted to include objects, collections, architecture, and sites. The Institute serves the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, field projects, and the dissemination of information. In all its endeavors, the GCI creates and delivers knowledge that contributes to the conservation of the world's cultural heritage.