Exploring a Pioneer Modernist

From 1927 to 1935, architect Gardner Dailey designed some of the finest French chateaux and English country seats on the Peninsula. Witty, nattily dressed, and piloting a Mercedes, Dailey attracted clients from his own circle—high society.

But in 1935, courageously, he dropped historic styles for open plans, glass walls, and garden rooms—becoming one of Northern California’s first all-out modern architects.

Architect Paul Adamson, author of Eichler: Modernism Rebuilds the American Dream, will discuss ‘The Modern Work of Gardner Dailey’ 6 p.m. Thursday, October 18, at the Bayside Conference Room (on Pier 1, the Embarcadero at Washington Street) in San Francisco.

“The core of Dailey’s work is orthodox modernism, fairly pure in expression,” says Adamson, who is writing a book on Dailey. Noting that Dailey began as a landscape engineer, Adamson says, “His buildings are integrally related to their landscape, sometimes to such a degree that the landscape just passes right through the building.”

Adamson’s lecture is $8 for members of San Francisco Architectural Heritage; $12 for non-members. For more information, click here.