Spoken Editions

The California of Harris’ youth was a very different place than it is today: It was a verdant oasis of orange groves spreading scent for miles; of abundant overgrown gardens backed by gray-green hillsides; of hazy mountains iced with an occasional shock of snow; and of beaches, blue and white and bright enough to make you squint. To Harwell Hamilton Harris, it was a land of exciting possibilities. Architect Harwell Hamilton Harris was born in Redlands, California, in 1903, and he made his home in the Golden State for the next forty-nine years. When Harris died in 1989, after having lived in Texas, North Carolina, and New York City, he still considered himself to be a Californian. We are pleased to share this excerpt from our upcoming book, Romantic Modern: The California Architecture of Harwell Hamilton Harris, by Ted Wells, available from GS Editions in October 2014.