Rodney Walker (1910–1986) was a midcentury American modern

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

and

builder Builder may refer to: * Construction worker, who specializes in building work * Carpenter, a skilled craftsman who works with wood * General contractor, that specializes in building work ** Subcontractor * Builder (detergent), a component of moder ...

who specialized in residential

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

in the Southern California area. He contributed three designs to

Arts & Architecture ''Arts & Architecture'' (1929–1967) was an American design, architecture, landscape, and arts magazine. It was published and edited by John Entenza from 1938–1962 and David Travers 1962–1967. ''Arts & Architecture'' played a significant role ...

magazine's

Case Study House program The Case Study Houses were experiments in American residential architecture sponsored by ''Arts & Architecture'' magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Ea ...

during the late 1940s (Case Study House #16, #17, and #18). Many of his homes were photographed by

Julius Shulman Julius Shulman (October 10, 1910 – July 15, 2009) was an American architectural photographer best known for his photograph " Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect." The house is also known as the Stahl House. Shulman ...

for ''

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, '' Better Homes and Gardens'', ''

Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...

'', ''

Sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...

'', and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

Home'' magazine.

Life and career

Rodney Walker was born in

Ely, Nevada Ely (, ) is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. In 1906 copper was discovered. Ely's mining boom came later than ...

, on September 15, 1910.Rodney Walker; Noted Designer, Home Builder
''

'', June 21, 1986. He attended Pasadena City College before transferring to

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

where he graduated with a degree in art. In 1937, Rodney and his wife Dorothea built their first house in West Los Angeles. Soon after, he went to work for

Rudolph M. Schindler Rudolph Michael Schindler (born Rudolf Michael Schlesinger; September 10, 1887 - August 22, 1953) was an Austrian-born American architect whose most important works were built in or near Los Angeles during the early to mid-twentieth century. ...

as a draftsman. Over the next thirty years, Walker designed and built some 100 homes in Southern California. He designed numerous "

case-study A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular fi ...

" homes, exploring the adaptability of new ideas in small houses. He was known for his ability to hold down construction costs. From 1958, Walker lived in the 4,300 square foot hilltop home in

Ojai Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, that he had designed and built, and which he considered his masterpiece. After he discontinued home designing and contracting, he ran the Oaks hotel in Ojai for 15 years and operated a store in which he sold jewelry that he crafted. Walker died on June 18, 1986 at his home in Ojai. He was survived by his wife, Dorothea; sons, Bruce, Mark and Craig, as well as twin daughters, Ellen Langston and Lisa Kaufman.

Legacy

The Walker Residence went up for sale in September 2011 asking $3.995 million. Between 2012 and 2014, actor

Zac Efron Zachary David Alexander Efron (; born October 18, 1987) is an American actor. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the ''High School Musical'' trilo ...

lived in a Walker house in Hollywood Hills West which was originally designed for the Case Study Program; the home and was eventually built in 1947. The house was sold for $2.775 million in 2014.Lauren Beale (May 7, 2014)
Zac Efron sells his place in Hollywood Hills West
''

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Rodney 1910 births 1986 deaths Pasadena City College alumni UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni 20th-century American architects People from Ely, Nevada