Access
Custodial History
Preferred Citation
Biographical / Historical
Scope and Content note
Contributing Institution:
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Title: Gregory Ain papers
Creator:
Ain, Gregory
Creator:
Garrott, James H.
Identifier/Call Number: 0000104
Physical Description:
49.5 Linear Feet
(6 boxes and 13 flat file drawers)
Date (inclusive): 1926-1972
Date (bulk): 1935-1971
Language of Material:
English
.
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Custodial History
Gift of Gregory Ain, 1978.
Preferred Citation
Gregory Ain papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Biographical / Historical
Gregory Ain (1908-1988) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of a Russian-born socialist. His family moved to Los
Angeles in 1911 and for a year lived in the experimental farming collective, Llano del Rio, in the Antelope Valley. Ain attended
UCLA and went on to study architecture at the University of Southern California. In 1927 Ain left without graduating, due
to his frustrations with the school's Beaux Arts teaching methods. He worked for Schindler intermittently in the early 1930s
and Richard Neutra between 1930 and 1935. Ain began his independent architectural practice in 1935. In 1940, he received a
Guggenheim Foundation grant to study low-cost pre-fabricated housing. Ain worked frequently with the modernist California
landscape architect Garrett Eckbo and with architects Joseph Johnson and Alfred Day, especially on housing tracts, such as
his Park Planned Homes and Avenel Homes. Ain taught at the University of Southern California and in the 1960s became the Dean
of the School of Architecture at Pennsylvania State University. Gregory Ain died on January 9, 1988.
Scope and Content note
The Gregory Ain papers span 49.5 linear feet and date from 1926 to 1972. The collection primarily contains correspondence,
clippings, writings, photographs and architectural sketches and drawings. The collection also includes landscape designs by
Garrett Eckbo and the works Ain produced in collaboration with the architects Joseph Johnson and Alfred Day.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Correspondence
Furniture design
Dwellings -- Design and construction -- Economic aspects -- United States
Prefabricated houses -- United States
Specifications
Sketches
Architecture -- California
Photographic prints
Negatives
Modern movement (Architecture) -- California
Los Angeles (Calif.) Buildings, structures, etc.
Architect-designed furniture -- United States -- 20th century
Architects -- California
Architectural drawings
Architectural photographs
Architecture -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Architecture -- United States -- 20th century -- Sources
Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- California
Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- Los Angeles
Blueprints
Ain, Gregory -- Archives
Day, Alfred Waite
Eckbo, Garrett
Johnson, Joseph Leupp