Mid-Century and Modernist Photo Tour - Pasadena
Hop aboard for a recap of last week’s bespoke photo tour of mid-century and modernist gems in the cities of Pasadena and South Pasadena. With an ambitious itinerary in hand, Mira and I covered a lot of ground in a day and a half.
Though we were diligent, there were many places that we could not fit in! That speaks to the richness of mid-century and modernist architecture in the area.
All good - that means another tour for the future.
The homes in the gallery above (images by me) were a preview provided to Mira to get her excited for our tour.
We started at the Norton Simon Museum which is noted for both the building architecture by Ladd & Kelsey, remarkable art collection, and outdoor sculpture garden. Below, some images of us in action:
I asked Mira to share some of her favorite images taken while we were together and others that she may have taken on her own time. The images below were taken in South Pasadena: an early residence designed by Rudolph Schindler (paint trivia here), a commercial business complex designed by Smith & Williams, and two mid-century homes.
Ambassador Auditorium
Mira did some solo touring before heading home and shared these wonderful images of the Ambassador Auditorium. Peter J. Holdstock was the architect for the New Formalist modern interpretation of a Greek temple completed in 1974.
The architectural and planning firm Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall (DMJM) developed the campus master plan which Garrett Eckbo revised.
The fun part of taking others to photograph places that I have seen and captured before is observing the experience of the place through their eyes. Depending on the time of day and how the light lands on the building, our images will most likely differ. Though sometimes we’ll both find the same detail interesting, stand in the same spot and zoom in the same way.
You can find many more of Mira’s images on Instagram @designexplores