Architect Sim Bruce Richards (1908-1983) drew from a number of historic events including Prohibition, the Great Depression and World War II; as well as 20th century figures Charles Lindbergh, Martha Graham, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alfred Stieglitz and many more – all by his 30th birthday and before he became a licensed architect. The Sensuous Environment: Sim Bruce Richards, Architect traces Richards’ time as a young building designer, following his time at Wright’s Taliesin apprenticeship, through to becoming a licensed architect focused on highly unique wood, glass and masonry homes akin to the work of Wright, Bernard Maybeck, William Wurster, Rudolph Schindler, and Harwell Hamilton Harris. The Sensuous Environment is the first monograph to chronicle the architecture, furniture and art of Sim Bruce Richards, who created a design aesthetic unique to the San Diego region. Publication follows the successful exhibition of the same name at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. The exhibition, curated by Keith York, drew from materials at the History Center; Art, Architecture and Design Museum; and the Getty Research Institute. Author Keith York is a historian focused on unveiling the unique history of modern art and architecture in the San Diego region. The founder of modernsandiego.com, an online resource since 2004, York has collated thousands of documents, images and interviews to tell the story of the region’s modernist history. Following his restoration of Craig Ellwood’s Bobertz House he restored Sim Bruce Richards’ personal residence. Having made both homes widely available to tours, visitors and photographers alike he has expressed that these are two examples of the broader narrative on regional modernism. Prior to The Sensuous Environment: Sim Bruce Richards Architect, York curated and published catalogs for the exhibitions Julius Shulman: Modern San Diego; Julius Shulman: Modern La Jolla; and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Legacy in San Diego: The Taliesin Apprentices. York contributed a chapter to the book Making L.A. Modern: Craig Ellwood - Myth, Man, Designer (Rizzoli, 2018).
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