John Lautner
(1911 - 1994)

Biographical materials from johnlautner.org

John Lautner was one of this century's important contemporary American architects. His work was concerned with the relationship of the human being to space and of space to nature. "Shelter," he said, "is the most basic human need."

Lautner was born in 1911, one of two children. He was raised in Marquette, Michigan, graduating from high school and college there. The northern woods and the deep blue of Lake Superior remained in his soul throughout his life, and he was to return time and time again to bask in what he considered a heaven on earth.

After graduating with a degree in English from the University of Northern Michigan, Lautner became an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright for six years, joining the first group of Taliesin Fellows. In 1937 he supervised the construction of two of Wright's projects, and two years later established his own practice in Los Angeles. His first solo project was a house for his own family, which architectural critic Henry-Russell Hitchcock called "the best house by an architect under 30 in the United States." Later Hitchcock remarked that "Lautner's work could stand comparison with that of his master." A comparison, incidentally, that Lautner himself would have been reluctant to make, given his lifelong devotion to Mr. Wright.

At the time of his death on October 24, 1994, the 83-year-old Lautner was still working on several large projects.

List of San Diego Projects

Shearing Residence (1991)
15 Green Turtle Road, Coronado Cays

Ballet School and Theater (1963)
Unbuilt

Lueck Residence (1971)
Unbuilt