Ray Kappe

1927-2019

Ray Kappe was a Los Angeles based architect who designed a number of spectacular homes and launched the Sci-ARC school. Only three projects in San Diego County are known.

Ray Kappe was born in Minneapolis August 4, 1927, the son of Romanian immigrants who changed the family name from Kapelowitz to Kappe. In 1940, the family moved to Los Angeles, where he attended Emerson Middle School designed by Richard Neutra. He graduated from high school in Los Angeles and studied for a single semester at UCLA in 1945 before being drafted in into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he served as a topographical surveying instructor

After his discharge, Kappe earned a B.Arch. degree with honors from the University of California at Berkeley in 1951. Following graduation, he worked as a draftsman for Anshen & Allen and then returned to Los Angeles to work for two years with Carl Maston. Kappe launched his solo practice in 1954.

As an architect, Kappe completed a number of award-winning custom post-and-beam houses. By 1968, helped launch the firm of Kahn, Kappe & Lotery, Architects/Planners which became Kahn, Kappe, Lotery, Bocatto, Architects/Planners in 1973. The firm changed names one more time to Kappe, Lotery, Bocatto Architects/Planners (1978-1984). After serving as Founding Chairman of the Department of Architecture at California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, Kappe resigned in 1972 and started the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC).

In 1985, Kappe split off to form Kappe Architects Planners. In 1985, Kappe received many individual awards including the 1987 Richard Neutra International Medal for Design Excellence; the 1995 California Council/AIA Bernard Maybeck Award for Design; and the Topaz Medal.

In 2003, Kappe began working with LivingHomes to design modular homes. Kappe died from respiratory failure on November 21, 2019. The Ray Kappe Archive is housed at the Getty Research Institute.

Partial List of San Diego Projects

Colony Four (1978)
La Jolla Shores
*Presumed unbuilt; some plans signed by Rex Lotery; attribution by Getty Research Institute

Rubin, Norman and Toba House (1971)
3950 La Cresta, Point Loma
*Historically Designated -- by Kahn, Kappe, and Lotery Architects a firm that was in business 1968-1973.

Wasserman Residence (1969)
5803 Overlake Avenue, San Carlos
*Designed with Rex Lotery