Stephen George Oppenheim

Architect | 1917-1999

Born in Europe, and based in Los Angeles, architect Stephen Oppenheim championed successful multi-family housing across Southern California in the 1960s and '70s.

Bay Vista Apartments. Photograph by Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

Architect Stephen Oppenheim was born in Warsaw, Poland on September 1, 1917 the same city where he earned his B.S. in Political Economy at Szkola Glowna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego in 1939. He then earned his Architecte Diplome par le Gouvernement at Ecole National Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (in 1950) and M. Naval Eng., Ecole National Superieure du Genie Maritime (in 1951).

The architect would open Stephen G. Oppenheim & Assocs at 7011 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles (in 1962) and joined the Southern California Chapter of the AIA in 1964.

Oppenheim won the National Competition Award for Red Rock Hill, Urban Renewal Agency (1965); National Award for Parwood Apartments by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Develop (1968); and awards from the AIA House & Home and American Home for his National City Park Apartments, Lord Tennyson Apartments and El Rancho Verde Apartments.

Imperial Manor. Photograph by Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

Partial List of Projects

Bay Vista Apartments (ca. 1969)
4888 Logan Avenue, San Diego
*Photographed by Julius Shulman

El Rancho Verde Apartments (1970)
Location not known
*Earned awards from AIA House & Home and American Home.

National City Apartments. Photograph by Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

Imperial Manor (ca. 1970)
1400 Block of Saturn Blvd., Nestor
*Photographed by Julius Shulman

Lord Tennyson Apartments (1968)
Hayward, CA
*Photographed by Julius Shulman; Earned awards from AIA House & Home and American Home.

National City Park Apartments. Photograph by Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

National City Apartments (1967)
National City
*Photographed by Julius Shulman

Palomar Apartments. Photograph by Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

National City Park Apartments (ca. 1968)
National City
*Photographed by Julius Shulman; Earned awards from AIA House & Home and American Home.

The Palomar Apartments (ca. 1973)
171 Palomar Street, Chula Vista
*Photographed by Julius Shulman

Villa Nueva. Photograph by Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

Parwood Apartments (1968)
Long Beach, CA
*Earned a National Award from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Develop (1968)

Park Center Towers (1970)
San Diego

Villa Nueva (ca. 1970)
San Diego
*Photographed by Julius Shulman