Dion Neutra (October 8, 1926 – November 24, 2019) was a modernist / International style American architect and consultant who worked originally with his father,

Richard Neutra Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; April 8, 1892 – April 16, 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for the majority of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. He ...

(1892–1970).

Life

Neutra started training with his father at age 11. He attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, spending his junior year abroad studying at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology architecture program in Zurich, and graduated cum laude. Neutra became president of the Neutra company upon Richard Neutra's death in 1970. He worked with current owners of Neutra properties to update them sympathetically with original design intentions. Neutra hosted the 85th anniversary party for Neutra Architecture 1926-2011 from April 8–10, 2011 at the Eagle Rock Recreation Center and the

Neutra VDL Studio and Residences Neutra VDL Studio and Residences, the home of architect Richard Neutra, is located in Los Angeles, California. It is also known as the Neutra Research House, the Van der Leeuw House, the Richard and Dion Neutra VDL Research House II, or the Richa ...

. Neutra died on November 24, 2019, at his home on Neutra Place ("Reunion House") in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of 93.

Preservation efforts

As of July 16, 2011, he began writing a blog dedicated to the preservation of the Kronish House in Beverly Hills, California, while under threat of demolition. Other projects Dion has championed include the

Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg The Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg was a historic modernist concrete and glass Mission 66 building dedicated November 19, 1962 by the National Park Service (NPS) to serve as a Gettysburg Battlefield visitor center, to exhibit the 1883 Paul P ...

on the Gettysburg battlefield, Pennsylvania, and the Mariners Medical Arts Building in Newport Beach, California. He was also concerned about the future of the

Los Angeles County Hall of Records The Los Angeles County Hall of Records sits in the northern end of the Civic Center in Downtown Los Angeles. The high-rise building by Richard Neutra (co-designed by Robert Alexander) is an example of international style architecture. The build ...

since the Records Department has been relocated to

Norwalk, California Norwalk is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 105,549 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated 103,949 in 2019. It is the 58th most densely-populated ...

Selected works

*Dion Neutra Reunion House, 1950,

Silver Lake, Los Angeles Silver Lake is a residential and commercial neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Originally home to a small community called Ivanhoe in honor of Sir Walter Scott. In 1907, the Los Angeles Water Department built the ...

*Kester Avenue Elementary School, 5353 Kester Avenue, Los Angeles (with

), 1951,

Sherman Oaks, California Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California located in the San Fernando Valley, founded in 1927. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density than ...

*Kronish House, 1955,

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

* VDL II Research House, 1966,

*Treehouse Apartment, 1968,

*Scheimer House, 1972,

Tarzana, Los Angeles Tarzana is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Tarzana is on the site of a former ranch owned by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is named after Burroughs' fictional jungle hero, Tarzan. History ...

* Huntington Beach Public Library, 1975,

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

*Canfield Elementary School, 1976,

West Los Angeles, California West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...

*Treetops Apartments, 1980,

*Claremont Graduate Management Building, 1982,

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

References

1926 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American architects American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Jewish architects USC School of Architecture alumni 21st-century American architects {{US-architect-stub