The early work of Edward Killingsworth is quintessential mid-century modernism. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the Long Beach architect and his firm with Jules Brady & Waugh Smith honed the classic post and beam aesthetic into 3D poetry. Their best creations together, like the Opdahl House and the Frank House (one of four residences Killingsworth designed for the Case Study House program) created sanctuaries out of right angles, high ceilings, open plans, expansive glass and natural light. 

Killingsworth had a long and prolific career, ranging from compact homes to large civic buildings, from university campuses to high-end hotels around the world. One of the purest distillations of his design philosophy can be seen in the office he designed for his own firm in 1955. 

When you first pull into the parking lot and drink in the Killingsworth, Brady & Smith office, right on Long Beach Boulevard, your first reaction may be how deceptively simple its plan seems. One story, flat roof, alternating expanses of glass and solid colors: sky blue, orange, gray. But it doesn’t take long to recognize how complex the interactions are between the different planes. 

The part of the building that you can actually see from the parking lot was originally divided into three sections, the middle one for the architects, the southern one by a structural/electrical engineer and the northern one intended as a rental suite, first used by a mechanical engineer. Each of the three doors faces away from the street (a common trope in mid-century design), and each one is set back from the street by a slightly different distance. Each door also has a different approach; the southernmost entry has a short brick walkway, the middle one a sequence of square stepping stones that spans a reflecting pool, and the northernmost a shorter sequence of stepping stones over grass. 

Though the lot’s not a particularly deep one, Killingsworth plays up a sense of depth with a large reflecting pool and short clumps of landscaping that jut out into the parking lot like one of those thrust stages at a rock concert. Even before we get inside the building, Killingsworth is playing around with the very basic tenets of what a room entails, and dissolving the line between inside and out. A wall to nowhere protrudes into the landscaping on the south; in the middle segment, support beams extend beyond the edges of the roofs they’re supporting, and on the north side, we get a post and beam “office” without any walls or a ceiling at all.

All these shifting planes and angles interact with the surprising height of the single story to create an exploded 3D blueprint of a building. It’s complex, but the lines are so geometrically arrayed that the structure feels clean and clear, too. One detail I particularly love is an old trio of signs near the sidewalk, advertising Killingsworth, Stricker, Lindgren, Wilson & Associates (a later iteration of the firm), which echoes the angular multi-tier design of the building itself.  

“Ed was a humanist who demanded that work, when possible, was a pleasurable experience for his partners, associates, employees and consultants. Everyone worked within sight of nature in private and semi-private gardens. Natural light flooded all work spaces.”

-Ronald Lindgren, AIA, a later partner of Killingsworth’s. Quoted in the office’s NRHP nomination form

The natural world was a huge part of Killingsworth’s work, much of which incorporated water and flora in communion with indoor space. The Killingsworth, Brady & Smith office was no exception. The trees and plantings all over the facade help soften all those right angles and unadorned surfaces. In the early years, the floor-to-ceiling glass of the streetside rooms once afforded the partners views of a giant oak that used to stand in the center of the property. Even the smaller rooms tucked deeper into the structure were lined with garden courtyards; the central drafting room had a window opening that accommodated a tree branch, which continued on through an intentional hole in the roof (it’s a skylight now). 

This office building was immediately hailed for its ingenuity. The Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram called it “one of the most novel, ultra-modern office buildings in the Southland,” and in 1956 the American Institute of Architects gave it an Award of Merit. 11 years later it would earn a Los Angeles Beautiful Award. 

As an expression of Killingsworth’s architectural ideals and a playground for his design quirks, the Killingsworth, Brady & Smith office was a calling card, a place to show clients what they could do. This was where they designed so many important buildings that helped define the look of mid-century SoCal, including their four Case Study House designs, and the master plan for Cal State University Long Beach, some four decades in the making.  

As it happens, the co-author of the Killingsworth, Brady & Smith office’s application for the National Register is Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, AIA, whose firm currently occupies the old KBS office. Nice to know that this architecturally significant space is being tended by folks who clearly understand what makes it so magical. 

Sources & Recommended Reading

+ McLeod, Kelly Sutherlin & Franchesca Smith with Lillian Makeda: Killingsworth, Brady & Smith’s NRHP nomination form

+ Grawe, Sam: “Opdahl Remastered” (Dwell, January 12, 2010)

+ Grobaty, Tim: “Restoring a Killingsworth masterpiece, his longtime office in Bixby Knolls” (Long Beach Post, September 30, 2020)

+ Grobaty, Tim: “A Killingsworth classic Case Study home in Naples for sale at $3.99 million” (Long Beach Post, October 17, 2022)

+ Mullio, Cara & Jennifer M. Volland “Setting a Modern Standard” (Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2004)

+ O’Connor, Pauline: “Case Study House #25 Splashes Onto the Market in Long Beach” (Dirt.com, October 18, 2022)

+ “EDWARD KILLINGSWORTH, FAIA (1917-2004)” (US Modernist)

+ “Four Offices of Distinction— 4. Design for Designers” (Architectural Forum, November 1956, p. 148 – via USModernist)