Foreword by Alan Hess, Special photography by John M. Hall
Andrew Geller, famed architect and artist, is known for his whimsical, modern beach houses, such as Pearlroth House, Elizabeth Reese House, Esquire Weekend House, and the Leisurama development in New York’s Hamptons. In Andrew Geller: Deconstructed, Jake Gorst, Mr. Geller’s grandson, celebrates the life and work of his grandfather, often referred to as the “architect of happiness.” Geller nicknamed his imaginative buildings with such names as Butterfly, the Box Kite, Milk Carton, and Grasshopper.
Gorst brings together two-decades worth of interviews, both formal and informal, as well as many artifacts and treasures culled from Geller’s vast personal collection of never-before-published drawings and personal photographs. Included within are stories and images not only of his now famous beach houses, but also of the many lesser-known buildings and early artworks, making this the definitive volume on this quixotic architectural icon.
Gorst's intent in writing this volume—to share this wealth of information and provide an intimate glimpse into the inner workings of the artist—is here fully actualized, rendering a vivid portrait of a man whose main drive in life was to create beauty in whatever he did. The book also reveals Geller’s personal side through anecdotes, his family history, and Gorst’s relationship with his grandfather, the famed architect.
Architect and historian Alan Hess is the architecture critic of the San Jose Mercury News. He has written nineteen books on Modern architecture and urbanism in the mid-twentieth century, including monographs on architects Oscar Niemeyer, Frank Lloyd Wright, and John Lautner, as well as architectural histories of Las Vegas and Palm Springs. Hess was a National Arts Journalism Program Fellow at Columbia University's School of Journalism, and received a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts to research the work of Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. He has a M.Arch degree from the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, UCLA. He is currently researching the architecture of Irvine, California, one of the United States’ largest master-planned communities of the 1960s and 1970s.
John M. Hall is a freelance photographer, specializing in architectural, interiors, and
garden photography, primarily for magazines, books, architects, and designers. His work appears in Architectural Digest, Veranda, The New York Times, Modern, House Beautiful, Garden Design among others. He actively exhibits his fine art work and is in private and museum collections
ISBN 978-0-9903808-9-4
200 pages, 10.6 x 8.7", hardcover
208 color photographs
