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Buff, Straub, and Hensman was an influential Los Angeles based architectural firm which left a lasting impact on both Southern California and modern residential architecture. The firm flourished from 1956 through 1961, and was instrumental in the development of mid-century modern architecture, particularly the "post-and-beam style" of residential architecture characterized by a strong horizontal planes, exposed structural members and a blurring of the distinction between indoors and outdoors.

The office won more than 30 awards for house designs from the American Institute of Architects, and each were honored as Fellows (FAIA) by the same. Many of their designs, secluded homes for wealthy private clients, have enjoyed a new life in recent years with the recent conservancy movement for mid-century design.

The Partners

The partnership consisted of Conrad Buff III, Calvin Straub, and Donald (Don) Hensman, all of whom were American Institute of Architects (AIA) licensed architects.

Conrad Buff III FAIA (August 5, 1926, Eagle Rock, California - 1989) was a graduate of U.S.C. School of Architecture in 1952. For ten years Buff was a faculty member of USC contributing design curriculum. He was the son of the noted painter of the American southwest, Conrad Buff II, and both parents collaborated on very successful children's books. She wrote the stories and he illustrated them. Conrad III attended local Eagle Rocks school, and as he was growing up, the house was filled with art, culture and conversation. Family acquaintances included Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler and opera singer Lawrence Tibbett. Redesigning the Buff II garage was one of Neutra's first architectural commissions. Conrad served in the Navy in WWII at a base in Maryland, which was where he met his wife Elizabeth (Libby), a skipper's yeoman in the WAVES. After the War, Conrad new he wanted to be an architect and decided to enroll at USC School of Architecture, where he met Donald Hensman, who had also returned from the War.

Donald C. Hensman FAIA (1924, Omaha, Nebraska - 2002) grew up in Hollywood, California. He served in the navy during World War II, as a parachute rigger in the South Pacific, and entered the USC architecture program by way of the GI Bill. It was at USC that Hensman met Conrad Buff. But prior to their collaboration with Straub, Buff and Hensman were prolific designers of tract homes for a number of regional developers. He returned to teach architecture at his alma mater, USC from 1952 to 1963. He was eventually made assistant professor within USC’s design curriculum and was chairman of the joint USC/American Institute of Architects education committee. He was strongly identified with what was termed "the Pasadena School" — a generation of architects, many associated with USC’s School of Architecture, who combined an interest in new technology and experimental solutions with a sensitivity to the Southern California landscape and the history of modernism. Hensman remained active in the Pasadena architectural community until his death in 2002.

Calvin C. Straub FAIA (1920 – 1998) was born in Macon, Georgia. He studied at Texas A&M University and Pasadena City College before receiving his degree in architecture at the University of Southern California in 1945. After serving in the Navy, Straub lectured at USC from 1946 to 1961. Few architects and educators have had such a pervasive influence on architecture as Calvin C. Straub. He created an important body of work as the senior partner of the Firm Buff Straub and Hensmen, both previous students at USC. He was also a highly respected and much beloved professor of architecture. His work was widely published and considered highly influential in shaping the vision and iconography of the post-world war II contemporary southern California style. It bridged the gap between the influences of the early arts and crafts architects and the early California modernists, creating a uniquely regional architectural form. For this work he has been described as the "father of California post and beam architecture". This incredibly rich career was prologue for his "second career" in Arizona. Moving to Scottsdale, AZ in 1961 and joining the faculty at the College of Architecture at Arizona State University. Cal shaped the hearts and minds of two more generations of young architects while creating some of the finest Sonoran region desert architecture and winning over 30 design awards in his career.His desert residences continued and extended the legacy of "design with climate" that he had begun decades ago in southern California and preceded the now popular "green movement" in architecture by some 30 years. Beyond all these accomplishments, many have noted that his most significant contribution may well be his contagious influence on liberal arts students taking his "World architecture "class for humanities credit. Well over 15,000 general university students have been touched by the magic of architecture because of Cal Straub's jovial and animated love affair with his students and art of environmental design. His extensive world travels informed his later work as one of the early proponents of a worldwise architecture. His innovations brought non-western forms and details into the architectural vocabulary. Until 1988 he held a professorship of design at Arizona State University in Tempe, He worked for the firm of A.B. Gallion before entering into a partnership with Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman (1956-61), and was a member of Schoneburger, Straub, Florence & Associates (1972-75). Straub also ran his own practice in Arizona. Apart from his work as an architect and lecturer, he also published Design Process and Communications (1978) and The Man-Made Environment: An Introduction to World Architecture and Design (1983). He retired in 1988 and died in 1998.

The Partnership

In 1948, while both attending the University of Southern California (USC) School of Architecture and working together designing tract and model homes (but prior to beginning their practice), Buff and Hensman were asked by the Dean of the School of Architecture to take over the teaching duties left by the death of a senior professor. This meant that both Buff and Hensman were at the same time working professionals, students and teachers, all before being licensed or graduating. Among the many distinguished students taught at USC by Buff and Hensman over the years would be Frank Gehry. Both continued to teach and be associated with USC for many years.

In 1961 Calvin Straub left the practice to teach architecture at Arizona State University. Buff and Hensman continued their partnership as Buff, Hensman and Associates which continued to be successful. Conrad Buff died in 1989 and Dennis Smith joined the partnership the same year to form Buff, Smith and Hensman, from which Hensman retired in 1998. Smith carries on in the practice, located in Pasadena.

The Buff, Straub, and Hensman firm's masterwork was Case Study House #20, the Saul Bass House (Altadena, 1958), which was considered innovative for its advanced technology. It was built of factory-produced stressed skin panels and plywood vaults so novel that they confounded city building officials. Despite thorough engineering calculations, the architects were not awarded a building permit until a sample plywood vault had been temporarily erected and loaded with weights. The Bass House integrates indoor/outdoor space to achieve a level of sophistication not seen in other Case Study Houses. Its open plan introduced the concept of zoning: the owner's zone with studio office, garden, master bedroom & bath; a formal zone with living and dining rooms and entry atrium; a family zone with kitchen, family room, dining terrace, two additional bedrooms and swimming pool.

Architect Calvin Straub's own post-and-beam home in Pasadena was another notable project that brought the practice both acclaim and commissions.

Significant projects

• 1958 Saul Bass Residence (Case Study House #20), Altadena
• 1959 Frank Residence, Pasadena
• 1961 John Thomson Residence
• 1962 Sidney Fine Residence
• 1963 Harry Roth Residence, Beverly Hills
• Penn/Walter Van der Kamp Residence, Los Angeles
• 1965 Case Study House #28
• 1967 McGill Residence, Pasadena

Sources

• Case Study Houses by: Elizabeth Smith, Peter Goessel (ed). Taschen, February, 2002 ISBN 3-8228-6412-9 "Towards a Simpler Way of Life", edited by Robert Winter, University of California Press,1997

• Architecture firms of the United States
• Modernist architects
• Companies based in California
• Defunct companies based in California