Edward H. Fickett, F.A.I.A.
About the Architect
Master architect, Edward H. Fickett, F.A.I.A.(1916-1999) had an extraordinary life with impact on mid-century modern design in southern California during the post-war era. Fickett was a Southern California native whose body of architectural work personified California architecture in the 1950s and 1960s. Fickett, born in Los Angeles, graduated from Beverly Hills High School (1934), and attended the University of Southern California University College (1934-1938) and the Art Center School of Los Angeles (1937-1942). He worked as a draftsman for two different architects and a structural engineer (1935-1942). In 1942, he joined the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps, rising to the rank of Lieutenant before his discharge in 1945. Following his tour of duty, Fickett joined Francis J. Heusel as a partner in an architectural firm, and finally in 1949 he embarked on a career of private practice with his own firm Edward H. Fickett Architect. He was elected a corporate member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1950 and was elected a Fellow by the AIA in 1969.
At the end of World War II, Fickett saw the need for affordable housing for the vast number of men coming home from the war and their families and for increasing the number of architects to design those homes. To help with encouraging college students to become architects, Fickett devised a lecture series with the support of the AIA and the cooperation of leading architects and toured campuses around the country to recruit students to the profession. Also, he himself began to plan and design affordable housing for these veterans and built a successful career meeting the housing needs of the general public.
Fickett, who brought modernist design to large-scale affordable housing in the post-war era, is credited with several advancements in the architectural profession. In addition to his new designs, he developed close working relationships with developers to build homes at a lower cost with new techniques of construction, yet these homes were still contemporary in design and appealed to new home buyers. These new homes had "a free
plan, light and space that made Fickett-designed homes unique without being perceived as overly avant-garde on the outside," wrote Sian Winship in her 2011 thesis "Quantity and Quality: Architects Working for Developers in Southern California, 1960-1973." In his successful 1969 nomination for AIA fellowship, Fickett was recognized for his "excellence of design, proportion and scale and the use of regional materials" and his role in developing "modular and structural concepts for early (1947) low cost housing development...[s]ince used extensively on private and federal work."
During his career in private practice, Fickett earned a reputation as a leader in developing the "California Ranch Style" of architecture, or "California Moderne," as noted by Richard Rapaport in his 2014 book “California Moderne and the Mid-Century Dream: The Architecture of Edward H. Fickett”, with floor-to-ceiling windows and the integration of indoor and outdoor space. Over the course of his career Fickett planned and designed residential communities, both tract housing and planned communities; luxurious private homes; commercial buildings; government and military facilities; parks; resorts and country clubs; restaurants and a baseball stadium club; apartment buildings and condominiums; and hotels.
His impact on residential home construction alone is estimated at 60,000 homes, with approximately 10,000 located in the San Fernando Valley. In his 1963 nomination for election as an AIA Fellow, Fickett was recognized for the "planning and design of over seventy residential communities containing 40,000 single family dwellings."
Specific examples of Fickett's work and his role in shaping the "built environment of the American suburbs" are found in the tract developments and planned communities Sherman Park, Sherman Way Homes, Coronet Construction develoment, Granada Estates, Emerson Place Community, University Park and Moorpark College Campus, and the Pacific Island Village. His noted apartment houses include Sunset Capri Apartments, Los Feliz Riviera Apartments, Cavalier Apartments, Sunset Patio Apartments, Fountain Lanai Apartments, and the Hollywood Riviera Apartments. In the area of government facilities, Fickett planned and designed housing for Edwards Air Force Base, Norton Air Force Base, and Los Alamitos Naval Station. His work on local government buildings included the Los Angeles City Hall, Los Angeles Fire Stations No. 99 and No. 30, the Port of Los Angeles, and the West Hollywood Library. His contributions to public parks included the Silverlake Recreation Center and Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park. He designed and planned the La Jolla Fashion Center and Bistro Gardens restaurant. The La Costra Resort and Country Club and Quail Ranch Resort and Country Club show the Fickett style as well. Lastly, he designed private residences for celebrities Dick Clark, Steve Lawrence, Groucho Marx, Georgia Frontiere, Marilynn Mack, Raymond Kay, Dr. and Mrs. George Jacobson, among others, as well as his own homes.
Fickett also participated in a number of professional activities. He wrote articles in several publications; he appeared on panels and juries and gave presentations at professional meetings; he gave lectures to various groups and appeared before government entities promoting zoning and planning codes; he was very active in the AIA, both locally and nationally; he served on the Federal Housing Advisory Board for the Federal Housing Administration, the United States Savings and Loan League Advisory Board, and the American Arbitration Association National Board of Arbitrators.
Lastly, Fickett received a number of awards, certificates and other acknowledgements recognizing his achievements and contributions to the profession and the community. These awards came from among others the American Institute of Architects, the National Association of Home Builders, Progressive Architecture, House and Home Magazine, Parents' Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Pacific Coast Builders, Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Los Angeles.[2]
[2] Online Archive of California; Finding Aid for the Edward H. Fickett, FAIA (pulled August 11, 2018)
"The Fickett Formula"
"California Moderne and the Mid-Century Dream: The Architecture of Edward H. Fickett"
By Richard Rapaport, Rizolli Books, 2014
The March 1953 edition of House & Home Magazineincluded an 11-page article entitled “The Fickett Formula.” The piece focused on the ongoing success of Fickett’s homes and collaboration with Ray Hommes and other “Merchant Builders”. Hommes was one of those Southern California developers, the kind who would take out half-page real estate ads running all over the Sunday Los Angeles Times, offering Fickett-designed homes, knowing a Fickett-design would sell immediately.
Initially, it was joked that all you needed to sell a tract home in post-War Southern California, was “a roof and some rudimentary plumbing.” But Fickett changed all that with his “palatial yet affordable” designs, which were also practical and functional. “The Fickett Formula” offered what no other architects were offering to the homebuyer by finding ways to keep costs down while providing a beautiful design, such as, adding paint directly to concrete thereby saving the additional costs for painting. Architecturally more pleasing to the eye and perfect for the Mediterranean climate of Southern California, Fickett designed carports instead of totally enclosed garages. Other aspects of his “Formula” were sliding closet doors thereby saving space, open kitchens to living and dining areas, rooms that flowed into one another creating an open floor plan, raising the ceiling height to make the homes feel more palatial, walls of glass to allow natural light, fully landscaped gardens visible from all rooms through walls of glass in keeping with Fickett’s motto “bringing the outside-in.” A window over the kitchen sink would make for a less tedious experience for homemakers to do dishes as they look out and onto a landscaped side yard often with hummingbird feeders. His textured walls and ceilings would complement his immense amount of concealed storage space. He believed one could never have too much closet and storage space, looking to the future as the family grew in size. His kitchens included large surfaces and cupboard space. It was not unusual to find built-in TV’s and Hi-Fi systems in the homes he had designed. All his homes had cross ventilation.
You could always tell a Fickett home from the street by his use of pastel colors on the exterior, which were carried through to the interior. One critic wrote “his floor plans are a thing of beauty and a joy forever for busy homemakers and mothers. They are efficient and save steps. Fickett makes every square foot of floor space count.”
Additionally, buyers of a Fickett home appreciated the fact the homes were totally complete, inside and out, so the buyer did not have to worry about any details, such as landscaping. The most notable aspect of the “Fickett Formula” was the selection of models and floor plans the buyer could chose from. Whereas other architects offered perspective buyers a choice of plan A, B, or C, Fickett would offer the buyer a choice of 25-30 different models from which to select their dream house. His approach to construction allowed the “Merchant Builder” costs savings through his Rectangular Plans, Post and Beam construction and slab floors.
The article spoke heavily on Edward Fickett’s rising celebrity, and architectural photography by Julius Schulman and other architectural photographers who had photographed Fickett homes, that explored the differences between Fickett’s work and those of other lesser developers and builders. The magazine lauded its subject “as an architect who gets $100,000 a year from merchant builders, whose biggest client, (Hommes) is a builder who was willing to pay as much as $20,000 to get the best-selling house designs in Los Angeles (by Fickett).”[3]
[3] “California Moderne and the Mid-Century Dream: The Architecture of Edward H. Fickett”, Richard Rapaport, Rizolli Books, 2014.
