Edward Abel Killingsworth

Architect | 1917-2004

Killingsworth, a graduate of USC (1940), was the recipient of many awards for the Case Study Triad houses (in La Jolla) for Arts & Architecture, as well as for Case Study House #25 Riva Alto Canal house. While the firm Killingsworth, Brady & Smith's first apartment complex, Del Rey Hotel and Apartments (ca. 1954), was built in Pacific Beach, their Case Study House #22 for Point Loma was not.

Partial List of Projects

Case Study House 23A. Photograph by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Case Study “Triad” House A (1960)
2342 Rue de Anne
One of only three (hence “Triad”) San Diego examples of the 36-building Case Study program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine editor John Entenza and USC’s School of Architecture (1945 -’66) to promote modernism as a stylish, livable architectural form. Situated three feet below street level, House A’s 10-foot front door is reached via a pre-cast concrete path floated over a shallow reflecting pool. This 6-room modified U-plan is the most complex of the three re-sawn tongue & groove redwood boarded houses.

House B. Photograph by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Case Study “Triad” House B (1960)
2343 Rue de Anne
This 3-bedroom, 2-bath house was originally designed such that all of
its rooms were arranged around courts and a loggia enabling its
occupants to reach any room without crossing another.

House C. Photograph by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Case Study “Triad” House C (1960)
2329 Rue de Anne
The simplest plan of the three, House C engages the visitor, with according to Killingsworth, “an elusive, friendly quality.” Each room is extended by a focal point or view through glass and its 10-foot ceilings.

CSH26 Model. Photograph by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Case Study House #26
Point Loma
This unbuilt project, also known as they Nugent Pavillion was designed for a lot that structural engineer William Nugent purchased. The house was to be partially surrounded by water, in the form of a reflecting pool, and an interior courtyard garden was to be roofed in plastic.

Del Rey Hotel and Apartments (ca. 1954)
3455 Del Rey Street, Pacific Beach
This project was included in UC Santa Barbara’s University Art Museum show A Beautiful Nothing: The Architecture of Edward A. Killingsworth. Apparently the Del Rey was the first hotel apartment building that Killingsworth, Brady & Smith ever completed. The firm had been primarily residential to that point.