Prior to graduating from USC’s School of Architecture, in 1934, Raphael Soriano interned in Richard Neutra’s office. Relying heavily on steel construction materials, Soriano grew to be widely recognized for Case Study House 1950 for Arts & Architecture magazine as well as a home for photographer Julius Shulman. None of his work in San Diego was built.
Raphael Simon Soriano was born in Rhodes, Greece, to a Sephardic Jewish family, and attended College Saint-Jean-Baptiste, in France, prior to moving to the United States in
1924. After settling in Los Angeles, Soriano enrolled in USC’s School of
Architecture in 1929. In 1930, he became an American
citizen.
In 1931, Soriano secured an internship with Richard Neutra alongside
Gregory Ain and Harwell Hamilton Harries. He joined RM Schindler as an intern,
in 1934 (the same year he graduated from USC), before returning to Neutra’s office.
By 1936, Raphael Soriano completed his first independent commission, the Lipetz House,
which was included in the 1937 Paris International Architectural Exhibition. During the late 1930s and through the mid '40s, Soriano
served USC as a lecturer and created proposals for Post-War housing.
In 1953, Soriano relocated from Los Angeles to Tiburon. And by 1955, he designed the first mass-produced steel house, built by developer Joseph Eichler.
Partial List of Projects
Tidmarsh, George House (1946)
La Jolla. Not built.
*For George Tidmarsh, Vice President at Consolidated Vultee, Soriano offered an early example of the use of modular steel construction for a single-family house providing Soriano the flexibility of working with non-load-bearing walls. The design is similar to his Katz House, which was realized a year later.
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