Fire-scarred Eames House reopens

After smoke damage is cleared, the family also unveils creative studio to the public.

- BY JESSICA GELT

EAMES DEMETRIOS and Adrienne Luce pose in the Eames Studio, which is open to the public after the Eames House, left, was damaged in the Palisades fire.

On the second harrowing night of the Palisades fire in January, the security cameras surrounding the Eames House went dark.

"It was a long night," said Eames Demetrios, grandson of designers Charles and Ray Eames and chairman of the board for the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation. "And then later that day the signal came back on."

The house — a Mid-century Modern landmark designed and built in 1949, also known as Case Study House No. 8 — was still standing. But Demetrios soon went back to worrying. A neighbor who had stayed to battle the blaze with a gar-

den hose reported that a nearby tree had caught fire.

"I thought, 'OK, this is it. It's coming,'" said Eames.

But the water-dropping helicopters came first and then — mercifully — the wind died down.

The Eames House was saved, but it was covered in soot and sustained a substantial amount of smoke damage. The residence, with its 31,000 historic objects, closed for five months while it underwent extensive cleaning and repairs - the most intensive of which involved hiring a disaster recovery team to hand-wipe the fragile structure while wearing protective gear.

The compound finally reopened late last month for tours on an appointment basis—and it unveiled its adjacent studio to the public for the very first time. The two structures are connected by a narrow walkway, and the Eameses often left doors and windows open, creating a natural flow between the spaces. As the creative nerve center of the site, the studio is where the Eameses spent the bulk of their time working on various projects. It will serve as a multipurpose staging ground for exhibitions, workshops and panel discussions, as well as a place for the community to gather and hold events, said Demetrios.