FAMILY JEWEL

Charles and Ray Eames' descendants are exploring new ways to preserve the designers' legacy as the couple's masterpiece Pacific Palisades residence reopens following the recent LA fires

- Photography RICH STAPLETON Writer DAN HOWARTH

When wildfires tore through LA’s Pacific Palisades in January, the descendants of Charles and Ray Eames watched in horror as the flames approached their grandparents’ masterpiece, Case Study House #8. ‘We were on the edge of our seats,’ recalls Eames Demetrios. ‘Our sister Lucia, who has led the charge on the conservation of the house, was watching the surveillance cameras and reporting to us. And then they went dark. It was very scary.’

Thanks to efforts to fell hundreds of trees around the property the previous year, and a large stroke of luck, the house was spared any serious damage. The rest of the neighbourhood, however, was destroyed. ‘After about 24 hours, the cameras came back on, and it was a relief,’ Demetrios continues. ‘But there wasn’t elation because there was so much destruction around it.’

More familiarly known as the Eames House, the property, which Charles and Ray designed for themselves in 1949, is considered one of the best examples of midcentury modern residential architecture in the US. But it represents only a fraction of the couple’s vastly rich design legacy, which their living family members have dedicated themselves to preserving. To help secure that legacy for many more generations, this year they proudly announced the creation of the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation, a nonprofit organisation focused on safeguarding and advancing the ideals of this visionary duo. ‘What's really powerful about them is they had a very holistic vision,’ says Demetrios, who explains that the name of the foundation ‘puts these two people at the centre, because they should be. They really broadened the definition of design.’