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Eames House launches preservation effort

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The Eames House in Pacific Palisades, completed in 1949 and beloved as an icon of the midcentury modern movement ever since, now sits empty -- the contents of the living room moved for an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Realizing that six decades of loving care may not have been enough to preserve the landmark, and that an empty space presents a rare opportunity, the Eames family has launched a campaign to preserve the house -- and all that it contains.

“Our aim is to make sure it stays in great shape for another 250 years,” granddaughter Lucia Dewey Atwood said of the house, which has been in a state of suspended animation since Ray Eames died in 1988. In March the Eames Foundation hired the Los Angeles architectural firm Escher GuneWardena to develop a plan for the house, and 10 electronic data collectors have monitored temperature, light levels, relative humidity and more -- all in an effort to preserve not only the steel and glass architecture, but its lifetime of collections for decades to come.

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Landmark Houses: Articles on Eames House history and preservation plan, photos

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-- David Hay

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