The iconic Eames House in Los Angeles has reopened to the public this summer after miraculously surviving the devastating wildfires that ravaged the city last January. The reopening coincides with the restructuring of the Eames Foundation, now renamed the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation, marking a new chapter dedicated to cultural outreach and preservation of the legendary designers' work.
"We were lucky. The fire damage was minimal," acknowledges Lucia Dewey Atwood, granddaughter of Charles and Ray Eames and the person in charge of site preservation. The landscape had been perfectly adapted to fire risks with the cutting of about a hundred eucalyptus trees. "We took our time, called upon the best engineers, collaborated with conservators from the Getty Conservation Institute, and conducted a complete cleaning of soot and smoke residue from the fires."
Following the fire damage, the house underwent six months of meticulous renovation. The restoration process involved careful collaboration with top engineers and conservators to ensure every detail was properly addressed. The comprehensive cleaning removed all traces of soot and smoke residue that had accumulated during the wildfires.
Built in 1949 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the Eames House is considered a pilgrimage site for architecture and design enthusiasts and stands as one of the masterpieces of Mid-Century Modern style. As an ideal model of the Case Study House Program—an architectural project promoting the construction of modern, affordable, and reproducible houses to address housing shortages after World War II—the Eames House revolutionized living spaces by using industrial materials like steel and glass, along with prefabricated components.
The bold Eames style, colorful and environmentally adapted, broke away from classical modernism by infusing a new warm and welcoming spirit. Born from the imagination of architect and designer couple Charles and Ray Eames, the house represented a fresh approach to residential design that would influence generations of architects and designers.
The residence can be discovered exactly as it was at the time of Ray Eames' death in 1988, explains Lucia, respecting their philosophy of preserving aesthetics while improving techniques when possible. The majestic straight staircase in the studio runs along the large glass bay window with removable panel systems, showcasing the innovative design elements that made the house famous.
The adjacent studio, built at the same time, reflects the multidisciplinary spirit of the Eames. This is where they worked, produced their films, created their toy collection, and tackled their technical challenges. Now open to the public, the studio serves as a meeting place for the Pacific Palisades community to gather and discuss sustainable housing issues, offering various programs including meetings, exhibitions, and workshops.
A spiral staircase made of steel and wood leads to the upper floor of the residence and the Eames' bedroom. The guest bedroom is bathed in unique light, while Charles and Ray's bedroom features removable plywood panels—a durable material developed in the mid-1940s that combines fiberglass and vinyl. Throughout the house, visitors can see stacks of Eames Shell chairs and an Asian ornament mobile suspended in the guest room.
Announced during the last Milan Design Week, the new Charles & Ray Eames Foundation aims to preserve the Eames' cultural heritage for the next 250 years. The foundation is built around a new team that includes five grandchildren of the Eames and, for the first time, the fourth generation with the arrival of Jackie Cassel, great-granddaughter of the Eames, along with new director Adrienne Luce and Eckart Maise, former design director at Vitra.
The Foundation will work to develop collaborations with institutions and museums that integrate Eames collections worldwide. The Eames Conference, planned for 2026, is expected to bring together major cultural players who disseminate their work globally. "The public doesn't yet know the full extent of the projects they participated in. The Library of Congress in Washington D.C., for example, has more than one million objects belonging to the Eames, mainly photographs and manuscripts," explains Eames Demetrios, president of the Foundation.
Other projects will also see the light of day, including the Eames Architecture event, which will explore the couple's work in this field, and the celebration in 2027 of the 50th anniversary of the film "Powers of Ten." "It's a brilliant film, created by the Eames in their studio, that starts from a simple idea: zooming in from Earth toward the universe and zooming back out to atomic particles. The work inspired Google Earth and certain Hollywood productions, and highlights the importance of scale," explains Eames Demetrios. A research program is also being launched to uncover more of their extensive body of work and continue their legacy of innovation and design excellence.
