Harry Gesner

Harry Harmer Gesner (April 28, 1925 – June 10, 2022) was an American architect from California.

Gesner principally designed houses in the Los Angeles area, especially along the coast in Malibu.

Following service in the US Army during World War II, Gesner was a self-taught architect.

Discharged in 1944, he was repatriated to New York.

On his return to the United States, Gesner stayed in the New York area for six months.

He audited an architecture class at Yale University, whose visiting lecturer was Frank Lloyd Wright.

Wright offered him a place at his Taliesin West school, but Gesner did not pursue it, going instead to Ecuador to look for pre-Columbian artifacts.

From there he moved on to Mexico City, where Erroll Flynn asked him to help to move his yacht from Mexico back to the United States, but Gesner ended up going back to Los Angeles on his own.

There he reunited with his girlfriend from New York, Audrey Hawthorne, who was by then nine months pregnant and staying with Gesner's parents in California.

Gesner and Hawthorne married in Tijuana.

Audrey returned to New York to resume her modeling career after their daughter was born.

Gesner was hired by his uncle Bert Harmer to work with builders on three Harmer projects at Lake Arrowhead, gaining architectural and construction experience.

After a year of apprenticeship in construction, Gesner struck out on his own, designing houses for family members and acquaintances, and developing a reputation for unusual designs on challenging sites.

He became a favorite architect for bachelor male clients who wanted exotic-looking designs.

Gesner initially lived in Santa Monica in an apartment at his parents' house, in 1946 designing them a new adobe home in Tarzana that was built in 1950, the same year he also designed an adobe house for his newly-divorced aunt Inez Northrop in Santa Barbara.

In 1950-51 the now-divorced Gesner met and married his second wife, Patty Townsend.

Harry and Patty built their own house on land near his parents' new house, that his parents gave them in return for designing their house.

Gesner's first notable project was the Eagle's Watch house, designed for a client for whom Gesner had previously designed apartments.

Gesner proposed the ambitious design for a difficult site above these apartments, which could only be reached by a funicular.

Though denied by Gesner and Utzon, his Wave House (1957) has been proposed as an inspiration for Danish architect Jørn Utzon's Sydney Opera House.

Gesner worked with difficult sites, often steeply sloping, on beaches, or in narrow canyons, using primarily natural materials.

His houses usually featured strong, dominant roof lines and large expanses of glass oriented to specific views.

Gesner was born in Oxnard, California, the son of Ethel Harmer, an artist and daughter of early California artist Alexander F. Harmer, and Harry Gesner, an inventor and engineer.

Gesner attended Santa Monica High School.

Growing up in Southern California he learned to surf and water-ski.

During his senior year he dated future actress June Lockhart, whom he met while water-skiing at Lake Arrowhead Reservoir.

He also dated another future actress, Nan Martin, who would become his fourth wife.

Named for the eagle Gesner had repeatedly observed at the site, the 1957 house had a spreading wing-like roofline.

This was followed by a commission Gesner obtained through Patty's connections.

The Kimball House was designed in 1957 for a site in Tarzana, bridging the walls of a small canyon.

In 1957 Gesner was introduced to recently-divorced swimwear manufacturer Fred Cole, who had bought a difficult site overlooking Hollywood and the Los Angeles basin.

Gesner enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17, and because he was an accomplished skier, he was assigned to Camp Hale in Colorado as a ski instructor for the 10th Mountain Division.

He transferred to the Army Air Corps, but was reassigned to the infantry and joined the 1st Infantry Division as a replacement.

In ten days he was landed with the 1st Infantry at Omaha Beach in Normandy.

An experienced California surfer, Gesner used his experience in surf to evade enemy fire.

"If I hadn't surfed my whole life, there would have been no way I would have made it," Gesner later recounted.

His company advanced through France to Aachen and the Seigfried Line.

From Aachen the unit moved north to the Herken Forest in the Ardennes, where they were caught in the Battle of the Bulge.

Gesner was detailed as a scout, and was hit at the outskirts of Cologne by close German tank fire.

He lay injured in freezing weather overnight, later developing gangrene, and narrowly escaping the amputation of both legs.