Kurt Meyer (architect)

Built in 1916 the Dodge House was considered a modern architectural masterpiece.

Kurt Werner Meyer (June 3, 1922 – August 18, 2014) was a Swiss-born American architect active from 1948 to 1993.

Working primarily in the Los Angeles area, Meyer is known for numerous financial institutions, educational building, civic buildings, and civic service.

Born in 1922, Meyer received his Bachelor of Architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH-Zurich) in 1946.

He immigrated to the United States in 1948 made his way to Los Angeles in 1949 and worked as a junior draftsman for the Bechtel Corporation.

He had three children with his first wife, Rosemary Kretz Meyer: Susanne Meyer Christopher (1952), Randy Meyer (1955), and Richard Meyer (1956).

In 1955, he became a licensed architect and started a new job at Kistner, Wright & Wright (KWW).

In 1957 with the blessing of KWW he took the commission for Death Valley High School and started his own firm Cox, Hagman & Meyer.

In 1957 a commission to remodel the storefront office of Canoga Park Savings led to many more commissions for financial institutions.

The remodel was the start of Bart Lytton’s plan to remake Canoga Park Savings into Lytton Savings & Loan.

In 1958 Kurt Meyer was awarded commission for the Lytton Savings & Loan’s new Hollywood Home Office Branch at the eastern end of the Sunset Strip.

On July 1st, 1960 Hollywood Lytton Savings opened, it features a zig-zagged prefabricated reinforced concrete roof.

The building is unique for its mix of Mid‐Century Modern, Googie features and the New Formalist style.

Meyer designed a total of five banks for Lytton Savings.

Meyer designed approximately 20 financial buildings in Southern California and Washington.

For Mark Taper, president of American Savings & Loan, he designed 35 projects.

Meyer was a member of the Los Angeles Goals Council (1965), board member of Hollywood YMCA, Director of Southern California Chapter of American Institute of Architects (AIA) (1968-1971), and an elected Fellow of the Explorers’ Club (1990).

From 1967 to 1975 Meyer opened an additional architecture office on the island of Guam.

In 1967 Bart Lytton, though Lytton Savings, purchased the Irving Gill designed Dodge House in West Hollywood.

Lytton had Meyer design a multi-family condominium project on the grounds of the Dodge house to preserve the mansion.

Meyer was Director of the Southern California Chapter of American Institute of Architects (AIA) (1968-1971), and chairman of the board of the Southern California Institute of Architects (SCI-Arc) (1987-1988).

In 1970 Lytton lost control of his Savings & Loan, the Dodge House was sold and demolished.

On learning of the demolition, Meyer, who had fought for seven years to save the house, said, "This is like slashing a Rembrandt with a razor."

In 1973 Meyer was appointed to the board of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) by Mayor Tom Bradley and would become chairman of the board in 1976.

Under his leadership, the affordable Japanese Village Plaza was created in Japanese character; Angeles Plaza, Bunker Hill housing for elderly and low-income elderly was constructed; and the jewelry industry was kept from moving away from downtown.

In 1978, 8 years after the Dodge House demolition Meyer helped form the Los Angeles Conservancy.

The Conservancy's founding president called Meyer "a passionate advocate for great architecture in Los Angeles"

During his years on the CRA Meyer kept the city of Los Angeles from selling the Central Library for its land value.

He continued to be an advocate for the landmarked building through the 1980s as president of the Urban Design Advisory Coalition.

In 1988 Meyer joined with Clifton Allen and the name of Kurt Meyer and Associates changed to Meyer & Allen Associates.

In 1992 Meyer retired from architecture and sold the firm to Allen.

In 1992, Meyer retired from architecture to start a new career.

With his wife, Pamela Deuel, he explored the remote villages of the jungle lowlands of Nepal over a nine-year period starting in 1993.

From this period of exploration Meyer and Duel wrote A Rural Folk Art Version told by the Dangaura Tharu people of Jalaura Dang Valley, Nepal in 1998, Mahabharata: The Tharu Barka Naach in 1999, and In The Shadow of the Himalayas: Tibet - Bhutan - Nepal - Sikkim A Photographic Record by John Claude White 1883-1908 in 2006.

The main project of this period was to be a book of Kurt Meyer's photography of the artistic Tharu tribe, it has yet to be completed.

Selected works

Kurt Meyer was born and raised in Zürich.