The Eames House Conservation Management Plan |
Sheridan was honoured to be invited by the Getty Conservation institute to develop a Conservation Management Plan for the Eames House in Los Angeles in 2015, when she was a partner and director of GML Heritage. With GML’s heritage architect Jyoti Sommerville and the team at the GCI, the draft CMP was developed in close consultation with the Eames Family and the Foundation that now manages the site. The project continued after Sheridan’s resignation from GML and the CMP input was completed by our practice in 2019.
This was the first CMP developed in USA, and it needed to be a model that could be used by others as well as reaching a benchmark standard for this national landmark. Applying the Burra Charter methodology, a careful assessment of significance was undertaken, using detailed history and comparative analysis research prepared by historian Gail Ostergren of the GCI.
Conservation policies were developed through a range of meetings with stakeholders and family members led by Ray and Charles Eames granddaughter Lucia Dewey Atwood. The expert team at the GCI- led by Susan Macdonald, included Kyle Normandin, Laura Matarese, Chandler McCoy and Shin Maekawa. They managed the CMP process and undertook specialist fabric analysis, including detailed research into the cemestos panels of the house and into the environmental conditions of the site , to support the conservation of the extraordinary collections within the house, which include several prototypes of the famous Eames furniture designs.
In addition to the full CMP, a separate Overview of the plan was prepared by the practice, providing future a succinct summary of the main CMP. Highly visual, utilising the fantastic photographic collection of the Eames Office, the overview summarises the CMP policies and provides a clear understanding of the heritage values of this remarkable house and its landscape setting and collections. Its an innovative approach to support CMPs principles being well understood by all stakeholders Both the CMP and the Overview publication are available for download form the GCI website here
The development of this CMP was a truly collaborative effort, by the whole team with many hours of voluntary time contributing to an excellent outcome. Completed in 2019, the CMP was awarded the Preservation Design Award of the California Preservation Foundation in 2019 and the Docomomo US Award of Excellence in 2020.
Click here or on one of the images below to read the CMP and/or overview.
This was the first CMP developed in USA, and it needed to be a model that could be used by others as well as reaching a benchmark standard for this national landmark. Applying the Burra Charter methodology, a careful assessment of significance was undertaken, using detailed history and comparative analysis research prepared by historian Gail Ostergren of the GCI.
Conservation policies were developed through a range of meetings with stakeholders and family members led by Ray and Charles Eames granddaughter Lucia Dewey Atwood. The expert team at the GCI- led by Susan Macdonald, included Kyle Normandin, Laura Matarese, Chandler McCoy and Shin Maekawa. They managed the CMP process and undertook specialist fabric analysis, including detailed research into the cemestos panels of the house and into the environmental conditions of the site , to support the conservation of the extraordinary collections within the house, which include several prototypes of the famous Eames furniture designs.
In addition to the full CMP, a separate Overview of the plan was prepared by the practice, providing future a succinct summary of the main CMP. Highly visual, utilising the fantastic photographic collection of the Eames Office, the overview summarises the CMP policies and provides a clear understanding of the heritage values of this remarkable house and its landscape setting and collections. Its an innovative approach to support CMPs principles being well understood by all stakeholders Both the CMP and the Overview publication are available for download form the GCI website here
The development of this CMP was a truly collaborative effort, by the whole team with many hours of voluntary time contributing to an excellent outcome. Completed in 2019, the CMP was awarded the Preservation Design Award of the California Preservation Foundation in 2019 and the Docomomo US Award of Excellence in 2020.
Click here or on one of the images below to read the CMP and/or overview.