Small Homes

Among the earliest designs by White is a series of small wooden houses from the late 1940s. In the November 1945 issue of California Arts & Architecture White described his intention to create affordable housing for returning G.I.s, his contribution to solving the postwar housing shortage. His one-story wood frame building offered 420 sq. ft. of space at a price of $1,574 in October 1945. Over the following years White developed a variety of these cabins and between 1947 and approximately 1948 White erected several on land he owned on Valevista Trail, and on adjacent streets in the Hollywood hills.

When he moved to the Coachella Valley, White’s concept of an affordable house focused on capturing stunning mountain views and mitigating the soaring summer heat, as illustrated by the house for Esther Breedlove (La Quinta, 1944), White’s mother-in-law. The La Quinta Rental Units (1956) show White’s shrewd adaptation as the desert cities became wintering places and tourist destinations.

In Colorado in the 1960s White developed mountain and weekend cabins that an owner could build with the help of one or two friends in a few days. Design features included a limited range of materials, simple construction, standardized building parts, and non-localized designs adaptable to almost any site.