Franklin D. Israel: A Life in Architecture

Acclaimed Los Angeles architect Franklin D. Israel (1945–1996) created innovative residential projects and office interiors that made him one of the most talked-about designers of his generation. In this vivid account, architectural historian Todd Gannon traces Israel’s development from his early years and career on the East Coast to his formative world travels and residence at the American Academy in Rome. The author guides readers through the Los Angeles architectural context, Israel’s influential teaching at UCLA, his dalliance with Hollywood, and the personal motivations behind his architecture and design work—all aspects of an influential career that was cut short by his death from AIDS-related complications at the age of fifty.

Todd Gannon is professor of architecture at The Ohio State University’s Knowlton School. He is the author of Reyner Banham and the Paradoxes of High Tech (2017) and Figments of the Architectural Imagination (2022).