Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Buckner.
Cory, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
While attending art school at Chouinard Art Institute, I met architect Frederic P. Lyman. Prior to meeting Lyman, I had focused my energies on becoming a painter, showing at a few galleries in LA. I worked for Lyman whenever possible on days off from college or weekends and then full-time once I graduated. My interest gradually veered away from the art world to architecture, being inspired by Lyman and his simple, logical design approach and magnificent colored pencil renderings.
I set up practice as an architectural designer working out of my house and later a studio at Santa Monica Airport.
My late husband, Nick Roberts, and I designed and built a house in Malibu on land I had purchased when I was twenty-five. The house for our small family, which includes our daughter, architectural designer Bryony Roberts, was finished in 1986, the year I was licensed as an architect. The house burned to the ground in a 1993 brush fire.
I had previously worked on two remodels in Crestwood Hills designed by A. Quincy Jones, Whitney R. Smith, and Edgardo Contini for the Mutual Housing Association (MHA) cooperative housing tract. We focused our house hunting on this area and purchased one of the original MHA houses on Rochedale Lane. Shortly after, a friend introduced me to Jones’ widow, Elaine Sewell Jones, and I proposed writing a book on Jones’ work. The book was published by Phaidon Press in 2002.
Because of my interest in mid-century architecture, many of my clients have searched me out because of my expertise in this style. My new architectural projects are of simply modern design influenced by modernist architecture.
Over the years, I have produced three more books; one on my mentor, Fred Lyman, another on Crestwood HIlls, and the last on my architect father-in-law, David Wyn Roberts.
I continue with my practice as well as rebuilding the Malibu house, which burned again in the Woolsey fire of 2018.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As a woman starting out in architecture in the mid to late seventies, the road to my successful practice has been remarkably smooth, unlike many of my peers. Many times, I felt I was hired because I was a woman and understood the way a house should function for a family.
The struggles were nearly always with builders or workmen on building sites. I have had to prove myself competent over and over again. This is something that sadly continues on to this day.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Cory Buckner, Architect, specializes in residential remodel, restoration, and new construction. Having written a book on A. Quincy Jones, several clients have commissioned me to work on houses designed by Jones. In addition, moving to the modernist community of Crestwood Hills has provided me with steady commissions for both the original MHA houses designed by Jones, Whitney Smith, and Edgardo Contini and infill houses by other modernist architects practicing in the post-war years. In the Crestwood Hills community only thirty of the original MHA houses stand, I have remodeled and restored a dozen of these houses and have initiated historic status for fifteen of these houses. I was rewarded the 2002 historic preservation award by the Los Angeles Conservancy for my efforts. I am most proud of this award and the part it has played in keeping our community intact architecturally.
My designs for new construction have been influenced by early modernist works with clean simple lines. The plan is the generator after considering all site conditions and orientation. It is incumbent to work towards design that is environmentally responsible.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck has played an enormous role in my life and business. The chance meeting of Frederic P. Lyman in 1969 changed my career direction and instilled a lifelong interest in music, literature, and art. It was his Malibu house that captivated me one day after an art school field trip. I searched out the long driveway to the house and positioned myself 100 ft. away, setting up my drawing pad to draw the house. Just as I began to sketch, a handsome man emerged from the house and asked, “Would you like a job?”. I was intrigued and answered, “Well, yes; actually”, though I had no idea what sort of job he might have in mind. Fred asked if I knew typing and bookkeeping. Thanks to my father insisting on his three daughters taking typing and bookkeeping in high school, I could confidently answer in the affirmative. What I didn’t tell him was that my father, a store planner, had also taught me architectural drafting and employed me in the summers. I worked for Fred on weekends and occasionally after class during the week. Once I disclosed my ability for drafting, I joined the two draftsmen in the upper floor of the house. My talent as a model-maker and my drafting and rendering skill far exceeded my talents as an office assistant. I sensed immediately I was entering a world of quality, beauty, and humor. On Saturdays, I would often arrive to the sound of Wagner being played at top volume, shaking the massive redwood timbers that supported the house.
In the late seventies, Lyman moved to Minnesota to start an art and architecture school and was no longer available to practice in LA. A prospective client called Lyman’s office. I was able to interview and land the job for a new house on Broad Beach Road in Malibu. I was twenty-seven at the time, a young age for my first residential house project. From then on, I had my own practice as an architectural designer with a steady flow of work.
I will be forever grateful for that fateful day in Malibu. Not only did it provide me with a springboard for a successful practice but I met my future husband, British architect Nick Roberts, in the office Lyman shared with another architect, Nick’s employer.
Contact Info:
- Address: 990 Hanley Avenue
- Website: corybuckner.com
- Phone: 310 293-1998
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: corypix
Image Credit:
John Dooley, Briand Guzman, Tom Bonner, Sunshine Divis
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
