Eames House Threatened by Palisades Fire

A good deal of my day yesterday was spent looking at live coverage of the wildfires spreading around Los Angeles, the largest of them being the Palisades Fire, named for the residential neighborhood at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains. I occasionally refreshed online maps showing the extents of the fires and the evacuation zones, hoping for the best for the area's residents, obviously, but also taking solace in indications that the neighborhood's most famous architectural work — the Case Study House #8, better known as simply the Eames House — was safe from the fire, even as it sat within the footprint of the mandatory evacuation zone. That changed when I woke up this morning and saw the footprint now literally on the house's doorstep:

An Instagram post from the Eames Foundation on Wednesday morning indicates the house was unharmed and the Foundation took precautions to protect the site, removing a small number of objects from the house before evacuating. But concerns over the welfare of the house — and there are many, based on the numerous headlines focused on it and other architectural marvels in the area — single out the eucalyptus trees that surround the house, since their bark and oils make them vulnerable to fire.

While the exact situation at the Eames House property is not clear right now, this story is obviously ongoing and we will update throughout the day as news of the Palisades Fire, the Eames House, and other works of architecture in the area become available to us.