Midcentury surprise

ALTHOUGH Brooke Anderson was brought up in a modern milieu, she credits her famous "Grams," actress Gloria Swanson, for imbuing her with a love for the traditional. As a young woman, Anderson frequently visited her grandmother's stylish apartment on Fifth Avenue across from Central Park. "It was formal but very comfortable, and filled with beautiful antiques with tons of books everywhere," Anderson recalls, adding that her grandmother always wanted to be an opera singer. "She had a baby grand piano in the living room where she would play and sing."

Today that green baby grand has a place of honor in Anderson's new Los Angeles home, a 1938 classic designed by Gregory Ain. Even though she fancies traditional, Anderson is also an ardent fan of modern architecture. The former gerontologist turned writer grew up in a 1950 redwood, steel and glass Bel-Air home designed by Los Angeles architects John Rex and Douglas Honnold and landscaped by Garrett Eckbo. The state-of-the-art residence, published in Arts & Architecture magazine's June 1956 issue, featured built-in furnishings, radiant floor heat and stainless-steel cabinets.

"I loved the sense of proportion and light in my parents' home. It was beautiful but cold," Anderson says. "I knew that if I was fortunate to have a modern home one day, I would fill it with friendly furnishings. I love modern architecture, but I love my comfort too."

Ain, a second-generation modernist architect, created Anderson's split-level home for pharmacist A.O. Beckman and his wife and two daughters. According to Anthony Denzer, assistant professor of architectural engineering at the University of Wyoming and author of "Gregory Ain: The Modern Home as Social Commentary," to be published by Rizzoli next month, "it was not typical of Ain's pre-war houses."

Ain is perhaps best known for bringing cost-efficient, modern homes to the working classes. He is also often credited as being one of the first architects to design a house that did not contemplate servants. He did, however, include a maid's quarters in the more upscale Beckman home.

From the front door, Ain created direct access to the functional realms of the home -- zones for sleeping, leisure and work. He placed the maid's quarters in the work realm next to the kitchen and laundry room. An office with its own entrance faces the street in the front wing of the house; children's bedrooms are down the hall. The dining room and kitchen, along with a glass-enclosed living room and upstairs private master bedroom, overlook the backyard.