Harry Harmer Gesner was an American architect from California.
26 Facts About Harry Gesner
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Harry Gesner worked with difficult sites, often steeply sloping, on beaches, or in narrow canyons, using primarily natural materials.
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Harry Gesner dated another future actress, Nan Martin, who would become his fourth wife.
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Harry Gesner enlisted in the US Army at age 17, and because he was an accomplished skier, he was assigned to Camp Hale in Colorado as a ski instructor for the 10th Mountain Division.
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Harry Gesner transferred to the Army Air Corps, but was reassigned to the infantry and joined the 1st Infantry Division as a replacement.
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An experienced California surfer, Harry Gesner used his experience in surf to evade enemy fire.
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Harry Gesner was detailed as a scout, and was hit at the outskirts of Cologne by close German tank fire.
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Harry Gesner lay injured in freezing weather overnight, later developing gangrene, and narrowly escaping the amputation of both legs.
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On his return to the United States, Harry Gesner stayed in the New York area for six months.
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Harry Gesner audited an architecture class at Yale University, whose visiting lecturer was Frank Lloyd Wright.
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Wright offered him a place at his Taliesin West school, but Harry Gesner did not pursue it, going instead to Ecuador to look for pre-Columbian artifacts.
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Harry Gesner was hired by his uncle Bert Harmer to work with builders on three Harmer projects at Lake Arrowhead, gaining architectural and construction experience.
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Harry Gesner became a favorite architect for bachelor male clients who wanted exotic-looking designs.
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Harry Gesner initially lived in Santa Monica in an apartment at his parents' house, in 1946 designing them a new adobe home in Tarzana that was built in 1950, the same year he designed an adobe house for his newly-divorced aunt Inez Northrop in Santa Barbara.
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Harry Gesner proposed the ambitious design for a difficult site above these apartments, which could only be reached by a funicular.
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In 1957 Harry Gesner was introduced to recently-divorced swimwear manufacturer Fred Cole, who had bought a difficult site overlooking Hollywood and the Los Angeles basin.
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In 1956 Harry Gesner was contacted by friends from his post-war time at Lake Arrowhead, Glenn and Gerry Cooper.
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Harry Gesner designed the house to extend into the surf at high tide.
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Harry Gesner designed several additional speculative houses for the client, Ronald Buck, developing what Harry Gesner called the W house.
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Shortly after these commissions, the now-divorced Harry Gesner pursued a newly-divorced friend, Pat Alexander, and they were married by 1962.
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Harry Gesner continued to design houses on challenging and spectacular sites into the 1980s.
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Harry Gesner's practice was primarily in custom single-family residences, typically for clients who wanted a striking design that did not conform with prevailing styles.
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Harry Gesner was the widower of his fourth wife, the actress, Nan Martin.
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Harry Gesner had three children: Tara Tanzer-Cartwright, Jason Gesner, and Zen Gesner.
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Harry Gesner was a nephew of the aircraft designer Jack Northrop.
26.
Harry Gesner died from cancer at his home, the Sandcastle, in Malibu on June 10,2022, at the age of 97.