Architecture

Corbetta 'Parasol' Home - 1960

Louis Corbetta with Harry Powers
12500 Corbetta Lane – Los Altos – CA – USA

In 1960 Louis Corbetta, assisted by the artist Harry Powers, built for himself a circular structure on top of a single column, covered by a scalloped parasol. This first structure was especially designed as a party house to entertain guests, in Corbetta's words: “to evoke the exuberance of a largely outdoor life”. Three years later two identical structures were added to complete the nine-room house, which is surrounded by a man-made lake. Initially Corbetta, a retired cement contractor, wanted to surround the floor plan with perforated concrete blocks, but Powers encouraged Corbetta to use floor-to-ceiling glass panels instead.

Unfortunately the house was renovated in 1998 in Italian Tuscany Style and has since been totally unrecognisable.



Sources:
LIFE, Special Issue: The Call of California”, October 19, 1962
TIME Inc, Chicago, 1962
LIFE Magazine