Charles Eames was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 17th 1907, to what he eventually would describe as a ‘super middle class family’. His father passed away in 1921, meaning Charles, along with his sister and mother, were forced to move in with relatives. The family were unable to live on Charles’s mother’s Civil war widowers pension of $30 a month, and so he began working to provide food for the family. At the age of 14 he attended Yeatman High School, whilst also working as a laborer at a steel company. It was here that he discovered engineering, drawing, and architecture, the things that would define his entire professional life. In High School Charles was head and shoulders above his peers; he was captain of the football team, president of his senior class, a track star and voted as most likely to succeed.
A man with ideals, courage to stand up for them and ability to live up to them.
- Charles’s yearbook 1925
After finishing his high school years Charles went on to study at Washington University in St. Louis, which he attended on an architectural scholarship. He continued his high school success and was elected president of his freshman class. His yearbook comment become true during his time at Washington university as he found himself in disagreement with the curriculum: he found it too restrictive for his modern views. He was fascinated by Frank LLoyd Wright and believed his work was an essential part of any architectural curriculum. He was persistent in attempting to introduce the work of Frank LLoyd Wright into the Architectural course, but this later saw him dismissed from the University.
Whilst still attending Washington University Charles met his first wife, Catherine Dewey Woermann, who was the first women to be accepted on the University's graduate architectural programme. On June 7th, 1929 Charles and Catherine got married. They enjoyed their European honeymoon soon after and studied the classical architecture of England, France and Germany, and also took time to study the modernist works of Walter Gropius, Mies Van Der Rohe and Le Corbusier.
At the early age of 23 Charles started his own architectural office with partners Charles Grey and Later Walter Pauley. The firm took all the work it could get, which was mostly small and basic projects, none of which igniting Charles’s creative spark. In October, 1930 he became father to his only child, Lucia Dewey Eames. Unfortunately he struggled to provide for his family, and he made the decision to leave his wife and child safely with her parents before leaving for Mexico with only 75 cents in his pocket. It was there that Charles learnt how very little one needs to survive. He absorbed the culture around him and traded watercolour paintings for food. He returned home refreshed and started his second architectural company, with close friend Robert Walsh. Together they designed several buildings including the Dean House, the Meyer House, the Dinsmoor House and two churches in Arkansas. The St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Helena, his first large commission, was what kick-started Charles’ career. The project was published in Architectural Forum, where it caught the attention of Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (the director of Cranbrook Academy of Art). When Charles received the commission for the Meyer House he discussed it with Saarinen. During the build he traveled to Cranbrook, and Saarinen offered Eames a fellowship to Cranbrook, which he accepted, and his first semester began in 1938.
It was during his time teaching at Cranbrook that Charles met his second wife, the woman who would become other half of a husband and wife team that would shake the world of design.
Click here for the second instalment in this 3 part series on the Eameses — Ray Eames: Life before Charles
I’m James Broad, a lover of all things vintage and Co-founder of Intique, a marketplace with personality selling vintage and antique furniture with character.
