JR Davidson

[1] Davidson was part of a group of Jewish architects who sought refuge in Los Angeles after having to flee Europe due to persecution inflicted by the Nazis including the Holocaust.

This group included Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Kem Weber, and Paul László who furthered modern architecture in Los Angeles in the 1930s and 40s.

[3][4] Writer Thomas Mann, who had an aversion to glass-box styles, selected Davidson as the architect of his Pacific Palisades home for his moderate modernism.

[6][7][8] After spending several years in London working for the office of Frank Stewart Murray and in Paris, JR Davidson married Greta Wollstein in 1914.

In the announcement for the Case Study House Program, Arts & Architecture magazine recognized Davidson's work as the first modern designs for stores, restaurants, offices, and single and multiple residential units in Los Angeles and Chicago.