May / Wright

Cliff May / C.E. Chaote chairs at the Frank Lloyd Wright Buehler House in Orinda

Source: Sunset, 1950

Buehler House in 2011. The coy pond is great, but not original. Strange, because it actually looks more original than the

swimming pool in 1950.

The Usonian house was built in 1948 and has been partially rebuilt after a 1994 fire.

It's been up for sale since 2011. The price has dropped from $4.95M to $3.35M. Scoop it up, here.

Now back to those Cliff May and C.E. Chaote chairs. I'm not sure how this played out but there are a few patents for

these chairs. Some list May as the designer; another lists Choate and May; and this one just lists Choate.

When I first came across them, May was listed as the investor. What I do know is they're super cool. The table shown

above swivels and can even detach from the chair when not in use.

Here is a pair in the courtyard of a Cliff May designed house. Coincidentally, the only time I've seen one of them in person

was at a Cliff May house that belongs to my friend Jay. He has a set with the original table attachments. His house also

has one of these cool fire pits.

Do you know what Cliff May was doing before he was building ranch homes?

Photo: Julius Shulman

Yep, a band guy in San Diego. This was at the Hotel del Coronado in 1927.

Read the full story about May's San Diego roots in this article:

And even more at Modern San Diego

Esoteric Survey