American modernist architect based in Los Angeles whose career spanned the early 1950s through the mid-1970s. Although untrained as an architect, Ellwood fashioned a persona and career through equal parts of a talent for good design, self-promotion and ambition. He was recognized professionally for fusing of the formalism of Mies van der Rohe with the informal style of California modernism.
He established ‘Craig Ellwood Design’ in 1951. Early projects included Case Study House 16 in 1952. In the mid-1970s, he designed several notable projects, including the master plan for the Rand Corporation’s headquarters in Santa Monica, California, a number of Xerox and IBM offices, and the trademark “bridge building” dramatically spanning an arroyo and a roadway at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
The practice closed in 1977 and Ellwood retired to Italy to focus on painting and on restoring a farm house near Ambra.
Elwood’s first wife was Faith Irene Walker, known as “Bobbie”. In 1949 he married actress Gloria Henry. They had three children, including designer Erin Elwood, and divorced in 1977. He then married Anita Eubank and moved to Pergine Valdarno, Italy. After divorcing Eubank, he and his fourth wife, Leslie Hyland Ellwood, had a daughter. Ellwood died on 30 May 1992 in Pergine Valdarno at age 70.
Link to Wikipedia biography