Just beyond the original city grid, the then-new firm created the garden suburb of Laurel Park as an organic free-flowing extension of the Arroyo Colorado. It was here that John G. York, the firm's designer, initiated a series of inventive domestic designs that served as precursors for later commercial and institutional commissions( CC26).
The John W. McKelvey House (1949) 1909 S. Parkwood Street, constructed for the subdivision's developer, is an early design where York used his signature lightweight structural system of steel pipe columns and composite wood beams to create an open plan; to provide floor-to-ceiling expanses of glass; and to float the roof structure beyond the interior as part of large cantilevered eaves. At 1019 E. Parkwood Street, California-born Alan Y. Taniguchi built the George Willeford House (1957). The expansive low-pitched roof, with projecting clerestories to the rear, hovers over wood-clad exterior walls and glass planes appropriately hidden by dense vegetation—the perfect setting for such a house.