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ment to modern architecture but rather an attempt to adapt to the then contemporary
architecture paired with a practical spatial arrangement based on the living habits whe-
reas, indoors, while, inside, the living ideals of the home country were conserved.

Conversion into cluster apartments

Not much of all this remains visible today. Thus the garden façade was equipped with
ceiling-high windows and a second pergola installed above the ground floor while the
one on the entrance side was removed. The terrace was extended, the living room enlar-
ged towards the garden and the side rooms on the ground floor were changed. On the
upper floor, the layout above all in Thomas and Katja Mann’s rooms was altered, similar
to the conversion by the Lappen family after the sale of the house in 1952. Today, the
house looks more radical and modern on the outside than it had actually ever been;
inside, it is modern since the interiors had anyway been renovated in the course of the
years anyway and did no longer correspond to the original state. The ghost of Thomas
Mann appears as a hand print on the door to his former study. But it was probably the
hand of a workman who reinstalled the plywood door after the conversion again and not Original-Grundriss Erdgeschoss, 1942 • Original layout ground floor, 1942
that of the house owner himself. The study and the library have to a large extent been
originally preserved and represent the genius loci of the house, together with the kitchen
with a sideboard now turned into an eat-in kitchen whose original coat of paint in yellow
and light blue has been restored. This is where the actual life of the scholars appears to
take place whereas the living room is also used for smaller events. With new furniture in
the style of Californian mid-century design, the interior now looks too tidy to be a real
place for working and thinking.

Scheduling and financial challenges

The problems with the conversion resulted above all from the Californian construction.
Thus the timber construction was damaged by termites and, after 76 years, the house
had to be brought up to the latest standards as regards technology and energy consump-
tion. Despite the intervention on the part of the Monument Protection Authorities – volun-
tarily declaring their willingness to have an expertise carried out – and by various archi-
tects in their attempt to restore the house true to the original, the building was completely
gutted and only the timber construction remained. A new house corresponding to
modern ideas of living originated. What was lost was not reconstructed by the German
H25 architects but revived with today’s knowledge and architectural standards as well as
with new functions and is thus not preserved as a monument. The conversion has to be
seen in this sense. The “comfy” version of modernism was turned into progressive “com-
munity” living, a cluster apartment. Original-Grundriss Obergeschoss, 1942 • Original layout upper floor, 1942

Ansicht aus der Zeit, als „Seven Palms“ in den Jahren 1942 bis 1952 von der Familie Mann bewohnt wurde. • View from the time when “Seven Palms” where the Mann family lived in the years 1942 to 1952. Hist. Bilder: Julius Ralph Davidson papers, Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC, Santa Barbara

AIT 3.2019 • 057