In the third volume of the Master Architects of Southern California series, Wallace Neff, the authors focus on one of the most admired and influential residential architects to ever practice in Southern California.

In a remarkable career that spanned over six decades, Wallace Neff produced hundreds of exceptional designs that ranged from vernacular styles to grand mansions, reaching from Bel-Air to Santa Barbara to Hollywood and Hancock Park, with a proliferation of homes in the Pasadena area. Neff's ability to work in a variety of styles that ranged from Spanish Colonial Revival to French Normandy with equal grace made him a favourite with those seeking the very best. His client list with names like Doheny, Pickford, Gillette, and Marx- reads like a 'Who's Who' of the most important and influential figures of the era. Additionally, Neff was known for his 'Bubble Houses' which he described as "a revolutionary method providing for low-cost, labor-saving process of extremely rapid construction of permanent houses and buildings."
Yet Wallace Neff became known as an 'architect to the stars,' a much sought-after designer for the elite of Hollywood with a stellar array of commissions from such legends of classic cinema as Claudette Colbert, Charlie Chaplin, Frederick March, Fred Thomson and Frances Marion, King Vidor, Darryl Zanuck, Alan Ladd, and Cary Grant. Other celebrity residents of Neff-designed homes have included Betty Grable, Diane Keaton, Jennifer Aniston, and Madonna.