Conrad Buff III

Buff, Straub and Hensman is an architectural firm. The office has won more than 30 awards for house designs from the American Institute of Architects. The firm was known as Buff and Hensmen when Cal Straub moved to Arizona and later Buff, Smith and Hensman when Dennis Smith bought the practice after Don Hensman's retirement.

The partnership, originally Buff, Straub, and Hensman, consisted of Conrad Buff III, Calvin Straub, and Donald (Don) Hensman, all of whom were American Institute of Architects (AIA) licensed architects. l

Conrad Buff III FAIA (August 5, 1926 - 1989) was born in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, to the creators of children's books Mary and Conrad Buff. His father Conrad Buff II was also a painter of the American southwest. Family acquaintances included Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler and opera singer Lawrence Tibbett; redesigning the Buff II garage was one of Neutra's first architectural commissions. Buff III attended local Eagle Rocks school. He graduated from U.S.C. School of Architecture in 1952. For ten years Buff was a faculty member of USC contributing design curriculum. Conrad served in the Navy in World War II at a base in Maryland, which was where he met his wife Elizabeth (Libby), a skipper's yeoman in the WAVES; film editor Conrad Buff IV is their son. After the War, Conrad decided to enroll at USC School of Architecture, where he met Donald Hensman, who had also returned from the War.

Donald C. Hensman FAIA (1924, Omaha, Nebraska - 2002) grew up in Hollywood, California. He served in the navy during World War II, as a parachute rigger in the South Pacific, and entered the USC architecture program by way of the GI Bill. It was at USC that Hensman met Conrad Buff. But prior to their collaboration with Straub, Buff and Hensman were designers of tract homes for a number of regional developers. He returned to teach architecture at his alma mater, USC from 1952 to 1963. He was eventually made assistant professor within USC’s design curriculum and was chairman of the joint USC/American Institute of Architects education committee. Hensman remained active in the Pasadena architectural community until his death in 2002.

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