MODERN HOMES IN LOS ANGELES

Let’s start in Pasadena, sloooowly heading west toward the Pacific Palisades.

1. Case Study House #10 was designed in 1947 by Kemper Nomland and Kemper Nomland Jr. The Nomland family lived in this house for the first 18 years—and I won’t tell you who lives in it now (She’s famous! But respect her privacy, please). Notice how its shed-style roof slopes perfectly in tandem with the level of the site. Update: This property has a new set of hedges, making it nearly impossible to see from the street. 711 S. San Rafael Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105

Then, let’s swoop down to Echo Park and Silver Lake.

2. The Ross House was designed by Raphael Soriano in 1938. Soriano began an internship with Richard Neutra in 1931 alongside Harwell Hamilton Harris and Gregory Ain, and another internship with R.M. Schindler in 1934—all names you will see on this tour. In 1937, one of Soriano’s homes was included in the Paris International Architectural Exhibition, setting the stage for this now-Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. This is a private home. 2123 Valentine St., Los Angeles CA

3. The Neutra Place Colony is a series of homes designed by Richard Neutra, tucked away on a tiny, private road. 2440 Neutra Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90039

4. The original VDL Research House was designed in 1932 by Richard Neutra, but it burned down. Neutra and his architect son, Dion, rebuilt it 1964, giving it the name Neutra VDL Residence and Studio II. This one is a historic house museum and it is open on Saturdays between 11AM-3PM. No appointments are necessary, but tours start at the top of every hour. 2300 Silver Lake Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039

5. The Thomas Residence is thought to be designed by graphic designer Alvin Lustig in 1946/47. This mystery isn’t 100% solved, but this proof will convince anyone that he was responsible for the design. This is a private home. 2638 Ivan Hill Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90039

6. This is the Orans House by Gregory Ain from 1941. This home, along with his Mar Vista Tract that you’ll visit on the last leg of this marathon, will easily convert anyone into an Ain admirer. This residence is private. 2404 Micheltorena St., Los Angeles, CA 90039

7. The Walker House is an idyllic example of R.M. Schindler’s mastery of site integration and creating livable spaces by means of overlapping geometries. Remember this design as this tour continues—you’ll want to compare it to the next stop and to the King’s Road House later. For lots of unbelieveable information about the Walker House, check out owner Andrew Romano’s book, created in partnership with Apartamento Magazine. This house is private. 2100 Kenilworth Ave., Los Angeles CA 90039

8. The Kennedy Residence is a lesser-known LA gem, built by Edward Richard Lind in 1938. Lind was one of Schindler’s draftsmen; he even drew the plans for the Walker House! After learning this, can you see the similarities between the Walker House and this Kennedy Residence? Please respect the privacy of this home. 822 N. Alexandria Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90029

It’d be nice to take a stretch break now. OR! You can do my favorite mind-resetting activity: get an iced drink from Go Get ‘Em Tiger on Hollywood Blvd. on your way to the next stop. There’s plenty of green space to sit in where we’re headed—and a panoramic view of the city for as far as the smog allows you to see!

Now, for a quick sprint to Los Feliz.

9. The Hollyhock House, built from 1919-21, began as a part of a large-scale complex including a series of art and theatre buildings and a personal home for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall. She commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright for the project, but they didn’t seem to get along too well. Did anyone get along superbly with Wright? Schindler and Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, Lloyd Wright, served as assistants on this project. The Hollyhock House is a public museum with docent-chaperoned tours available between Thursday-Sunday. 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

10. The Lovell Health House was built in 1928 by Richard Neutra for a naturopathic physician who was studying the effects of sunlight on the human body and mind. Neutra designed the International Syle home with plentiful windows, sun porches, and materials for easy sanitation, creating an experiment that intertwined the health sector with the architecture sector. This house has so much glass and feels so utterly mounmental that you almost can’t tell if you’re looking at it or if it’s looking at you. Tours are available for a limited time (it just hit the market for $11.5 million) every Saturday afternoon. 4616 Dundee Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90027

11. The Ennis House is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s textile block houses and boy, does it look like the perfect fortress. Most people will recognize it from the movie Blade Runner, but for those of us (like me!) who are bad at television and movies: it was a villian’s house. I think? There are also two spectacular modern homes around the corner from it that are great to see as you’re leaving the neighborhood. This property is private. 2607 Glendower Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

“Each day his architect Richard Neutra would give a guided tour [of the Lovell Health House] at three in the afternoon. On the appointed weekends, Dundee Drive was lined bumper-to-bumper with cars, their curvaceous, beetle-like forms and wooden-spoked wheels contrasting with the sharply-angled white modern house. As the thousands of visitors poured in, their reactions were startled and confused. ‘Moon architecture!’ exclaimed someone overheard by Neutra, who was undoubtedly eavesdropping. A more accurate description would have been sun architecture.”

— “Sun Seekers: The Cure of California” by Lyra Kilston

Here’s when the tour gets a little more spread out. Say hello to Hollywood and Westwood.

12-13. This pair of houses, the Ruby R. Levitt Residence and the Mrs. Francis Nelson House, were designed by Greta Magnusson Grossman in 1954. She was most well-known for modern furniture (you’ve probably seen one of her lighting designs), but in my opinion, her strongest suit was architecture. She built a scattering of modern homes throughout the Los Angeles hills between 1943 and 1966—most of which have a similar ethos to the Case Study Program houses. While a majority of her homes have been altered/upgraded, and some downright annihilated and ripped from the ground (it’s hard to survive in Bel Air if you’re not a McMansion), these two are standing proudly. These are private homes. 3510 N. Knoll Dr. and 3056 Lake Hollywood Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90068

14. The Malin Residence, affectionately known as the Chemosphere, by John Lautner should come with a warning: YOU ARE NOW ENTERING SPACE! You can’t get very close to the house itself, but its UFO-shaped body hovers above the street enough to get a stunning glance at it. A bonus? The owners also have a very rare Futuro House visibly homed on the property. Just when I thought they couldn’t be more lucky for owning the Chemosphere! This is a private property. 7776 Torreyson Dr., Los Angeles, CA 9004

15. The Fitzpatrick-Leland House was designed by R.M. Schindler in 1936. It’s owned by the MAK Center for Architecture and you can request a special viewing if you wish to see its insides. 8078 Woodrow Wilson Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90046

16. The Bailey House, or Case Study House #21 was one of two CSH designs by Pierre Koenig. It’s a single-story jewel box, held together by steel beams and hosted on a plot of desert landscaping. If you can’t get a reservation to the Stahl House (our next destination), this road has a completely unobstructed view of the house from the street. Again, please be mindful of the privacy of its owners—it’s made entirely of glass and there are few private areas to hide inside! 9038 Wonderland Park Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046

17. The Stahl House, made by Koenig and the Stahl family in 1960, is arguably one of the most recognizable mid-century modern homes across the globe, turned especially famous because of photographer Julius Shulman. You can tour this home, made possible by the Stahl children and some docents, with a reservation. Tickets are notoriously very tough to come by and sometimes require securing months in advance. You can’t see much of the home’s best features from the street (like most modern homes), so it’s best to be patient and book a tour for the future. 1635 Woods Dr., West Hollywood, CA 90069

18. The King’s Road House was one of LA’s earliest modern residences. It was built in 1922 as a dual home for two couples to share; each of which had their own private quarters, studios, and sun sleeping porches, but shared a common living and kitchen space. R.M. Schindler designed this home. At one point, he and his wife Pauline shared it with Richard Neutra, his wife Dione and their son for a few years before the Neutra and Schindler relationship grew strained. You can visit the property between Wednesday-Sunday, 11AM-6PM. 833 N. Kings Rd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

19. It’d be best to skip driving to this house if you do not have a tour—and tours are rare! The Sheats-Goldstein Residence is a Lautner highlight, completed in 1963. Current owner Jim Goldstein occasionally allows tours and has graciously donated the house and grounds to LACMA to make it more publically accessible after his passing. Despite the sometimes-public nature of this house, this home is absolutely private and you can’t see any of it from the street. Maybe you’ll be invited to a party at Club James—his exclusive underground nightclub built near his tennis courts. 10110 Angelo View Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210

20. The Strathmore Apartments now live among fraternity houses near UCLA, but when the 8-unit complex was built in 1937 by Richard Neutra, that wasn’t the case! This was Charles and Ray Eames’s home when they first moved to Los Angeles in 1941. They lived in one unit for a few months and a second unit for almost 8 years before building and moving into the Eames House. Many other noteable people lived in the building during the mid-century era—like Orson Welles. The Eameses praised Neutra in a letter for creating a place that served as a blank canvas for the varied styles and utilities of its residents’ lives. This is the private residence of a very kind group of people. 11090 Strathmore Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90024

21. Eighteen years after the Hollyhock House commission, Frank Lloyd Wright designed the George Sturges House (1939) in his now-well-known Usonian style. Gone were the textile blocks of his earlier period, and instead, FLW employed concrete alongside brick and redwood to create a floating masterpiece. Guess who Wright hired to help oversee construction? A young Mr. John Lautner, who at the time had just finished a fellowship at Taliesin. Crazy enough, the land was purchased for this project for $10 and construction costs added up to $11,000. This is a private residence. 449 N. Skyewiay Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90049

And finally—to the west-most part of the west side. Ending with a modernist cherry-on-top: the Eames House.

22. Gregory Ain’s Mar Vista Tract is a collection of homes (52 of the 100 planned were actually built!) that promoted Ain’s idea of showing the masses how to live with good, modernist design for a lower cost. It’s heart-warming to drive up around this small block and to know that his vision was successful enough to survive the years. Imagine if all suburbs were built to look and function in this way! These homes, although a sub-community, are all private. 3533 Moore St., Los Angeles, CA 90066

23. The Kappe Residence was designed by Ray Kappe for himself and his family in 1967, although you can barely notice its 55-year age thanks to its seemingly timeless materials. Kappe described it as being a “very measured house…but at the same time, it gives a feeling of openness and freedom.” This is a private home, as are the other completely spectacular properties up and down this road. Linger a little longer over here. 715 Brooktree Rd., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

24. John Entenza, editor of Arts & Architecture magazine during the mid-century period, and founder of the Case Study Program, lived in this house by Harwell Hamilton Harris. In our next location, you’ll see where he lived afterward! This is a private residence. 475 Mesa Rd., Santa Monica, CA

25-27. This cluster of homes shares a driveway and shares another special uniting force: they are all Case Study Houses. The Entenza House (CSH#9) by Eero Sarrinen and Charles Eames, the Bailey House (CSH#20) by Richard Neutra, and the West House (CSH#18) by Rodney Walker, were built on John Entenza’s original 5-acre parcel of land that he bought for the culmination of the Case Study House program. Entenza’s house received 1.5-acres, the Eames House received 1.4-acres, and the rest of the land was divided between the remaining homes. Also on the shared driveway is another Neutra house, originally intended to be a Case Study House before it was removed from the program. All of these houses are private. Please do not disturb them and please don’t drive up the private driveway. 205, 219, and 199 Chautauqua Blvd., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

28. Sharing a driveway and site with the previous group of homes is the Eames House. It’s the most tucked away of the bunch, but lucky for you, you can visit it with a scheduled appointment. Charles and Ray moved in on Christmas Eve in 1949 after 10 months of construction and never left. He spent 29 years there, while she spent 39. The Eames Foundation staff and docents are happy to tell you endless stories about the Eameses and their home. Please, no trespassing during off-hours, and again, reservations are required! 203 Chautauqua Blvd., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272