apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've toured this house before its just stunning. The kitchen redo in that picture is not so bad, glad to see they did not gussy it up with granite and complicated cabinets/hardware.

Is it just me or do the current owners have just awful taste in sofas?

And the price is?

So much of what Wright did was done badly later on my others (like these blocks, for instance). I find it difficult to drop that association when I look at these photos. The home is attractive, but comes off as rather cold and aloof. His prairie was more human.

(It's funny seeing that shiny monster Viking range in the plain-Jane kitchen. I wonder what Wright would have thought. I suppose he thought the kitchen was where the help spent their time. Or the wives. Not worth his consideration.)

I am surprised that the kitchen is so petite. The home seems ginormous and the kitchen feels small by comparison. Maybe it's just the camera lens, but the prep area looks smaller than the surface area of the stove.

Love all the persian rugs as a foil to the stone. Feels very medieval Moorish.

madsarah, i was thinking the same thing!

Woah, intense.

Remember, this place was built in the 1920's so kitchens like what you see were quilte common and he may have used something like an Agfa stove originally.

It's a nice residence, but not one of my favorites of his. His prairie homes were more my thing.

And in a book I have on his architure, I found out he built a house or two in or around the Seattle area in the 50's.

Love the house. Not the decor.

It looks a bit like a penitentiary replete with a cell with bars on the window.

wish i had 7 million lying around to pick this up....

The owners don't have a clue how to furnish this place - and I suspect that most potential buyers won't either.

"I am surprised that the kitchen is so petite. The home seems ginormous and the kitchen feels small by comparison."

When this house was new in the early 20th Century, kitchens were backstage/workspaces for a maid/cook - not a showplace/living space for a 21st century family.

Wonderful- Wright is my all time favorite.

I doubt the owners are actually living there since it is for sale. Looks like a staged job minus the big vase of bamboo in the corner.

Listed under my former agent when I lived in LA-
http://www.architectureforsale.com/address.php?property_ID=752

does anyone know when this house is ever up for a tour to the public? since I can't even pretend to be able to afford a $7 mil house there's no way I can pose as a potential client! =)

yes, probably staging... which is designed to be as "populist" as possible, probably doesn't reflect the style of the owners at all.

Interesting that some of you don't like the sofa. It looks like a Christian Liagre sofa to me and is probably in the $20,000 to $40,000 range depending on the fabric. Sometimes the things the rich have don't look special to the untrained eye but those who know quality can tell the difference.

"Interesting that some of you don't like the sofa. It looks like a Christian Liagre sofa to me and is probably in the $20,000 to $40,000 range depending on the fabric..."

Give me a break - It's a plain little slipcovered Tuxedo-style loveseat. Whether it's label says Christian Liagre, Mitchell Gold, Cisco or 70's-vintage Rose Bowl Fleamarket w/ a Surefit Slipcover, it's neither appropriately scaled nor bold enough for that space.

"the secret architectural gems of our landscape"

This place isn't much of a secret--maybe if you're new to LA and fresh out of undergrad.

And look--there was a tour just about a year ago!
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/look-frank-lloyd-wrights-la-minatura-041732

Palmetto: to be fair, there are plenty of people who don't know there are Lloyd Wright homes here in LA. I happen to live where I get to pass by one regularly on the way to the park or market, but whenever I point it out to friends, they're pleasantly amazed and surprised. I commend you for already knowing this, but I think it would be safe to say you're probably very design literate compared to the general public. Not everyone is an architecture or design graduate, so I think it's good when we share something as special as the historical with people who've yet to be exposed to our city's past and present.

Note: "we precious few who understand" stance ;)

lovelyrita if you live in LA join

The Los Angeles Conservancy has tours, get on their mailing list or better yet join. When I lived in LA I saw some amazing architectural homes. I believe when I toured this home was through them or my school can't remember.

http://www.laconservancy.org/

Also, the AIA chapter does tours and USC Architectural school as well.

LoriSF: great advice. Also, CA Boom, Dwell on Design and other events often give access to architectural gems throughout Los Angeles. The LA Conservancy is definitely worth signing up for if you're interested in architecture and the history of our city; I especially love their historic LA Downtown tours and Last Remaining Seats movie events.

One very affordable tour I recommend is the Neutra VDL Research House in Silver Lake. It might be my favourite home in Los Angeles, thanks to it's design and history.

Um, "...textile block building system...?" Blocks made of woven fabrics certainly would be unstable, long-term or short. Does Gregory perhaps mean to say "tactile?" Not trying to be pedantic, but the use of the wrong word here makes it unclear what is being said.

my eye is trained just fine!.......

amed: sorry, I should have clarified or linked to that possibly confusing label.

“The textile block method of construction consisted of stacking concrete blocks three inches thick, cast in molds, next to and atop one another without visible mortar joints. In all but the Millard House, thin concrete and steel reinforcing rods were run horizontally and vertically in edge reveals 'knitting' the whole together. A double wythe was common, held together by steel cross ties, the cavity air space serving as insulation.” - William Allin Storrer. The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Complete Catalog

via Ennis House.org

Just to clarify, there are TWO ugly sofas, not just one.

Haruki, I'm glad your eye is so well-trained that you can see beauty where others cannot. I'm sorry, but for the price of something I could drive, a sofa had better be more interesting than something that looks like it came out of a 1988 "Parade of Homes" residence.

I agree with peachpie, this reminds me of a prison. Especially the bedroom. I am sure it has an interesting feel when you are inside, but in photography it looks very institutional.

I always think 'monastic' when I see pictures of this house.

Even when it has been decked out with lame furniture.

i could be wrong, but perhaps the house has been staged? besides, you should be looking at the architecture, not the furnishings.....unless you were looking at furnishings that Wright himself had designed specifically for the house.

I must say to to those of you who don't like the house, you probably think that throwing paint on a canvas would create the same art as Jackson Pollack.

Rachel2,

I'm the one that opened the can of worms about the furniture. And I agree with you and previous posters that it was probably staged.

Your comment does raise a good point, though--without seeing how FLW had the house furnished originally, and without really wonderful and appropriate furniture in there now (whether the owners' or staged) it's hard for many people to imagine what life would actually be like there. Fairly evaluating residential architecture means assessing how it works as a place to live, not just how it looks--a very Wrightian concept!

this is a blog....comments are only comments.....

the sofa is ugly and doesn't fit the space....the house is an architectural treasure - i get it......

Looks like something out of Star Wars. Where's Jabba?