Tag Archives: Iconic Architecture

Hollyhock House at Night

Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier

Viewing the Hollyhock House at Night was a rare opportunity, and I for one wasn’t going to miss it.

On February 13th, 2015, after a four year restoration at a cost of $4.5 million, Frank Lloyd Wrights iconic home in Barnsdall Park reopened to the public. In the spirit of giving back to the community, the nominal entry fee of $7 was waived, and the home was open to the public complimentary for a full 24-hour period. And best of all, photos were allowed! This is what kept running through my mind as I stood in line… for three, yes three very long hours. Otherwise I would have gladly come back at another time. Yes, I have photos from an earlier visit to the home in 2005, but it’s never open during the night. Wisely, there was a Girl Scout with her wagon of cookies working the extensive lines wrapping around the estate. I think her box of Do-si-dos saved my life, or the lives of those around me… low blood sugar is never my friend.

Built in 1921 for Bohemian oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, this 11-acre site known as Barnsdall Park, sits on a hill overlooking Hollywood with spectacular city views. The first of several Mayan concrete block structures created by Wright in Los Angeles, this home was inspired by Ms. Barnsdall’s love of hollyhock flowers. I’ll admit I didn’t know what a hollyhock flower actually looked like until now, so here it is.

Hollyhock Flower, Image courtesy Photography-blog.blogspot.com
Hollyhock Flower, Image courtesy Photography-blog.blogspot.com

You can see how the vertical spine of the flower inspired Wright’s concrete panel below, which is seen throughout the home. It appears that the lush color of the flower also influenced the color palette for both the Library and the Dining Room. And take a closer look at the chairs in the dining room. You’ll see that geometrized floral pattern appearing there as well.

Hollyhock Panel from Hollyhock Home, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock Panel from Hollyhock Home, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier

The exterior Colonnade below is another version of the Hollyhock panel stretched out, offering structural support for the roof. This is such a perfect example of utilizing a design motif in multiple ways, thus creating the visual rhythm for the space. All it takes in money, and lots of it. Even an oil heiress can get fed up with cost overruns and fire her architect, which is exactly what happened here. It’s hard to believe Ms. Barnsdall never actually lived in the home.

Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park, Photo Romi Cortier

According to curator Jeffrey Herr, his devoted team spent countless hours returning the Hollyhock House back to its 1920’s glory, from the wall moldings to the bas-reliefs to the paint color. It seems the original forest green walls have chemicals banned by California, so they engineered a chemical formula that exactly resembled it… but safer of course. And for the golden glisten on top, they crafted a formula of mica, suspended in alcohol. According to Los Angeles Magazine, Herr hopes that viewers will walk in and go, This is great, what did they do? For him, that’s the sign of a good restoration. From my point of view, the home was impeccable. As everyone said as they left the home, it was worth the wait. And it was.

Click here for authorized Frank Lloyd Wright Reproductions. 

Click here to visit the Hollyhock House

Illuminated Modern in Palm Springs

Illuminated Modern, Palm Springs Visitor Center, Modernism Week 2015, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Palm Springs Visitor Center, Modernism Week 2015, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Modernism Week 2015, Palm Springs, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Coachella Valley Savings & Loan, Modernism Week 2015, Palm Springs, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, E. Stewart Williams Architect, Modernism Week 2015, Palm Springs, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Town Palm Springs,  Modernism Week 2015, Palm Springs, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Modernism Week 2015, Palm Springs, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Kaplan Medical Building,  Modernism Week 2015, Palm Springs, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, William F. Cody Architect, Modernism Week 2015, Palm Springs, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Gas Station,  Modernism Week 2015, Palm Springs, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Palm Springs Visitor Center, Modernism Week 2015, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Palm Springs Visitor Center, Modernism Week 2015, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Palm Springs Visitor Center, Modernism Week 2015, Photo Romi Cortier
Illuminated Modern, Palm Springs Visitor Center, Modernism Week 2015, Photo Romi Cortier

Here’s a few of my favorite shots from Illuminated Modern, during Palm Springs Modernism Week 2015. 

Now in it’s fourth year, Illuminated Modern focuses on significant modernist buildings in Palm Springs. It happens every night of Modernism Week, from February 12 -22.  It’s a free self guided tour that simply requires you to get in your car and drive along Palm Canyon Drive between sundown and midnight. Therefore, no reservations are required, that is, unless you need to borrow a car or bicycle from someone.

I have no idea who came up with this brilliant idea, but it certainly adds another level of excitement to the full array of events happening  during modernism’s 10 day extravaganza. Even though it feels a bit like Vegas, I really like it and almost wish they’d keep it lit like this year round. It would force both the tourists and locals to take note of the significant structures in town. However, that’s highly impractical. See that beautiful gas station by William F. Cody? I had to scramble through the sage brush to reach that vantage point while using the flashlight on my iphone. I don’t think of February as rattlesnake season… but who wants to take chances. That said, once I snapped my photo, it made me think of Ed Ruscha’s famous Standard Station screen print. I absolutely love how the paper thin roof nearly floats over the gas pumps, and I’d never noticed it while driving past it on the 111.

Ed Ruscha, Standard Station, 1966, Screenprint, Image Courtesy Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Ed Ruscha, Standard Station, 1966, Screenprint, Image Courtesy Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Here’s a quick run down on the architects of these buildings.

Palm Springs Visitor Center, 2901 N. Palm Canyon Dr. Albert Frey & Robson Chambers, 1963. (Photos 1, 6 & 7)

Coachella Valley Savings & Loan, 383 S. Palm Canyon Drive, E. Stewart Williams, 1956.

Towne Palm Springs, Originally The Harold Hicks – Desert Water Building, 1345 N. Palm Canyon Drive,  E. Stewart Williams, 1955/1960

Kaplan Medical Building, 1492 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Bill Krisel

Gas Station, William F. Cody, 1961 – 62.

Click here to learn more about MODERNISM WEEK 2015

John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence

John Lautner's Silvertop Residence, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner's Silvertop Residence, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner's Silvertop Residence, Bedroom Firelplace, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, Bedroom Firelplace, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner's Silvertop Residence, Bedroom Window Detail, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, Bedroom Window Detail, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner's Silvertop, Interior Atrium, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop, Interior Atrium, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner's Silvertop Residence, Entrance, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, Entrance, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner's Silvertop Residence, Lower Level Studio, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, Lower Level Studio/Guest House, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner's Silvertop Residence, Carport, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, Carport, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner's Silvertop Residence, Infinity Pool, Photo Romi Cortier
John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, Infinity Pool, Photo Romi Cortier

John Lautner’s Silvertop Residence, also known at the Reiner-Burchill Residence, has just been listed for sale. Asking price: 7.5 Million.

I visited this legendary residence during the 2008 Mak Center Tour organized in conjunction with The Hammer Museum‘s exhibit Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner.  This home was next on my list for the  blog,  so I was thrilled when I discovered via  Curbed LA that the home was now up for sale. I wondered how much had changed since I’d toured the home. Namely, were those cork ceilings still there? Interestingly enough,  the images on their web site,  aren’t much different than the ones I took 6 years earlier. Obviously they’re better quality images  than mine, with proper lighting etc. (I’m sure the hired photographer wasn’t madly jumping off a tour bus first, and climbing back on last, frantically snapping away while moving through the space ahead of the others). However, judging from what I see on their website, not much has changed, in fact, even the chairs and sofa in front of the fireplace  are the same. The cactus framing the window appears to have been replaced with a smaller one,  so as to not obstruct the magnificent view, and the gardens have been cleaned up, but for all practical purposes the home looks pretty much spot on as it did during the home tour.

Silvertop took seven years to construct, and was completed in 1963 for Kenneth Reiner (ladies hair clip baron) at a cost of  nearly $1 million, a tad over the $75,000 estimated cost.  Sadly, Reiner ran into financials problems and was forced to sell the home.  In 1974  the current owners bought the home and hired Lautner to finish the job. I’m not clear by the timeline I’ve found online if there was another owner from ’63 – ’74, or if the home sat vacant for those years.

The home’s construction was groundbreaking for many reasons: It’s concrete dome, which was a first for Lautner, the cantilevered driveway that has no support columns,  faucet-less sinks that automatically fill with water, controls for lights and appliances that were set into walls and door jambs, and lights that pivot into the ceiling.

One observation that I’ll point out, is the cylindrical use of beams in the guest house. It reminds me of Lautner’s 1950 Harvey Residence , which I’ve written about in a previous post. I’m guessing he found this system successful, which is why he used it again in this residence.  Additionally, the guest home is surrounded by that circular cantilevered driveway, thus the circular room construction makes perfect sense.  So. Those cork ceilings… they’re still there.  If Lautner were alive today, I have to wonder if he’d opt to have them removed. They do look cleaner than when I toured the home… maybe they’ve been carefully replaced. I know, I know, it’s best not to mess with such an iconic Los Angeles Jewel such as Silvertop.