Henry and Charles Greene’s Blacker House is a residential work of art wrought with wood, brick and iron – and their prelude to the Gamble House.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 6, 1986

When you walk down Hillcrest Ave. and the Blacker House first enters your line of sight, something feels off. Like you shouldn’t be allowed to observe a building this beautiful without paying for it. There it is, a 115-year-old architectural masterpiece, just sitting there for greedy eyes to gander at for eternity. No fence around the property, no thicket of trees obscuring the facade, no mechanical gate blocking the driveway. Bel Air and the Hollywood Hills often hide their treasure troves of awe-inspiring houses. Here in the impossibly posh Oak Knoll, just west of Huntington Gardens, the Blacker House anchors and defines the neighborhood, ready and willing to be seen. 

When architect brothers Greene & Greene built the house in 1907 for lumber magnate Robert R. Blacker and his wife Nellie, they thought a lot about what it would be like to live in it. The Gamble House website has an excellent essay about how the Greenes carefully calibrated the proportions, materials, colors and design of each room and its furnishings to create a unified, “self-contained environment.” They designed all their own furniture, lighting, windows, mirrors, cabinetry…even the keys to the closets were custom. A true Wagnerian gesamtkunstwerk. With no tours on the horizon, the interior shots of Dr. Brown’s house in Back to the Future may be the closest we ever get to seeing the inside.

Even without the benefit of an inside tour, this house offers much to marvel at. The way that the dark horizontal beams poke out of the house, like an architectural sketch come to life. The way that the carport slices through the house’s symmetrical shape at a violent diagonal. The way that wood and masonry, metal and glass unite and intertwine.

The story of the Blacker House’s later years is a sadly common one of neglect and resurrection. After its original owners died without leaving an heir, the estate representative sold the home independent of its furnishings. The new owner subdivided the estate, selling off the garage and caretaker’s cottage to different buyers; many of the home’s unique furnishings were sold off, piece by piece, to museums and private buyers. In the ‘80s, a Texan cattleman bought it for $1.2 million, never lived in it, and sold off many of its custom stained-glass windows and light fixtures. A single dining chair sold at Sotheby’s for more than the house itself cost to build. Here’s a single lantern that fetched $287,500.

Fortunately the home’s current owners have worked to restore the Blacker to its former glory. They’ve worked closely with Greene & Greene experts to recreate the pieces that were lost to private collectors. Plus, they actually live there.

Recommended Reading

+Blacker House @ NRHP website

+Brief Blacker House history @ Gamblehouse.org

+Cabinet makers James & Jack Ipekjian talk about their involvement with the Blacker House’s restoration

+Watch a woodworker re-create Greene & Greene’s famous dining chair from the Blacker House

+Read a 2004 story about the Blacker House’s restoration (LA Times)