Architecture

#212: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (East Hollywood) 

#212: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (East Hollywood) 

June 8, 2024
Architecture
Completed in 1921, Hollyhock House was Frank Lloyd Wright's first LA commission, and a departure from the prairie style that made him famous. This was one part of a planned theater complex for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall. And while their grand vision was never carried out, the house still stands as one of Wright's most significant buildings.
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#211: Washington Building (Culver City)

#211: Washington Building (Culver City)

June 2, 2024
Architecture
The wedge-shaped Washington Building is one of the few remaining structures from downtown Culver City's heyday in the 1920s. It was commissioned by Charles Lindblade, a real estate developer who, alongside Harry Culver, built Culver City in the 1910s through the early 1930s.
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#209: Charmont Apartments (Santa Monica) 

#209: Charmont Apartments (Santa Monica) 

May 17, 2024
Architecture
Santa Monica's Charmont Apartments were designed in a unique combination of Spanish colonial & art deco styles by Max Maltzman, one of LA's first Jewish architects. It was lovingly rehabilitated after sustaining damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
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#202-206: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 2 (Pasadena)

#202-206: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 2 (Pasadena)

April 24, 2024
Architecture
Pasadena was the birthplace of the bungalow court, a unique form of multi-family housing that flourished between 1910-1930. I visited all 30 Pasadena courts on the National Register – batch #2 includes craftsman, colonial revival, English cottage-style and a truly transportive example of a Tudor revival bungalow court.
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#201: Beverly Hills Post Office (Beverly Hills)

#201: Beverly Hills Post Office (Beverly Hills)

April 7, 2024
Architecture
For a Depression-era federal building, the Beverly Hills Post Office is an unusually opulent one, clad in Italianate masonry and terracotta with a lobby awash in marble. After serving Beverly Hillers for over 60 years it was transformed into the beloved Wallis Center for the Performing Arts in 2013.
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#200: Lloyd Wright House and Studio (West Hollywood)

#200: Lloyd Wright House and Studio (West Hollywood)

March 31, 2024
Architecture
This distinctive Mayan-inspired home is where architect Lloyd Wright lived and worked for over 50 years. It was built in 1927 during an important transitional phase that found him flourishing as an independent designer after years of collaborating with others – including his dad, Frank Lloyd Wright.
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#194-199: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 1 (Pasadena)

#194-199: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 1 (Pasadena)

March 24, 2024
Architecture
The bungalow court is a style of multi-family housing that places multiple small dwellings around a central courtyard or walkway. This style of housing flourished in LA between 1910 & 1930, especially in Pasadena, but many of them have been demolished. Here are six of the 30 remaining Pasadena courts on the National Register.
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#192: Doctors House (Glendale)

#192: Doctors House (Glendale)

March 9, 2024
Architecture
The Doctors House is a rare Victorian home in Glendale once occupied by four doctors, a silent movie star and two families of Croatian immigrants. After facing demolition, it was saved by the Glendale Historical Society and moved to Brand Park. It now operates as a house museum.
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#191: Gartz Court (Pasadena)

#191: Gartz Court (Pasadena)

March 1, 2024
Architecture
Built in 1911, Gartz Court is the second oldest bungalow court in Pasadena, and the oldest one still in its original configuration. Gartz stands apart from Pasadena's many surviving courts for its architectural pedigree, its 1/2 craftsman 1/2 Tudor style and its surprising preservation history.
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#190: Warner Grand Theatre (San Pedro)

#190: Warner Grand Theatre (San Pedro)

February 17, 2024
Architecture
The Warner Grand Theatre is a 1931 art deco neighborhood movie palace in San Pedro, designed by prolific theater designer B. Marcus Priteca. Formerly part of the Warner Bros. chain of theaters, it's now owned by the City of Los Angeles.
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#189: John Lautner’s Walstrom House (Beverly Glen)

#189: John Lautner’s Walstrom House (Beverly Glen)

January 23, 2024
Architecture
John Lautner's Walstrom House from 1969 is a deceptively simple treehouse of a home. It's just 1400 square feet and almost entirely made of wood and glass – worlds away from his big-budget concrete experiments of the '60s, more in line with his compact wood-clad homes from the '40s. But there is plenty of Lautner's spatial inventiveness here, and a sculptural quality to every part of the building.
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#187: Aloha Apartments (Hollywood)

#187: Aloha Apartments (Hollywood)

January 8, 2024
Architecture
The Aloha Apartments were built in 1928 as a hybrid apartment building/hotel. There were a few starlets that lived here, but most of the Aloha’s tenants were middle-class professionals. It's a great example of how the housing market was changing to meet the needs of all the different kinds of people flowing into Hollywood during the 1920s and ‘30s.
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#186: Rose Bowl (Pasadena)

#186: Rose Bowl (Pasadena)

December 31, 2023
Architecture
For over a century, the Rose Bowl in Pasadenahas played host to some of college football's most-watched games (plus: the world's biggest flea market!). And while it's earned its place in sports lore many times over, the Rose Bowl also has a fascinating, evolving history as a work of architecture.
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