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Crumbling Treasures

In Los Angeles, we're not much for history. We knock things down. We build them the way we like them. We believe in creating a world the way we think it should be. It's this ethic that has destroyed some of our more famous landmarks, Pickfair (the first home in Beverly Hills) was dismantled by Pia Zadora, the original Brown Derby may, at the time of this writing, be a dry cleaner. In a place where people come to reinvent themselves no one has much time for old stuff.

This is, however, not entirely the case with the Ennis Brown House. Built in 1924 by Frank Lloyd Wright, it is a stunning example of his work, certainly of of the most unique dwellings in California. It has the only four mosaic windows known to be designed by Wright himself. Though the house retains some of of Wright's prairie style, it is also high art deco, mingled with Mayan architecture and the result is both surprising and elegant.

The house has not been lived in since 1980, when the Browns donoated it to the Trust for Preservation and Cultural Heritage. It was used to film a number of pictures, including Blade Runner, Grand Canyon and The House on Haunted Hill and tv shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twin Peaks. In the Northridge quake of 1994, the house suffered severe damage, but remained open to tourists and film companies until 2004 when it was discovered that it was unsafe. Already in desperate need of renovations (to the tune of 12 million bucks), all projects were derailed while the trust scrambled to put together even more funds.

This house is a unicorn, the type of structure that people only dare build in Southern California, it should be found only on distant worlds seen or read about in science fiction. It should come as no surprise that it is at risk for extinction.

Ennis Brown House, 2655 Glendower Ave, Los Angeles, CA

posted by kuaptic. @ 8:11 AM