Hollyhock House
Hollyhock House is another wonder wrought by Frank Lloyd Wright for our fair city. Though old Frank was a dick in person, he was unquestionably one of the more promenant architects of the twentieth century. Usually associated with his midwestern "Prairie Houses" (very influential in the arts and crafts movement, they were extended, low buildings with sloping roofs and deep terrances and overhangs. These, incidently, were also an early example of "open plan" homes, the obsession that has driven many a Los Angeleno to alter fine old homes for the worse), or his later usonic homes which made middle class housing out of geomtric shapes, he also believed in organic homes, that were in harmony with the land and other natural features that surrounded them. Hollyhock House was the first LA home designed by Wright. He was commissioned by unconventional oil heiress, Aline Barnsdall in Chicago, where she was studying the American stage. After a trip to California in 1915, she decided to make her residence here in order to develop arts and theater. She bought 11 acres between Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards, just west of Vermont. She named it after her favorite flower, a motif repeated throughout the structure. It was built between 1919 and 1923. Wright was spending most of his time in Tokyo, building the Imperial Hotel (one of the few structures to survive the earthquake of 1923) and left the construction under the watchful eyes of his son, Lloyd Wright and his apprentice, Rudolph Schindler. The house was supposed to be a private residence in the center of an arts park -- there were plans for theaters, dormitories and studios for artists and actors, shops and two guest houses. Due to artistic and financial troubles (Wright and Barnsdall, both strong willed, disagreed), only the main residence and the guest houses were built.
In 1927, after living there for four years, Aline Barnsdall gave the house and its surrounding acreage to the city of Los Angeles for use as an "art park." After years being leased to various organizations, (including a stint in 1946 as a USO tavern) it went through two renovations, one in 1974 and another in 1989, which restored the orginal Wright designed furniture and color scheme. It's now the centerpiece of Barnsdall Park, surrounded by galleries and a theater.
To be continued...
posted by kuaptic. @ 5:26 PM
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