I had a big list of buildings, mainly private houses and museums that I wanted to see during my time on the West Coast. I haven’t had a chance to get out of LA sort far but I have made a small dent of local, easy to get to places.
One place on my list was the Hollyhock House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as a residence for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, built in 1921. I’ve never studied a Frank Lloyd Wright building in detail and this is not one of his most known project but I was still really delighted to get to step inside, as most of his single family homes are still privately owned. Hollyhock House house is very introverted with only small exterior windows. It is arranged around a central courtyard with one side open to form a kind of theatrical stage (never used as such), and a complex system of split levels, steps and roof terraces around that courtyard.
I’ve also see the Wayfarers Chapel by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son Lloyd Wright designed in the late 1940s. This building is very different from Hollyhock House, here Lloyd Wright departed from the tradition of using masonry in order to «achieve a delicate enclosure that allows the surrounding landscape to define the sacred space».
I want to see as many of the Case Study Houses was I can. These were projects sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine. They commissioned major architects of the day to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the United States residential housing boom caused by the end of World War II. Not that many of the proposed project were actually built but I’m planning to see all that I can.
