Posted on 07/31/2009 9:47:39 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
A rare opportunity to live in a national landmark has arisen in Los Angeles where Ennis House, an architectural gem designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, has gone up for sale for $15 million.
The architect designed Ennis House in 1923, dubbing the stark, concrete block-clad mansion his "temple on the hill" and predicting that it would still fascinate people a century later.
It offers wonderful views across the city and, with its exotic, Mayan temple exterior and cathedral-like interior, it has featured in more than a dozen films including Blade Runner, The House on Haunted Hill and Black Rain.
The 10,000 sq ft house was originally built for Charles Ennis, a local businessman, and it remained in private hands until 1980, when it was donated to a charitable trust.
But maintaining the house is expensive, so now the trust has decided to sell it.
The building developed structural problems even before it was completed and has since been seriously damaged by earthquakes and rainstorms.
It was given a multi-million dollar overhaul, but the three charities that oversee the house agree that the new owner will need to have deep pockets.
"What this house offers, really, it's a trophy property. Some people have trophy wives – this is a trophy house," Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, told National Public Radio.
Aaron Kirman, a local estate agent, said the house had already attracted considerable interest but the vendors would wait until they found the right buyer.
He said the majority of people who have expressed interest "have multiple homes, in different cities, more or less all over the world".
Lloyd Wright, who designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York, seemed particularly proud of the Ennis House.
"He said, 'You know, 100 years from now,
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
As always with him, looks good (well, not this one) but not built to last.
The Guggenheim is the only thing he built that I find interesting...this one is ugly. (In my humble opinion)
I worked on his personal home, which I considered a mausoleum !
My sister in law owned a home he deigned in Saginaw Michigan which i didn't consider anything spectacular except for the 12 foot high triple plate glass wall in the living room.
That Ennis house is one ugly joint, a kid I grew up with lived next door.
Always liked the early plains school. His later stuff was a bit too “modern”.
Amazing. I am a huge fan of both Blade Runner and the architecture of Wright. When I was watching the scenes around Deckard’s apartment I said to my wife that it HAD TO BE inspired by Ennis House. Little did I know that it WAS Ennis House.
But my favorite is still Falling Water.
/johnny
Frank Lloyd Wright?
Looks more like something made from Legos...
Maybe Brad and Angie should buy it. It looks big enough for their family. LOL.
Maybe, but how much would you pay to live in the original exterior House on Haunted Hill? (which is made even weirder because the studio interiors in the movie look like high Victorian and don't match the exterior shots at all>
Fascinating! I am a fan of architecture, so I find FLW, very interesting, although his work is not my style- too cold.
You said it first, so I won't have to. Actually, Legos would look better--more colorful.
If I were Mr. Wright, I wouldn’t claim that design. And I like some of his other designs, although they tend to be on the cold side.
Now THAT’s ugly. It looks like an overgrown bunker.
I have always been fascinated by Wright and his creations. That said, I do see a real downside. First, so many of his exotic buildings had problem from the start. Actually, even before the start. His stuff was a little like an early Corvairre: Really cool but leaked oil right out of the factory.
He also could not hang on to money and he was an unbelieveably arrogant SOB.
Nevertheless, he did some amazing stuff and his designs are still my all time favorites.
This place reminds me of some cars (like Rolls Royce, for example) that many would say is ugly, until you’ve owned it and experienced it. I think it would be an awesome place to live. What I could do with those rooms, those decks, etc. And the glass!
You entered off the street through a tunnel and then up an elevator to the house.
The entire house was dim and dingy and certainly didn't reflect his other way out designs of the era.
I remember one evening he came to the house during WW2 and pleading with my dad to build the way out religious place in Yucca Valley and my dad flat out told him he had too many jobs on military establishments and support industries to even consider it. He must have been there until midnight pleading with him.
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