Malin convinced a handful of companies to help finance his construction project in exchange for a little product placement. Lautner and De la Vaux argue that the house is safer in earthquakes than conventional houses because it is free to react to shock waves without constraint and move as a unit, bobbing like a cork on the ocean. The ground could be cut to create a level platform or the house could be supported on an open steel framework. Chem Seal provided the experimental coatings and resins to put the house together and inspired the name Chemosphere. More difficult. The new house was intended to hold an art collection and library and to provide rooms enough for the four children the Taschens have between them. When I first came to Los Angeles and was driving along Mulholland Drive and saw it for the first time, I was just bowled over by it., He bought it some years later after an architect friend told me it was on the market.. GuneWardena compares the process to "pruning a garden, to reveal the clarity of the structure.". "These Lautner houses are like custom-made clothes," Escher says, "so you really have to find the right tenant for them. Sturdy curved beams, sloping ledge of the windows, which becomes planter on the terrace area wardrobes and windows, create the impression of a mass composed of wood and glass in which it is difficult to distinguish the transition between interior and exterior. Le Corbusier called his homes "machines for living in," and sometimes they felt that way, with their narrow hallways and rigidly prescribed paths. ", Taschen says it's hard to get bored with the place -- despite the rain this winter -- since the enormous windows offer an expansive view on the world. For the pillar concrete base is used, the holding arms are steel platform, like the compression ring which is joined laminated wooden beams making up the rest of the structure. You would not expect it from outside.". Malin enlisted innovative architect John Lautner to design a one story octagonal house supported by several beams that rested on a large slab of concrete. (Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times).] This article is adapted from a piece that originally was published in The Times' Home section on April 14, 2005. ", In Escher's first meeting with Taschen, the restoration architect pointed out which pieces were original, which needed to be replaced, and which details deserved restoration. The home sits on 6.2 acres and has 10 bedrooms and 13 baths. [2] The cost to build Chemosphere, US$140,000 (equivalent to $1.28million in 2021), was subsidized partly by barter with two sponsoring companies, the Southern California Gas Company and the Chem Seal Corporation. The only catch: At roughly 45 degrees, the slope was all but unbuildable. Its the best living condition from every standpoint that you could get on that site. Le Corbusier called his homes "machines for living in," and sometimes they felt that way, with their narrow hallways and rigidly prescribed paths. The Apennine Colossus: A Marvel in Villa Demidoff, Lake Resia: Italys Submerged Church Tower, Is Georgia Safe to visit in 2023? Still, "it was love at first sight," says the laconic German, wearing a red Muhammad Ali bathrobe as he shows off the place on a hazy morning. "That's the characteristic of great artists: They can make things simple.". "Why not build it now, and pay for it for the rest of my life?" Lautner was born in Marquette MI from academic parents at what is now called Northern Michigan University. They also tried to match what they thought Lautner would have chosen if he'd had access to contemporary workmanship and a larger budget: The original drawings, for instance, described a floor of random broken slate, but the day's technology would not allow the stone to be cut thinly enough to keep from destabilizing the house. Chemosphere was characteristically Los Angeles of that time because "it didn't have to look like a house," says Hess. Although Lautner for his designs had little to do with this trend, always tried to integrate the buildings with the environment, creating an organic flow between the interior and exterior, humanizing built spaces and respecting the environment. Under this rooflight there is a fireplace and a sitting area. We understand the quality of this translation is not excellent and we are working to replace these with high quality human translations. Wright was one of the founders of that approach to Modernism, and Lautner brought it to Southern California. Hess points out that Lautner's embrace of Modernist innovation and organic forms made him a more interesting architect but also contributed to his obscurity during much of his career. The Malin residence remains one of the state of Californias most eccentric buildings. John Phillips is asking $1.05 million for his striking two-bedroom home in Studio City. Today, the place is serene and airy, with a simple, light-wood openness that suggests midcentury Scandinavian crossed with a ski chalet, and views that are pure Southern California. The Malins and their four children lived there until rising costs and the demise of the aerospace industry forced them to sell in 1972. "We wanted to make it as invisible and elegant as possible," says Escher. "My philosophy at the time was, most people work their whole lives to build their dream house," Malin says from Arizona, where he's constructing a new home. The way a building was put together was like a tree or a flower or a cave -- natural forms. Frank Escher, who was brought in as restoration architect, vividly remembers the place's condition. Escher's restoration ran the flagstone pattern inside and out, across the bridge that connects the front door to the funicular. Nearby conventional homes suffered minor structural damage, he said. "I bought it right away -- as fast as possible," says Taschen. Body Double (1984). Despite the private ownership, the Chemosphere still manages to maintain a reputation for wild parties that are literally on the edge. Fortunately a german couple bought the house in 1998 and restored it to its original state. [12], The building was first used in a dramatic film as a futuristic residence in "The Duplicate Man", a 1964 episode of the ABC TV-program The Outer Limits, based on a science fiction story by American author Clifford D. Simak. It's like a movie where you add a scene of someone with a mobile phone in 1958, or a style of shirt or car that wouldn't have existed until years later. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Ehrlich bought the lot next door and had architects John Friedman and Alice Kimm design this new building, with a pool in between, making a compound with a great outdoor area. Similarly, his 1968 "Elrod. The house is the product of a fortuitous union of architect, client, time and place. The client, however, had a small budget (only $30,000) so Lautner instead took advantage of the client's extensive imagination and rejected both structural methods for one that would cost about half of the conventional solution with retaining walls and land drains. OMG, what is with these crowds on Rodeo Drive toda With my buddy Steven at Villa Blanca, I match the Carmageddon has already started on Sunset Blvd. You can't be afraid of a house like that: You have to, in some cases, be kind of forceful.". "But if you go inside, it feels very cozy very Zen and calming. And because of a concrete pedestal, almost 20 feet in diameter, buried under the earth and supporting the post, the house has survived earthquakes and heavy rains. Heres how to claim your share, Scooter operators say strict rules, rampant theft threaten business in San Diego, Striking Medieval Times workers struck by car on picket line, These are the EV models that will get you the full $7,500 tax credit, Column: Hate Fox News? "Today there are materials that weren't available then," Malin says. "I think the hardest thing was developing an intellectual strategy for how to deal with it," Escher says, calling the task, "a combination of research into history and technology, and to some degree into Lautner's psychology. Built for the client Malin Lautner, a young aircraft engineer, the design of the residence was in fact an engineering challenge due to its location on a forty-five degree slope in an earthquake-prone region. Formerly called "the most modern home built in the world" by the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Malin Residence was the stereotypical scientific vision of the future brought to life when it was built by American architect John Lautner in 1960. Since 1998, it has been the Los Angeles home of Benedikt Taschen, of the German publishing house Taschen, who has had the house restored; the only current problem with the residence is the relatively high cost of maintenance. All images are each office/photographer mentioned. Malin House "Chemosphere" Architect: John Lautner Year: 1960 - 1961 Location: Hollywood, California, United States Architect John Lautner Remodelation Architect Frank Escher Designed in 1960 Built in 1960 - 1961 Remodeled in 1977 Built-up Area 205 m2 Cost $140.000 USD Location Hollywood, California, United States His fiance Mary (MaryBud) Faustina Roberts Lautner (1913 . There are constant requests to use the house in films and commercials, Phillips said, but he rejects almost all of them. Some of the titles, along with dozens of art magazines, are scattered around the house and its unobtrusive furniture. The Rent Zestimate for this home is $6,757/mo, which has increased by $630/mo in the last 30 days. The cost to build Chemosphere, $140,000, was subsidized partly by barter with two sponsoring companies, the Southern California Gas Company and the Chem Seal Corporation. He presented Lautner with his problem lot and John thought he could foist this design on me because I was stupid enough to build it, Malin joked. He was a mechanical engineer at the time he asked Lautner to design the house, Malin said, with no connection to aviation or aerospace. [2] The original decoration was provided by John H. Smith, the first African American admitted to the National Society of Interior Designers. Like a tree, the building sprouts from the hill. This article is adapted from a piece that originally was published in The Times' Home section on April 14, 2005. "Draw it up," he told his assistant Guy Zebert. The house actually has been reported as a UFO, Lautner said in an interview. It sits on a column of steel-reinforced concrete, 30 feet tall and five feet thick. 11 of 14 Venice Beach House by Frank Gehry Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG / Getty Images View Map Address 15 30th Ave, Venice, CA 90291-4378, USA Phone +1 310-823-1966 Web Visit website 12 of 14 Santa Monica: Frank Gehry Residence IK's World Trip/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 View Map One of the main companies was a chemical company, which is why the Malin residence was nicknamed The Chemosphere. The Chemosphere was even equipped with its own funiculara small cable car designed to traverse steep inclines. Their values are completely different from mine., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, This exclusive island town might be Californias biggest violator of affordable housing law, Looking to finance an ADU? Because of a concrete pedestal, almost 20 feet (6m) in diameter, buried under the earth and supporting the column, the house has survived earthquakes and heavy rains. After the car is parked a private furnicular, or an inclined railway, ascends up the slope and lands at a narrow bridge which spans from the ground to the entrance near the kitchen. Lautner designed a system of filters for air intake coming through the bottom of the platform and once walked the perimeter is expelled through an outlet located at the top of the cover by a dome that could open and close. The view of the L.A. Country club from a fabulous 'Make it Right': Get home renovations right the fi Jose Eber Salon | Shopping: Jos Eber opens new Be Real estate: Sales of $20-million-plus L.A. homes New this week in Beverly Hills! "So they ignored him," says Hess, "or put him in the category of undisciplined, far-out, do-whatever-you-want California architecture. ArchDaily 2008-2023. [1] Malin had US$30,000 to spare. "The Taschens originally wanted to have more period pieces," Escher says. Mid-Century Home 2017. Chemosphere 7776 Torreyson Dr., Los Angeles, CA . "It's like having a vintage car -- a '55 Mercedes. Landmark Houses: John Lautner's Chemosphere. Perfect for entertaining. Foreclosures These properties are currently listed for sale. The house is one of the best-known works of John Lautner, a Hollywood architect renowned for his unique designs and stubbornly individualistic personality. Through him, Malin met others who lived in the distinctive houses created by Lautner and I decided that was the man I wanted to design my house, he said. Besides its two bedrooms, the house has a den, kitchen, two bathrooms and a large living room, with a fireplace in the center. The bequest, to be announced at a news conference at the house Wednesday afternoon, includes an endowment of $17 million for a maintenance fund, as well as a so-called skyspace artwork by James. *** [], By Scott Timberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. You feel disconnected from the planet and completely free and happy.". The concrete column, however, is not the element that supports the roof of the residence. UnusualPlaces.org is your guide to quirky, weird and beautiful places to visit around the world. The mountain-to-mountain view, from Glendale to the west end of the San Fernando Valley, looks down on the roofs of the tallest office buildings in the East Valley and even on airplane and helicopter traffic. The architect describes the job as a philosophical challenge. By 2004, the Chemosphere was officially declared a historical monument. "From the outside it looks like a spaceship which you cannot enter," Angelika Taschen says from Berlin, where she now lives. Steelstruts shoot out from the single column to support the floor of the house. The house was named the Chemosphere for promotional purposes by the Chem- seal Corp. of America, which contributed materials. It displays the optimism of its time: that technology can be used to solve any problem, just as Century City and Googie's," the Lautner-designed Sunset Boulevard coffee shop, did. The weight of the 31-ton pad, and the earth compacted above it, hold the house up, like a barbell with one end buried in the earth. Angelika Taschen, a PhD in art history, knew the house from Shulman's photos before she saw the real thing. written about post modern and facades and gimmicks and styles that there is no understanding of real architecture at all., He is not interested in the judgment of a real estate market that he sees as dominated by speculative real estate bankers. Taschen commissioned the suspended lamps of bent plexiglass strips by Cuban-born L.A. artist Jorge Pardo and the pastiche rug designed by German painter Albert Oehlen. They are not shy; you almost have nose prints on the window. You can't be afraid of a house like that: You have to, in some cases, be kind of forceful.". The original house was awarded an AIA/LA Decade award as one of the best buildings of the last ten years. The purchase of the decommissioned military aircraft itself set him back $100k, with over $220k worth of work completed on its interior. Zestimate Home Value: $2,300,000. Malin personally, along with three workers, was responsible for the construction that lasted 18 months. The lover, Garland Danny Campbell, then 19, and Alfred Toliver, 20, were convicted of the slaying and sentenced to life in prison. The column goes four feet below the ground, where it expands into a steel reinforced concrete pad 20 feet in diameter, which goes another three feet down into the bedrock. Chemosphere was built in 1960 and became known for Lautner's innovative solution to the house's site that, with a slope of 45 degrees, was thought to be unbuildable. ", Escher, the preservation architect, considers Lautner "the missing link between the classic Modernism of the Case Study Houses and the work we now associate with Los Angeles -- the more expressive, more sculptural forms. [5], In 1976, the house's second owner, Dr. Richard Kuhn, was stabbed to death there in a robbery by his lover and another man. Ironically, the house was the scene of a real-life murder in 1976, when its second owner, Dr. Richard F. Kuhn, was stabbed to death in a robbery by two men, one of them a homosexual lover of the doctors. Although the Chemosphere spent much of the 90s being neglected as a rental, Benedikt Taschen, of the German publishing house Taschen, bought it in 1998 and invested in a costly restoration, which saw the city of Los Angeles declaring the residence a historic-cultural monument, admired for both the ingenuity of its solution to the difficult plot of land and its futuristic . Its a practically unbuildable hillside with no access from the top, Lautner said. It's not the only contradiction the place contains. The plot may have remained empty had Malin not approached Lautner, whose work he knew from a nearby house. All rights reserved. At the peak of the house, where the column would have been, Lautner placed a circular rooflight in order to provide lighting in the deepest part of the plan. "It was an architecture newly defined. Lautner didn't see the house as a flying saucer but as a sensible solution. [13] In 1996 the Chemosphere was represented as Troy McClure's (played by Phil Hartman) fictional Springfield hilltop mansion in The Simpsons TV series. That may be steep for a two-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot house, but its owners are putting a high value on its reputation. The Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC main office is located at Rocket Homes Real Estate, 701 Griswold St, Suite 21, Detroit, MI 48226. You feel disconnected from the planet and completely free and happy.". The typical way to approach it would have been to bulldoze out a lot and put in 30-foot-high retaining walls to try to hold up the mountain, which is just insane.. "But we didn't want the house to be a museum of the 1960s.". Designed in 1958, architect John Lautner's Chemosphere House perches atop a 29-foot concrete pole on a roughly 45 degree slope in California's . "These Lautner houses are like custom-made clothes," Escher says, "so you really have to find the right tenant for them. He says the home's northern edge, which contains the bedroom and his office, is very quiet. ", Even out-of-state critics and scholars who could appreciate the sharply angular California Modernism of midcentury didn't know what to make of Lautner's merging of the modern with natural forms. "And here," Taschen says, walking toward the living room window that faces the Valley's homes and skyscrapers along the 101 Freeway, "it's all city. The house, nicknamed the "Chemosphere" hovers 30 feet over the city of Los Angeles resembling a UFO aircraft. [1][9] The recent restoration, by Escher GuneWardena Architecture, won an award from the Los Angeles Conservancy. One of the biggest challenges was bringing art into the house, difficult when a home already exerts a bold personality. Lautner'sfuturistic "flying saucer" quickly caught the eyes of the Hollywood industry and the house has since appeared in filmsincluding Body Double and Charlie's Angels. ", Benedikt likens the house to an eagle's nest. Leave it to an aerospace engineer to insist on building a flying saucer shaped house on a dangerously steep hillside. The house has been written about in publications from Architectural Digest to Newsweek and in German, French and Russian magazines. The land was leafy and overgrown, with extravagant views of the San Fernando Valley. Chemosphere is an international journal designed for the publication of original communications as well as review articles on chemicals in the environment. The homes don't force their inhabitants into an ant farm's existence the way some houses do. It could take on its own brand-new shape. Despite its seemingly fragile appearance has withstood several earthquakes and torrential rains. Due to the steepness of the site, reaching the residence requires the owners to park their cars a few feet below the house and take a funicular up the hill to the entrance located near the kitchen. 8330 Elusive Dr, Los Angeles, CA is a single family home that contains 1,783 sq ft and was built in 1975. They also tried to match what they thought Lautner would have chosen if he'd had access to contemporary workmanship and a larger budget: The original drawings, for instance, described a floor of random broken slate, but the day's technology would not allow the stone to be cut thinly enough to keep from destabilizing the house. "The West would not be possible without technology: Water, electricity, everything that it took to overcome dryness and distance was dependent in some form on technology. The north side of the house contains the public spaces, such as the living room, kitchen,and dining room, and the south side facing the hillslices into4 bedrooms and a bathroom. When John Lautner was given the site in 1960, there were two common methods for. But the 1960 house is very much a work of its time and place. That is not true, said the first owner, Leonard Malin, now a Yucca Valley real estate broker. ; It was also used in the 1984 film Body Double, directed by Brian De Palma. You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! For such an intricately designed home, the downside of high maintenance caused the original owner Leonard Malin to sell the house in 1972 which subsequently was left to run down. Angelika Taschen, a PhD in art history, knew the house from Shulman's photos before she saw the real thing. ", Taschen admires the bold dichotomies the architect worked with. The forcefulness was balanced with the architects' own "sensitive and careful" respect for Lautner's intentions: The goal was to undo the damage previous tenants had exacted, and to simplify. Rocket Homes is a registered trademark licensed to Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC. The backlist of Taschen's company -- from homoerotic nudes to the original Lutheran Bible -- includes books on Modernist homes, the architectural photographs of Julius Shulman, the works of Richard Neutra and the Case Study houses. "Everybody loved Spanish, and then shabby chic came in." The Taschen, new owners of the Chemosphere in 1977, commissioned the house recovering after years of neglect, the architect Frank Escher who introduced details and finishes designed by Lautner at the time but at the time it was built were impossible performed either by budget or simply a lack of technology. Unlike a lot of the more didactic and theory-driven homes of Modernists from Le Corbusier to Philip Johnson, it's actually pleasant, most of the time, to live inside a Lautner. The massive 11,200-square-foot home comes with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and two half baths, and is enveloped by disappearing walls of glass, so you can enjoy the stunning views from each and every room. Taschen was perfect for the house -- he immediately grasped what the house was about, and he was entirely open to our ideas for the place, like ripping out the glass and commissioning pieces by artists.". Angelika describes the place as having a spiritual impact, almost like a church. "With this house he found and expressed this almost religious spirit with a perfect architectural language in general, but also in detail. More difficult. She worried it might be difficult to live there. The Southern California Gas Co. provided about $25,000 in material and appliances in return for an agreement to outfit the house as a showcase for gas-using appliances, and rights to use both the house and Malin for promotional purposes, he said. It was also included in a list of all time top 10 houses in Los Angeles. This approach reduced the building cost to almost half of the conventional solution of building retaining walls. The pair were subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Frank Gehry has said that as a student, he considered Lautner to be a god.". The only consistent problem with the house, Taschen says, is that its technology often fails in subtle but frustrating ways. ", Benedikt likens the house to an eagle's nest. When Leonard Malin first set out to build his iconic home, he only had $30,000 to spendwhich was a tiny construction budget, even by 1960s standards. The perimeter of the house is lined with windows to provide stunning views of the surroundings. It had been rented out for 10 to 12 years; it was like the ultimate party house. The northern side facing the views contains the public spaces such as theliving room, kitchen and dining area, while the side facing the hills contains four bedrooms and bathrooms.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'midcenturyhome_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_2',119,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-midcenturyhome_com-medrectangle-4-0'); At the center of the house, theres a spectacular fireplace, surrounded by an exposed brick wall and a skylight above, to let the daylight flow in freely. The architect describes the job as a philosophical challenge. The young actor, in the publisher's estimate, "had robbed the soul of the house. "That's something that's important to all our projects: We don't try to draw attention to a detail. By Scott Timberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, Tours of more than 100 Southern California homes, Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale, Christophe Choo Real Estate Group on Facebook. ", The fate seemed unjust for a structure the Encyclopedia Britannica had judged "the most modern home built in the world," and which had appeared in Brian De Palma's "Body Double." He decided the home should be a one story, octagon house, built on a 30 feet high concrete pole which is supported by a pedestal buried in the earth. Phillips added a 550-square-foot, one-bedroom guest house at the foot of the slope. "Organic Modernism was just as modern in its use of materials," Hess says, "but it had a different sense of space, which was flowing. "We wanted to make it as invisible and elegant as possible," says Escher. One of the most modern buildings of its time,the Chemosphere by architect John Lautner, is praised for its unique design and for its ingenious solution to the problem of building on a lot with a dramatic angled slope of 45 degrees, making construction nearly impossible. 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