Article: Susan Orlean & Schindler houses

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:57 am

Havens: Susan Orlean and R.M. Schindler, a love story in two chapters

David

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Apr 17, 2019 11:46 am

Another good-news Wrightian-owner story---well fleshed out in the LA Times. We get several useful tidbits about Schindler and his followers (including the name of a
repeat restoration specialist) and some new photography. The Kallis is in good hands again---to stay, apparently. The desert masonry is a detail I hadn't noticed before.

Don't miss the links to the James Cutler house, or to the Roth house . . .

S

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Wed Apr 17, 2019 12:21 pm

Mention was made of the Sharlins enclosing the outdoor terrace, but the second photo, showing the living room with a glimpse into the former terrace, indicates that Orlean/Gillepie didn't go that far in their restoration-renovation. That space was one of the most important and "Californian" in the entire house. Of course, in the enclosing of it, trees that poked through the deck were removed, and it would have taken years for them to grow back if the space had been restored, but it should have been done.
See Esther McCoy's book, page 185, for the original appearance. Notice also that Sharlin apparently lowered the hood of the outdoor fireplace.

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 9:50 am

...didn't go that far in their restoration-renovation.

Yes, I was hoping for the removal of that later expansion/enclosure as well. Apparently they switched houses for more space, so it wasn't in the cards. At their previous Schindler, the Roth house, they enclosed the two-way garage to use as office space, an easily reversible change. I never understood why that garage is considered unusable today. Weren't most cars in the 1940s larger than some of the smaller/midsize ones of today? Was the garage too small from the start?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:34 am

That's interesting, isn't it---as Kallis has a drive-through garage too . . .

S

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 4:14 pm

I doubt that the tandem garages at either Kallis or Roth is too narrow for anything from Detroit later than 1970?

Back home, neighbors had a tandem garage, but it was just a long rectangle with a door at only one end. They had two Chrysler Airflows, one silver, the other gold. So they either had to use the one in back, or drive the back one out, park it, drive the front one out, park it, drive the back one to the front, then drive the front away. Why they had 2 identical cars of different colors, I don't know, especially since Mrs. Sindt didn't drive.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 5:24 pm

Heh-heh. Oddities abound. At least they wouldn't be without an Ariflow, no matter what. (I think Hib and Frank had better taste in autos: they waited for the Zephyr.)

There are many tandem garages here in the city---I suppose any city could say the same, if they had 25-foot-wide lots. I'm glad I don't have to negotiate one of those . . .

S

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:44 am

That's interesting, isn't it---as Kallis has a drive-through garage too ...

I didn't make that association but you're right. I think these are the only two Schindler houses with that arrangement. It's funny they have owned both of them.

I think having the garage open at both ends creates a usable solution for tandem parking. The first person arriving home simply drives all the way in. Both cars then have egress. Unlike a conventional two-car garage, only one driver has to back out on to the street.

These two garages are also more visually interesting than conventional ones.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:54 am

Right. My only regret is the grape-stake fencing at the street side of Kallis---which besides leaning and being unforgivably funky, has now been painted . . .

S

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 2:11 pm

An advantage of the Kallis garage is that it doubled as a privacy wall for the once-open terrace.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:39 pm

From living room, studio beyond.

Note mirrors above credenza . . .