Wright Chat

Hello



I will be in LA next week. I have a few hours to pass. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should see? What in LA is a FLW must see?



I have the storer (sp?) book, so I have addresses.



In advance, thanks for your help.

you'll need more than a couple of hours to get out of LAX,

and traffic gridlock better stay there or you'll miss your

flight. Seriously.

Travel Suggestions

My son lives in LA and my college roommate lives in LA so I go there frequently. In addition I was on the wonderful FLW Conservancy Tours of LA and Palm Springs. I highly recommend using a GPS Navigation System. If need be rent a Hertz Car with this option. The road network is not clear or user friendly. LA is a wonderful city, but it is difficult to navigate and is choked with the worst traffic of any major city. Chicago rush hour traffic is nothing compared to LA. I like to stay at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel becuase of its central location to the things that interest me.

PH Must See List

1. Hollyhock House - Tour

2. Ennis House - Drive By

3. Storrer House - Drive By

4. Freeman House - Drive By

3. Schindler's King's Road House - Tour, if you are an architect otherwise you may not enjoy this as much

4. Getty Museum

5. Neutra's VDL Research House - Tour

5. Neutra.org tour of Silver Lake Neutra Houses

6. Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral - Tour

7. Disney Consert Hall - Tour

8. Santa Monica Waterfront



If you have two extra days or more, this is wonderful if you like mid-century modern architecture. Tours by Palm Springs Modern Tours. For more information, email [email protected] or call (760) 318-6118.



Great Sushi Restaurant: Blowfish in West Hollywood. Fine Sushi on a budget: Frying Fish Restaurant in Little Tokyo, just south of Downtown LA.

Thanks for the input.



I had a chance to see two Neutra houses (exterior only) this morning... on the way to the LAX airport.



1. Neutra's own house

2. Lovell Health House



Both houses were very impressive. I was surprised that both houses were not better maintained. Neutra was a great architect.



We should be happy that so many people are passionate about FLW. This tends to equate to better maintained houses. Also, we should be thankful for various FLW preservation groups.



Thanks again.

Yes, I too have been through several Neutra houses. To me, he was the Wright of the west coast.

I'm inclined to think of Wright as the Wright of the west coast. He lived in LA and maintaned an office in the early 20s, and he built in absentia both before and after that time.



Peter

Wright is my favorite architect. But it was Neutra who captured the California experience. In many ways, he applied Wright's own ideas better than Wright... in California only.

guest1 wrote:Wright is my favorite architect. But it was Neutra who captured the California experience. In many ways, he applied Wright's own ideas better than Wright... in California only.

My opinion is this. Louis Sullivan borrowed some conceptual thinking from Frank Furness and advanced these ideas. Frank LLoyd Wright borrowed some conceptual thinking from Louis Sullivan and advanced these ideas. Richard Neutra borrowed some conceptual thinking from Frank Lloyd Wright and advanced these ideas. Each great architect was influenced by his spiritual predecessor/employer. Each went on to create his own great architecture. Neutra was more pragmatic than Wright in his use of construction technolology in his California projects. Reflecting his European heritage Neutra was influenced heavily by European International Style architects.



The California progeny of Wright that I personally admire the most is Rudolph Schindler for his incredibly innovative and fresh buildings.

Schindler was a great and original architect who created his own visions without input from anyone else. If you examine the designs of Neutra, it becomes readily apparent that he relied heavily on the input of the other architects with whom he collaborated, such as the underrated Gregory Ain, to achieve his best work. The later work which he did alone has a certain Spartan charm about it, but it is also rather bland. Read Esther McCoy's book about Schindler and Neutra's correspondence before Neutra came to this country. Schindler, as revealed in his letters, was a genius of the first order, easily on a par with Wright; Neutra was a manipulator who used Schindler and Wright to get what he wanted. When Neutra and his delightful wife, Dionne, visited Taliesin West in later years, after the animosity between the two architects abated, Wright took Dionne aside and suggested that she could come to Taliesin whenever she liked, but it would be fine with him if she left Richard at home.

Neutra is completely overrated (bland was an apt description) and should have stayed in Europe or the universities here. Schindler was by far a superior intellect and architect. Although Wright never conceded anyone to being even close to his equal, various comments he made concerning Schindler clearly indicate respect.



Lloyd Wright practically outshone his father with the Wayfarers Chapel, and I think Lautner has left a considerable legacy of work the caliber of Wright in the west as anyone.

Thanks for the responses.



I will check out Schindler's work next time.



Do you know any good books, websites, etc?