Quintessential California living
The home of Rudolph Schindler and his wife, Pauline, in West Hollywood is considered by many to be the first modernist house. Using affordable concrete, a signature element of the modernist design movement, the Schindler House’s walls were cast on-site then tilted into place, barn-raising style, by crane.
Schindler designed the Kings Road house as a co-residence for he and Pauline and another family, Clyde and Marian DaCamara Chace. Clyde worked as an engineer for architect Irving Gill. Marian and Pauline were friends from their days at Smith College. The idea was to create an experimental communal residence with separate, private living areas and shared kitchen. Unlike typical homes of the day, the Schindler House was built without a conventional dining area or bedrooms. Occupants retiring for the evening would climb stairs to the rooftop’s so-called sleeping baskets, which were protected by a tentlike tarp but open to the elements.
Info
Address 835 N Kings Road, West Hollywood, CA 90069, +1 323.651.1510, MAKcenter.org, office@MAKcenter.org | Getting there Paid lot at Kings Road and Santa Monica Boulevard; unmetered street parking | Hours Wed–Sun 11am–6pm, closed Mon–Tue. Admission: $7 general, $6 students & seniors, free on Fri 4pm–6pm.| Tip The catfish po’boy with thin lemon slices at the Gumbo Pot (6333 W 3rd Street, Suite 312, Los Angeles, CA 90036) in the Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax is well worth the parking hassle created by the neighboring Grove shopping center.
With giant apartment and condominium complexes dwarfing the Schindler House today, it may be difficult to picture what the site looked like in 1922, when the house was built and LA’s landscape was open and undeveloped. Back then there were distant horizons uninterrupted by visual clutter, with a wide view of the San Gabriel Mountains. Imagine the ability to pull a long table out of the house and dine al fresco next to Frank Lloyd Wright and his son, to pour a glass of wine for John Cage, or to sit with Edward Weston he talked about his latest photography project. Imagine the home radiating warm light, the tinkle of silverware, and the bubbling sounds of laughter and camaraderie. Modern living at its best.
Oddly, Schindler’s work on his own home went largely unnoticed by the architectural establishment during his lifetime. It was only after his death, in 1953, that the innovations of his design gained greater recognition.
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