Lautner's Chemosphere house, above the trees |
I spoke to a number of people for the story, including architect Frank Escher, who helped remake the place, the realtor who had struggled to sell it, original resident Leonard Malin, and design historian Alan Hess, who coined the spot-on term "organic modernist" to describe Lautner.
Happy birthday to John Lautner, a man who disliked Los Angeles but did a great deal to make it a more interesting place.
UPDATE: Here is a wonderful piece by Alan Hess from Saturday's LAT Home section on Lautner and LA.
3 comments:
Great piece Scott. I especially like Taschen's recognition of the responsibility owners of great buildings have to look for a balance between the original intent and the day to day needs of current occupants. Of course this is more easily to accommodate if you own more than one house.
Always gratifying to have such thoughtful reader, Mr. Shrum... I wrote another story -- about the recent destruction of a Beverly Hills Lautner home -- that may leave you less inspired about human nature...
I'll leave that one for another day. Maybe after the looking
debt ceiling Armageddon...
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