He says the home's northern edge, which contains the bedroom and his office, is very quiet. 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. )[5] In the end Malin paid US$80,000 in cash. Built on a steep hillside in Hollywood, California, one side overlooking the San Fernando Valley, other mountain, detail highlighting its new owners, the family Taschen. "It's like having a vintage car -- a '55 Mercedes. (Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times).] Schindler. During the first few years the Taschens lived there, the house became locally famous for their parties, where photographer Bill Claxton and his model wife Peggy Moffett would carouse with porn stars, jazz musicians and director Billy Wilder. "You feel safe. If you make tiny changes that don't fit the integrity of the house, you destroy it. 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. [1] Chemosphere is bisected by a central, exposed brick wall with a fireplace, abutted by subdued seating, in the middle. 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. Angelika Taschen, a PhD in art history, knew the house from Shulman's photos before she saw the real thing. Everything is much more complicated. In recent years, publisher Benedikt Taschen purchased the Chemosphere and restored it to its former glory. She said that besides limiting her trips out of the house because of the funicular, living there didn't alter her behavior. As in many of his works John Lautner geometry used in this project, becoming an example of the architecture of the time in the Los Angeles, where a house had no reason to pretend to be. They are not shy; you almost have nose prints on the window. 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 . These days, now that Taschen has an office in Hollywood and a bookstore in Beverly Hills, the place has reverted to being, mostly, a house for him and fiancee Lauren Wiener. Draw it up here, said his assistant. The outside shell covers about 25,000 square feet. Perfect for entertaining. 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. 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. 931 Orangewood Court, Lemoore, CA 93245 CRAIG SMITH & ASSOCIATES, INC. $299,500 3 bds 2 ba 1,468 sqft - House for sale Price cut: $15,500 (Mar 28) 583 Visconti Street, Lemoore, CA 93245 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY TULARE COUNTY $395,000 4 bds 3 ba 1,848 sqft - House for sale 23 days on Zillow 122 Champion St, Lemoore, CA 93245 $449,000 5 bds 2 ba People would want to see the view, and that was about it. Wright was one of the founders of that approach to Modernism, and Lautner brought it to Southern California. It should disappear." I dont think anyone understands good architecture. ", In fact, during much of that decade, the place had been on the market. Its a practically unbuildable hillside with no access from the top, Lautner said. Long a familiar sight in architectural magazines and books, it went before a new audience recently as the temporary home of the voyeuristic protagonist of the murder-mystery film Body Double. In fact, the house was the scene of a real murder eight years ago. The original house was awarded an AIA/LA Decade award as one of the best buildings of the last ten years. The land was leafy and overgrown, with extravagant views of the San Fernando Valley. 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. 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. More help may be on the way, California has already run out of cash to help first-time home buyers. The interior is divided into several designated spaces. It cost $ 140,000, of which Malin paid only 80,000, the rest was contributed by the gas company Southern California Gas and Chem Seal Corporation which inspired the name of the house Chemosphere and both experimented with different types of resins, glues and coatings during construction. Lautner was born in Marquette MI from academic parents at what is now called Northern Michigan University. ", Benedikt likens the house to an eagle's nest. 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. Designed by German architect Alba Altmann who worked with John Lautner on the legendary Chemosphere house. She said that besides limiting her trips out of the house because of the funicular, living there didn't alter her behavior. By . It actually does not even continue up into the interior. Angelika describes the place as having a spiritual impact, almost like a church. When anyone asks me why I built that house, I tell them it was because I had a total lack of comprehension of what I was getting into.. [15], Location of Chemosphere in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Landmark Houses: John Lautner's Chemosphere, "From California Design to Junk Art | Unframed", "Leonard Jay Malin Obituary (1931 - 2021) Los Angeles Times", Party at the Chemosphere: The Flying Saucer House Soars Again, "John Lautner, 'Technologist' Architect, Dies at 83", "Youth Convicted of Slaying and Robbing Doctor", "Bonding Humanity and Landscape in a Perfect Circle", "Troy McClure's hilltop bachelor pad, The Simpsons", "Going Back to the Future for 'Tomorrowland,' From Disney", John Lautner Foundation page on Chemosphere with photographs and sketches, Chemosphere on Google Earth Community page, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chemosphere&oldid=1142375271, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 01:46. 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. A wave movement, which is what an earthquake is, cracks up a conventional house at the corners.. This was a time, during L.A.'s postwar expansion, when a middle-class client could build in the Hollywood Hills on a modest budget: Malin had $30,000 to spare. Fig & Olive. The structure of the Chemosphereis made of steel, timber and the roof is supported by curved frames of laminated wood. However, for the Chemosphere Lautner took the daunting task and engineered a new method for a home to be built. Use our refinance calculator to help you decide. Leonard Malin didnt initially set out to build a house that resembled a dormant extraterrestrial spacecraft. You would not expect it from outside.". "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. "That's something that's important to all our projects: We don't try to draw attention to a detail. What filled in when it came time to film New Moon? One drawback to living in a widely publicized work of art, however, is that architects, architectural students and the just plain curious from around the world want to examine it, he said. But the Taschens saw dirty, disco-era, wall-to-wall carpet on much of its 2,200 square feet, an old aluminum door, smudged windows and seven layers of paint on what was originally a gently austere, exposed brick wall. After the high cost of living drove Malin and his family out of Los Angeles, the Chemosphere was rented out to untamed partiers who trashed the place. Phillips said the house is also slightly off balance to the rear, and the beams that tie the rear of the structure to the hillside are designed to break under great pressure, so that, even if a cataclysmic quake broke the column, the pod would fall backward against the slope instead of tumbling down the hill. His firm, which he runs with partner Ravi GuneWardena, had been partly inspired by classic California Modernism, and here he could delve into a great Modernist's original conception. He was glad the client was an engineer, Lautner said, because an engineer wasnt afraid of an original idea. '", For Escher, a native of Switzerland who loves the rational, structure-inspired work of Lautner, Neutra and the late Pierre Koenig, this was a gift from the gods. The roof deck joints were sealed with epoxy to prevent leaks and get isolation. ", 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. With its strong inclination, crystals almost completely prevent light reflection reinforcing this perception. Landmark Houses: John Lautner's Chemosphere. Youd think youd get used to the view, but I never have, Phillips said. However counterintuitive the scheme, it was also one of very few imaginable that allowed the plot to be utilized. The perimeter of the house is lined with windows to provide stunning views of the surroundings. "That's the characteristic of great artists: They can make things simple.". 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.". It's not the only contradiction the place contains. Maybe because you are floating above the city, above reality in the sky. "That's something that's important to all our projects: We don't try to draw attention to a detail. 8330 Elusive Dr, Los Angeles, CA is a single family home that contains 1,783 sq ft and was built in 1975. Nearby conventional homes suffered minor structural damage, he said. Chemosphere is bisected by a central, exposed brick wall with a fireplace, abutted by subdued seating, in the middle. He was a mechanical engineer at the time he asked Lautner to design the house, Malin said, with no connection to aviation or aerospace. [1] Preservation architect Frank Escher wrote the first book on Lautner a few years after moving to Los Angeles in 1988, and oversees the John Lautner Archives. Chem Seal provided the. You feel disconnected from the planet and completely free and happy.". How much is the chemosphere worth? "Every day there is something not working," he says. In 2004 the city of Los Angeles declared the resident a historic-cultural monument. 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 Chemosphere restoration won an award from the Los Angeles Conservancy as well as the approval of its original tenant. The house is the product of a fortuitous union of architect, client, time and place. All rights reserved. Leave it to an aerospace engineer to insist on building a flying saucer shaped house on a dangerously steep hillside. When John Lautner was given the site in 1960, there were two common methods for building houses on the difficult sloped land. "The maintenance is 10 times higher than in any other building. Nature And Design Meet In Lautner's Modern Homes. Fortunately, Taschen had the resources and respect for the Chemosphere's ingenuity to restore it to its original vision. 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. Despite being more compact than many new single-family houses, it has most of the essential elements. "Why not build it now, and pay for it for the rest of my life?" [5] The plans were later cancelled due to fears the annex would visually compete with the main house. 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. During the 1950s and '60s, the starker, cooler Modernism of the Bauhaus and of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe reigned in intellectual circles, especially in Europe and on the East Coast. But they have a personality to them, ya? "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 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. "Organic Modernism was just as modern in its use of materials," Hess says, "but it had a different sense of space, which was flowing. It's warm and human, not a cold place. Escher's restoration ran the flagstone pattern inside and out, across the bridge that connects the front door to the funicular. 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 It is a one-story octagon with around 2,200 square feet (200m2) of living space. Engineer Leonard Malins father-in-law gave Malin a sloping plot of land that seemed extremely inhospitable to any type of development. During the first few years the Taschens lived there, the house became locally famous for their parties, where photographer Bill Claxton and his model wife Peggy Moffett would carouse with porn stars, jazz musicians and director Billy Wilder. One side of the house is public, with a small kitchen and blended living and dining rooms including built-in couches below glass windows. We understand the quality of this translation is not excellent and we are working to replace these with high quality human translations. 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. I had to go around giving talks for six months and take tours through the house, Malin recalled. Taschen remembers going to a Beverly Hills open house where "a fashionable Hollywood film star" was selling his Neutra home. "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. "With this house he found and expressed this almost religious spirit with a perfect architectural language in general, but also in detail. 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. ", 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." 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 house, nicknamed the "Chemosphere" hovers 30 feet over the city of Los Angeles resembling a UFO aircraft. 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 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. 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. The young actor, in the publisher's estimate, "had robbed the soul of the house. One side of the house is public, with a small kitchen and blended living and dining rooms including built-in couches below glass windows. Atlas Obscura Experiences A Walking Tour of Hollywood Jazz. You can't be afraid of a house like that: You have to, in some cases, be kind of forceful.". "The place is much better than when I was in there -- and it's in keeping with Lautner's vision. Foreclosures These properties are currently listed for sale. This new house is one of the very first that will be certified LEED for Homes in Southern California. The Chemosphere is a modernist house in Los Angeles, California, designed by John Lautner in 1960. It sits on a column of steel-reinforced concrete, 30 feet tall and five feet thick. During restoration the architects added details that were unavailable 40 years before, as the technology simply did not exist. Frank Gehry has said that as a student, he considered Lautner to be a god.". "With this house he found and expressed this almost religious spirit with a perfect architectural language in general, but also in detail. [1] The house is reached by a funicular. Maybe because you are floating above the city, above reality in the sky. Frank Escher, who was brought in as restoration architect, vividly remembers the place's condition. [1][9] The recent restoration, by Escher GuneWardena Architecture, won an award from the Los Angeles Conservancy. The land was leafy and overgrown, with extravagant views of the San Fernando Valley. Advertisement. Despite being more compact than many new single-family houses, it has most of the essential elements. "The Taschens originally wanted to have more period pieces," Escher says. "It's like a wide-screen movie," he says. When they ran short of funds after spending about $93,000, he said, the houses startling appearance, with its already apparent appeal to advertisers, attracted financial help to finish it. "So they ignored him," says Hess, "or put him in the category of undisciplined, far-out, do-whatever-you-want California architecture. Other architects and designers built upon Fuller's ideas to create a variety of dome-shaped dwellings. Like a tree, the building sprouts from the hill. Lautner perched the entire one-storyoctagon on a single 30-foot concrete column, leaving the natural surroundings untouched. But the Taschens saw dirty, disco-era, wall-to-wall carpet on much of its 2,200 square feet, an old aluminum door, smudged windows and seven layers of paint on what was originally a gently austere, exposed brick wall. This was a time, during L.A.'s postwar expansion, when a middle-class client could build in the Hollywood Hills on a modest budget: Malin had $30,000 to spare. The concrete column, however, is not the element that supports the roof of the residence. 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. He said the house was named the Chemosphere for promotional purposes by the Chem-seal Corp. of America, which contributed material used in the roof coating and other parts of the house. His fiance Mary (MaryBud) Faustina Roberts Lautner (1913 . "You feel safe. Chemosphere is bisected by a central, exposed brick wall with a fireplace, abutted by subdued seating, in the middle. What can have very different feelings from both sides of it. Its the best living condition from every standpoint that you could get on that site. The cost to build Chemosphere, US$140,000 (equivalent to $1.28 million in 2021), was subsidized partly by barter with two sponsoring companies, the Southern California Gas Company and the Chem Seal Corporation. Frank Gehry has said that as a student, he considered Lautner to be a god.". Though Lautner could appear imperious, a quality he may have learned from his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright, he was also a deeply practical and hard-headed problem-solver. 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. "It looked like a rundown motel. This innovative design was Lautner's solution to a site that, with a slope of 45 degrees, was thought to be practically unbuildable. "Day-to-day life is really easy," she says, often easier "than in a conventional home where the architect has not thought so much about every single detail.". "The maintenance is 10 times higher than in any other building. [6][7][8], By 1997, the interior had become run down; for over 10 years it had been rented out and used for parties and as a result the interior finishes had undergone major and anachronistic alteration. Leonard Malin was a young aerospace engineer in late-1950s L.A. whose father-in-law had just given him a plot north of Mulholland Drive, near Laurel Canyon. The house actually has been reported as a UFO, Lautner said in an interview. The house has a security channel for washing outside the large windows. (The house is reached by a funicular.). "You have the reality of Southern California life, and the image of Southern California life, summed up in one house.". He canceled plans for a guesthouse designed by Rem Koolhaas at Chemosphere's base because he feared it would visually compete with the main house. 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. Lautner, a brilliant but reputedly prickly man, sketched a bold vertical line, a cross, and a curve above it. (The couple were finalizing a divorce at the time of this article's publication.) The Hammer Museum included the Chemosphere in a retrospect of John Lautners work, in 2008. [13] In 1996 the Chemosphere was represented as Troy McClure's (played by Phil Hartman) fictional Springfield hilltop mansion in The Simpsons TV series. (The house is reached by a funicular.). The house, which looks like a UFO hedgehopping the Santa Monica Mountains above Studio City, has become a Los Angeles landmark and an internationally known architectural treasure. Too bad you still have to pay for it. His only major plan is to replace the bird-cage-like funicular with a more open one. Of my life? man, sketched a bold vertical line, a PhD art... And blended living and dining rooms including built-in couches below glass windows of the house, destroy! Came time to film new Moon approval of its original vision to build a house that resembled a extraterrestrial! `` had robbed the soul of the best living condition from Every standpoint that you get! Restored it to its former glory limiting her trips out of the San Fernando Valley 's.. 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