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By Crosby Doe Okay, let me admit this up front: I am one of the lucky ones. Not only do I sell historic and architect-designed properties for a living—which I love and have been doing in Los Angeles for over 40 years—but for 35 of those years, I have been living with my wife in a two-story hilltop manse designed by architect Joseph Blick with spacious interiors that open to views of the surrounding...

With this 1968 Bell Canyon model home and its master-planned recreational surroundings, Cliff May took the suburban ranch to the next level—and further defined Western living. by Andrea Hunter Dietz Sheltered beneath ancient oaks, the low, white ranch house with the concrete tile roof does not broadcast its architectural import. Yet this unpretentious residence, set well back from the road in a...

by Pierluigi Serraino, AIA “If I had to do it all over again,” says Richard Bradshaw, “I would become an architect.” These are powerful words coming from the low-key structural engineer who, having worked closely with architectural masters such as Richard Neutra, Carl Maston, Welton Becket, Paul Williams, A. Quincy Jones, and John Lautner over many years, quietly turned 100 last September. He...

The Recent Sale of the Manola Apartments by Architect Rudolph Schindler defies the use of Standard Appraisal Techniques by John C. Carlson The terraced property at 1807 Edgecliffe Drive in L.A.’s Silver Lake neighborhood isn’t just any apartment complex. Designed by legendary architect Rudolf Schindler with broad windows and double-height ceilings, the 16-unit Manola Court apartments is a unique...

By Crosby Doe When I was in grade school, growing up in Pasadena, California one of my teachers told us the story of the destruction of the Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt, one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It was beyond my comprehension, even as a child, that any civilization would deliberately burn down such a valuable center of cultural knowledge – it was...

Zoltan Pali, FAIA by Andrea Dietz Current Photographs by Cameron Carothers unless otherwise noted “They just wouldn’t leave.” In 2010, participants of a Dwell Home Tour overstayed their visit to Beverly Hills’s Caverhill House. Entranced, mesmerized, they lost themselves to what Don Caverhill, the homeowner, describes as the house vortex – the tendency of the property to lull its occupants...

Daphne Residence, Craig Ellwood, Designer by Pierluigi Serraino Current Photographs by Scott Mayoral unless otherwise noted Completed in 1961, this single family house designed by noted designer Craig Ellwood (1922-1992) today is as pristine as it was when first finished. Its grand presence is felt upon arrival from Madrone Place. Raised on 32 steel columns, it floats majestically on a small half acre...

by Crosby Doe Over the years I have been lucky enough to have represented many of the greatest works of residential architecture in Southern California—Frank Lloyd Wright’s Millard House, Lloyd Wright’s Taggart House, Richard Neutra’s Singleton House, John Lautner’s Silvertop and Carling House, Harwell Hamilton Harris’s English House, among so many others. These properties provide some of the...

by Mark Morrison Current Photographs by Erik Grammer unless otherwise noted “At first glance, the stately Spanish Revival home on this winding West Hollywood road doesn’t look like much. The white stucco Mediterranean sits low on a hillside above Sunset Strip, half-hidden behind wrought-iron railing, its top floor and red-tile roof poking into sight above the front walk. Surrounded by flashier,...

Mary and Lee Blair House, 1939 by Alan Hess Current Photographs by Cameron Carothers unless otherwise noted The ultimate emblem of America's mid-twentieth century love affair with modernism may not be the iconic 1949 Eames fiberglass chair or the indoor-outdoor Eichler tract houses of the early 1950s. It was arguably Walt Disney Studio's adoption of a stylized modern aesthetic in its popular animated...