Estates of Grace
Written by Roger Grody
Nearly everybody has a passion to collect, whether it be a Little Leaguer trading baseball cards, a numismatist searching for a 1916-D Mercury dime or an office colleague showing off souvenir coffee mugs.
Affluence merely ups the ante, resulting in collections of original Dalis or vintage Lamborghinis. In recent years, another pricey collectible has become popular among Los Angeles’ rich and famous: homes with architecturally significant pedigrees.
Fortunately, masterpieces from world-class architects are scattered among the city’s hillsides like antiques in Granny’s attic. Despite its reputation for endless subdivisions of cookie-cutter tract homes, L.A. has attracted some of the finest residential designers in American history, and there is a robust market for their masterpieces.
Architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and John Lautner were drawn to Southern California from their native Midwest by the physicality of the desert, hillsides and ocean that continue to provide spectacular backdrops for their architectural achievements.
