Wright's Jaw-Dropping Hollyhock House

The Hollyhock House takes its name from the home’s original owner’s (Pennsylvania oil heiress Aline Barnsdall’s) love of the flower, and it features hollyhock motifs throughout the 17-room house. This house, Wright’s first in Los Angeles, is done in the then-new “California romanza” architectural style; “romanza” is a musical term meaning “the freedom to make one’s own form.” The home dominates the surrounding landscape and is built around a central courtyard with many indoor-outdoor connections and views of the Hollywood Hills and Los Angeles basin. “This house was built for an unconventional client, so it’s an unconventional house,” Herr says.

 

Barnsdall, who was a traveler, philanthropist, art collector and political radical, hired Wright to build a theater complex where she could put on avant-garde plays, but the project evolved to include her house in a larger art complex. Construction began in 1919, but Barnsdall fired Wright from the job in 1921, citing ballooning costs as cause for dismissal. Architect Rudolph Schindler moved from Chicago to California to oversee the project’s completion.

Despite its enduring architectural significance, Barnsdall wasn’t satisfied. She donated it, along with surrounding land, to the city of Los Angeles in 1927 to be used as a public art park, and never lived there. Now the California modernism harbinger and surrounding buildings comprise the Barnsdall Art Park; it’s a national historic landmark and has been nominated by the United States for Unesco’s World Heritage List.

 

Shown: Wright designed the home’s original concrete bas-relief fireplace. A skylight above the fireplace and a pool area at its base bring the four elements together at the hearth, the traditional center of the home.