Ennis Home: Frank Lloyd Wright House Up For Sale

LOS ANGELES — A badly damaged Frank Lloyd Wright landmark has been put up for sale by a foundation that is having trouble raising money and sees private ownership as the best way to save it.

The 1924 Ennis House sits on a hilltop north of downtown. It was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Then, in 2005, torrential rains caused a retaining wall to buckle, making matters worse.

The nonprofit Ennis House Foundation has spent $6.5 million repairing it so far but now believes that the building would be best preserved as an owner-occupied home.

Board president James DeMeo says the current economic climate made it hard to raise funds.

It is asking $15 million and estimates the buyer would have to spend up to $7 million more to finish the restoration.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

Comments

[MNValley]

For those Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast­s...

http://www.wrightiniowa.com/

http://www.stockmanhouse.org/

[xrepublican]

Unfortunately Wright's houses often were simply impractical to actully build.

While his houses are striking they are often problematic structurally. Wright often ignored engineers and his pioneering use of concrete unfortunately lacked the necessary reinforcement used regularly today. Beams wer often undersized, leading to recurring problems in many of his designs. Cantelievered structures often lacked adequate support and the designs themselves were anything but simple to construct.

Too many people praise architects for their designs while ignoring the pragmatic aspects of the craft. If designs are impossible to build in a cost effective manner - or simply are impossible to build, there's a problem. Google Frank Lloyd Wright and 'structural problems' and you'll get a list that is far too long.

[Douglas90723]

106 billion for wars this year but just pennies for the great architectual treasures of the USA.

Wright was one of the greats of all time. Few countries as young as the USA can boast to have produced one of the greatest architects of all human history. His work needs to be preserved for all time.

There are only four or five world's greatest architects­.....Wrigh­t is certainly one of them and might well be the greatest of all..

[lolyla]

I'll bet they want it "privately owned." People can't even dump a well-constructed house nowadays. This one sounds like it's about to fall off a cliff.

[starrianna]

A house that will cost $7 million to fix up in order to be worth around $7-10 million when it's finished (which is a realistic value), is NOT WORTH $15 MILLION NOW!

Flawed math:

$15 + 7 does not equal $7.

Actual value: $0 to $3 million. Let's see what happens.
Of course, some idiot could believe all of this rubbish the media generates for this house, paying cash since no bank will finance this money pit. Then they will have to spend millions more to P.R. this house to the gills in order to sell it. Have fun kids!

[BillMelater]

DAYUM, LAST YEAR I COULD HAVE GOT A LOAN FOR IT....

[BillMelater]

Ok, I never could have made the first payment - but I coulda got the loan...

[Aramarcal]

Brad Pitt will buy it

[aFlyoverPerson]

I live in a Usonian house designed by a Taliesin fellow, built in 1951. It is small, low-maintenance and one-of-a-kind, with the feeling of an extremely comfortable tree house. There are several in the neighborhood. The Wrightsian details are all there. He taught them well.

The big commissions, however, seemed to be beautiful but with daunting structural problems. I hope they can save it.

[lysistrata]

If we had a beautiful plaza we would pave it and make a parking lot out of it. We would no know what else to do with it.

[lysistrata]

Great nations build and have great architecture and are proud of it. We go to see the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, great architecture, it is what we leave behind.

The ugliness along our high ways is enough to bring up the road rage, nothing to look at and enjoy, add the suburban sprawl, neither city nor country, it makes you want to scream.

The fact that we build very little now, that our roads and highways and towns and cities are just ugly tells us about our nations decay.

[Mikeeee]

Sad but true.

[brandnewstuff]

Nice to read others comments- I just do not have one- My give a damn just is not there

[truthsayer1000f]

Make a reality show around it... that's the only way americans will give a rat's ass.

[Ganapati]

Having read all the postings here
I come to the conclusion that Americans don't deserve architecture or art,
Just be content with the endless bland world of ticky tacky boxes painted in beige, their huge plasma TV's
and their junk food. Junk culture... How sad

[drumz]

Don't mistake trolls that never have anything positive to say with real Americans. That side of the aisle you are correct about, they could care less about art, architecture or anything cultural. Thankfully the rest of America is leaving them in the dust.

[Ganapati]

Perhaps you are being too optimistic on this one
Go out to the street and ask passersby to name one architect (not from a movie)
99% won't know. The large majority of people have learnt their aesthetic appreciation form Disneyland, Malls and Master Planned Communities.
Why do you think the phrase "tear it down to build something else" comes up so often.
I bet you that it is practically impossible for them to make the conceptual jump between something "real" and their junkspace reality. They were born in it.

Truman Show, anybody?

[Earl]

He//, I'd love to have 40 acres and a mule.

[Bozwellian]

like, uh, dam...a good many of us all would love to have forty acres and a mule, not alone their and we're a true "mix" of sorts wishing for just that and willing to leave the city/compounds far behind with the thought of some fresh air and sky and , yeah, even willing to sow some seeds to gain some crops to subsist upon rather than another McD or whatever !!!

[Ganapati]

There is a category called "Cultural Patrimony" that doesn't exist in the US.
It covers everything from archaeological sites and artifacts, to cities and buildings to music, to foods that are considered treasures to the culture and identity of a nation.
The nation pays for their protection, taxes pay for it, for the benefit and enjoyment of all citizens.

[tfred]

I see no reason to restore this old house. Frank L. Wright was notorious for doing shoddy work and his designs were less than stellar. Mostly just based on Aztec temples with snakes and such. If I owned it, I would just tear it down and build some efficiency and one bedroom condos and make some real money.

[factotem]

blah blah blah. You're a cr*tin. Leave culture to thoughtful people.

[JackNasty]

Why are public displays of ignorance the only art that some Americans appeciate?

[drumz]

You have just desribed the world of the reich-wing.