The Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Art Park was the only Frank Lloyd Wright house I got to see up close when I was in Los Angeles. The park on that occasion was the venue for the Arthurfest music festival so the house was omnipresent but was closed to visitors. After renovation the building was opened to the public last year, and in November was filmed by Houzz in this short video which includes drone shots of the exterior. Rain Noe at Core77 notes that the house was one of Wright’s notoriously poor constructions but a leaking ceiling doesn’t seem so bad if your home looks as spectacular as this.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Remembering Arthurfest
I’ve visited several Lloyd Wright structures throughout the U.S., most recently the Marin County Courthouse (Wright’s final major commission) which bridges two Northern Californian hilltops in San Rafael. Was in this building for jury duty and couldn’t help noticing that, as a rainfall began, the janitors raced to appointed spots with plastic pails to catch dripping water. Nearly every Wright building I’ve encountered has leakage issues, curious but consistent all the same.