Hollyhock House

Illuminated pool

The Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House in East Hollywood ( Los Angeles ) was planned by Frank Lloyd Wright as the home for Aline Barnsdall, the architecture-loving and unconventional heiress of an oil fortune, and built in 1919–1921. The building is currently the centerpiece of Barnsdall Art Park and an architectural monument.

history

The building, Wright's second project in California , was originally intended to be part of a larger theater and art complex. Since Wright was busy designing the Imperial Hotel in Japan at the time of the implementation of the project , he was unable to supervise the work himself and largely entrusted the execution to his assistant, Rudolph Schindler , and his son, Lloyd Wright .

Barnsdall negatively surprised by the ever increasing cost of construction and maintenance of the house as well as various, the occupancy of the house impractical-making aspects, it transferred in 1927 to the city of Los Angeles under the condition that for the next 15 years the California Art Club as Headquarters should serve; this was the case until 1942. Over the years the house served as an art gallery and as a facility for the United Service Organizations (USO). On May 6, 1971, Hollyhock House was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a monument . From 1974 the city financed various restoration measures; however, the building was affected by the 1994 earthquake. After an initial restoration, it was opened to the public again in June 2005, only to be closed again a few years later due to various problems; on February 13, 2015, it was reopened, faithfully restored. The rush was so great that many visitors had to wait in line for hours.

Detail on the south-western entrance

In 1989 the house was used as the temple of the piranha women during the filming of Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death .

The US Department of the Interior declared the Hollyhock House a National Historic Landmark in 2007 . It received this award as the seventh location within the city of Los Angeles.

In 2008, Hollyhock House, along with other buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, was placed on the list of contenders for World Heritage status .

In a December 2008 poll by the Los Angeles Times , the building was named one of the "Top Ten" buildings in Los Angeles.

Buildings and grounds

Interior view, 1921

The house has an "introverted" exterior with small windows, which makes it difficult to decipher the layout of the interior from the outside. It seems enigmatic and is constructed around a central courtyard, one side of which is open, creating a kind of amphitheater. The outer walls are angled 85 degrees backwards, a clear allusion to Mayan architecture. Thanks to the privileged location, there is a good view of the city of Los Angeles from the roof terrace.

The massive front doors are placed on pins and can be moved easily despite their great weight.

Inside, Wright experiments with open lines and transitions that are sometimes reminiscent of Japanese architectural tradition. Directly to the right of the house entrance is an "entertainment room", which offers one of the first or the first integrated "entertainment center" in history, with record-sized openings at floor level.

The central motif of the building, hollyhock (Hollyhock) is to find as an ornament in many places; The art windows also show such highly abstracted plant patterns. The client, Aline Barnsdale, chose the name of the building after her favorite flower.

Like many Wright designs, this one is ultimately of more aesthetic than practical value. The flat roof terraces have proven to be rain traps, and the concrete used is not very earthquake-proof.

The Friends of Hollyhock House (FOHH) currently offer tours of the building and also maintain a small research library with books and articles on Frank Lloyd Wright and Aline Barnsdall.