Samuel Freeman House
Samuel Freeman House, 2008
Samuel Freeman House is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Samuel Freeman House
Samuel Freeman House is located in California
Samuel Freeman House
Samuel Freeman House is located in the United States
Samuel Freeman House
LocationLos Angeles, California
Coordinates34°6′20.39″N 118°20′18.97″W / 34.1056639°N 118.3386028°W / 34.1056639; -118.3386028
Built1924
ArchitectFrank Lloyd Wright
Architectural styleModern architecture
NRHP reference No.71000146[2]
CHISL No.1011[3]
LAHCM No.247
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 14, 1971
Designated LAHCMNovember 25, 1981
Samuel Freeman House, isometric view, HABS

The Samuel Freeman House (also known as the Samuel and Harriet Freeman House) is a Frank Lloyd Wright house in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California built in 1923. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The house is also listed as California Historical Landmark #1011 and as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #247.

Significance

As an example of Wright's Mayan Revival or early Modernist architecture, the structure is noteworthy as one of the four textile block houses built by Wright in the Los Angeles area, the others being Storer House, Ennis House, and Millard House. It has the world's first glass-to-glass corner windows.[4] The construction manager on site was Wright's son, Lloyd Wright.

The house was known as an avant-garde salon, and the list of individuals who spent significant periods of time there or lived in the house's two Rudolph Schindler-designed apartments includes John Bovingdon, Beniamino Bufano, Xavier Cugat, Rudi Gernreich, Martha Graham, Philip Johnson, Peter Krasnow, Bella Lewitzky, Jean Negulesco, Richard Neutra, Claude Rains, Herman Sachs, Galka Scheyer, Edward Weston, Olga Zacsek, and Fritz Zwicky.[5][6] It also served as an intellectual sanctuary for individuals blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.[7]

Ownership

The original owners lived in the house until Harriet Freeman's death in 1986, when she bequeathed it to the USC School of Architecture.[8] The house suffered severe damage during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. In 2005, the school completed a stabilization project using a $901,000 FEMA grant and $1.5 million in school funds.[9]

In 2012, a pair of cast iron & brass floor lamps designed by Wright as well as a cushioned folding chair and a tea cart designed by Schindler were discovered stolen from a storage facility where they were placed after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.[8] The items were discovered missing in 2012 from a locked room in the storage facility managed by USC's School of Architecture. The theft remained unreported to the LAPD until 2019.[10]

In 2022, USC sold the house to a real estate developer, Richard Weintraub, under the condition that it be preserved.[11]

Studies

A 3,200-page, seven-volume set of books published in 2014 documented a five-year program of studying the history and condition of the house.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Freeman House". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  3. ↑ "Freeman House". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  4. ↑ Miranda, Carolina A. (February 25, 2022). "USC sells Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House to private buyer — with agreement that it be preserved". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  5. ↑ The Freeman House: A Case for the Expansion of Significance – Judith Ruth Marks – Google Books. 2006. ISBN 9780542901249. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  6. ↑ Schindler, Rudolph M.; Gebhard, David; Schindler, R. M.; Berns, Marla C.; Gebhard, Patricia; Berns, Marla (1997). The furniture of R.M. Schindler – Rudolph M. Schindler, David Gebhard, Patricia Gebhard, Marla C. Berns – Google Books. ISBN 9780942006308. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Donald Leslie (2013). On Frank Lloyd Wright's Concrete Adobe – Donald Leslie Johnson – Google Books. ISBN 9781409428176. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  8. 1 2 Ryan, Harriet; Hamilton, Matt (February 3, 2019). "Thieves stole architectural gems from USC in a heist that remained hidden for years". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Freeman House Restoration". Curbed. December 3, 2008.
  10. ↑ Tuohy, Jennifer Pattison (March 13, 2019). "Thieves Stole $200k Worth of Pieces From Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House". Dwell.
  11. ↑ Miranda, Carolina (February 25, 2022). "USC sells Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House to private buyer — with agreement that it be preserved". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Freeman House Archive Publication". Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

Further reading

  • Storrer, William Allin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN 0-226-77621-2 (S.216)
  • Chusid, Jeffrey M. 2011. Saving Wright, the Freeman House and the Preservation of Meaning, Materials, and Modernity. New York: W.W. Norton & Co (ISBN 978-0393733020).
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