[f1000]

Frank Lloyd Wright Calif. Home in Danger

Fri Mar 4, 1:45 PM ET

By GREG RISLING, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Architect Frank Lloyd Wright once wrote that a home should not simply be plopped on a hill: "It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so hill and house could live together each the happier for the other."



After weeks of drenching rain in Southern California, it turns out that one of Wright's landmark creations, a Mayan-inspired concrete-block compound featured in several movies, is so much of its hill that safety inspectors this week declared parts of it off-limits.

Across Southern California, the storms have relented, but some homes on hillsides and mountains are slowly slipping or coming apart.

In the hills north of downtown Los Angeles near the Griffith Observatory is Wright's Ennis-Brown house, which looks like a temple straight out of an "Indiana Jones" movie and was a location for such movies as "The House on Haunted Hill," "Blade Runner" and "Grand Canyon."

The house was declared uninhabitable earlier this week after inspectors found a retaining wall was crumbling. Pressure from the sliding soil was causing heavy stones to pop out of the wall. After a second look, city officials gave the go-ahead for people to enter the main building, which was erected on bedrock. But other parts of the compound remain off-limits.

"The main building isn't going anywhere," said Bob Steinbach, a spokesman for the city Department of Building and Safety. "We want them to shore things up so there are no further problems."

The house, built in 1924 and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was named for original owners Mabel and Charles Ennis and the couple who donated it to the Trust for Preservation of Cultural Heritage in 1980. The nonprofit organization opened it to the public, giving tours of its intricate stone- and ironwork, art-glass doors and luxurious pool.

The compound has needed repairs for several years because of its age and damage sustained during the 1994 earthquake. It had been closed since December for the renovation and is not expected to reopen until the summer.

The trust's executive director, Franklin De Groot, said there is greater urgency to fixing the compound now because more rain could worsen the damage.

"The longer we wait, the more possibility of damage and cost exists," he said.

The organization has chosen Wright's grandson Eric Lloyd Wright as the project's primary architect. The federal government is providing about $2.5 million, but officials estimate as much as $10 million more is needed to complete the restoration.

The Ennis-Brown house was one of the first homes to be built from concrete block. Wright, who died in 1959, built 350 to 400 homes, and all but 60 endure.

"He felt that if you built a house, you build it to last for a long, long time," said Bruce Pfeiffer, director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Pfeiffer said he can recall only one instance in which a Wright house lost a battle with nature: A waterfront home in Mississippi was destroyed by a hurricane in the 1960s.

http://www.ennisbrownhouse.org

[ReggieX]

Most of the buildings he designed in Buffalo had major water leaks after they were built, which is a damn shame.

I'm a fan of Wright, but I don't think that house was in Blade Runner.

[f1000]

Originally posted by ReggieX:
I'm a fan of Wright, but I don't think that house was in Blade Runner.

You don't recognize those tiles from Deckard's bachelor pad?

[olePigeon]

Don't forget Predator II.

[ReggieX]

Originally posted by f1000:
You don't recognize those tiles from Deckard's bachelor pad?

The pic didn't load for some reason, now I see it. It's the place!

[sugar_coated]

These kind of houses never made sense to me ever. What's the point of making a house look good for the movies, while sitting on a hill or not and talking about the house being the hill when the hill itself can be threatened and most importantly it can't keep its structural integrity during inclement weathers and allow people to live in it confidently in rain or shine like people expect to live in a normal house that usually is built with these factors in mind? Sometimes even great architects like great doctors disapoint me, these guys who talk big theme stuff should get their head examined and fixed so that they go back to making normal houses where normal people can live happily ever after without the fear of the roof falling on their heads while they sleep peacefully only to never ever get up from their sleep ever again. Just my two pennies worth of thoughts, take it or leave it I wouldnt mind either way as long as you understand what I am saying that is.

[Psychonaut]

Originally posted by sugar_coated:
These kind of houses never made sense to me ever. What's the point of making a house look good for the movies, while sitting on a hill or not and talking about the house being the hill when the hill itself can be threatened and most importantly it can't keep its structural integrity during inclement weathers and allow people to live in it confidently in rain or shine like people expect to live in a normal house that usually is built with these factors in mind? Sometimes even great architects like great doctors disapoint me, these guys who talk big theme stuff should get their head examined and fixed so that they go back to making normal houses where normal people can live happily ever after without the fear of the roof falling on their heads while they sleep peacefully only to never ever get up from their sleep ever again. Just my two pennies worth of thoughts, take it or leave it I wouldnt mind either way as long as you understand what I am saying that is.

Take those two pennies and save them so you can read The Fountainhead. Come back when your more appreciative of the independent spirit.

[ghporter]

Originally posted by f1000:
You don't recognize those tiles from Deckard's bachelor pad?

There really wasn't enough light in the scenes of Deckard's pad for me to see much more than it existed, let alone identify the decor! But it's a shame that another one of FLW's designs is having difficulties.

[f1000]

Originally posted by sugar_coated:
These kind of houses never made sense to me ever. What's the point of making a house look good for the movies...

The house was built in 1924, several years before movies even had sound. The fact that it was used as a set in a groundbreaking sci-fi film some sixty years later is a testament to Wright's genius.

[PookJP]

Originally posted by f1000:
The house was built in 1924, several years before movies even had sound. The fact that it was used as a set in a groundbreaking sci-fi film some sixty years later is a testament to Wright's genius.

Exactly. In fact, I'm not convinced habitable houses are ever made explicitly for movies -- that's what sound stages are for.

[f1000]

Wow, this house has been used as a location in many films. Ridley Scott used it for both Blade Runner and Black Rain. David Lynch even used it for the Calvin Klein "Obsession" commercial.

http://www.ennisbrownhouse.org/film/film_index.html

[MilkmanDan]

Blade Runner was really good. The pad is a quite the interesting place.

[malvolio]

Another Frank Lloyd Wright house on a hill. But since this one is in the Northeast, it should last longer.

[beb]

The Ennis Brown house was used as inspiration for Decker's apartment set in the movie Blade Runner. The actual residence was not used for filming.

[Skip Breakfast]

He was ahead of his time, but that doesn't change my opinion that his designs are fugly.

[wdlove]

I certainly hope that the house can be saved.