Ennis House - Frank Lloyd Wright

There once was a time... a time close to a decade ago when I was studying the angles and shapes of buildings over the cuts and structure of the motion pictures. There once was a time when I wanted to be an architect. I truly wanted to design roller coasters, though fearing many of them even here in LA at Six Flags.

Alas, I spent years studying other designers, learning AutoCAD, and working to understand landscape and its influence. I even have blueprints for a house I designed on ETID Drive. Even though my path did not continue this way I learned very valuable things from looking at the world around us just a little different.

Another great aspect to this is I was introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright's work. One of the most important days in my architecture history was the day that my parents took me to tour two of the homes he designed in Los Angeles, Ennis House (shown here) & Hollyhock House. I had never seen such inovative design when arriving at the Ennis House that day in the Los Feliz Hills. Built in 1924, it was quite different for it's time. The exteroir portion seemed to flow out of the hill as the drive wrapped around it's castle like structure.

I love how you can see through the driveway out to an enourmous view of Los Angeles. The interior is a gorgeous wood & stone world with many of the rooms seperated by small changes in elevation, which was one of my favorite features.

However, these photos I shot a week ago when I reviseted the house for the first time in eight years. I spent almost tour house walking around the house shooting photos and just looking at the ideas presented in the house's design. You can really see the Mayan influence through the building.

The sad part is the house is no longer available for tours. It had become to costly for the city to keep up the renovations to allow tours. The house is now on the market for $15 million, with an estimated $10 million in work to get it up to great standards.