Eaglefeather on a Saturday

It's happened again... many great memories have piled up on my hard drive without being share with my digital friends. Alas, recent events have brought about a new post... involving Frank Lloyd Wright.



I had only recently discovered that there was a 1940's Frank Llyod Wright designed house hidden away in the north Los Angeles hills. Tucked away, just off Mulholland Drive, Eaglefeather sits on many acres across the top of a bluff.



Designed for Arch Oboler, an early Hollywood radio & film celebrity. The property, like all Wright designs, encompasses elements from the surrounding areas, as well as working in unison with the landscape. The house can also be seen in Oboler's film Five.



On this visit, it appeared that the house is being restored by an unknown person. Sneeking onto a small portion of the property allowed for a few good images. Plus a birds eye view from the driveway across the street.






Here in 2010, the land almost seems as untouched as in 1941 when first inhabited by the Oboler family. The property looks out to the Pacific Ocean & this day, looks east to vineyards & Mullholand's expansive & scenic drive.

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.