Ennis-Brown House

On a business trip to Los Angeles I found myself with a couple of extra hours to find a couple of the more famous Wright buildings in California. Unfortunately my timing was not great because there were no tours offered at the time I visited the Ennis-Brown House, but I was able to walk around the outside and take pictures. The house has some wonderful art glass so I'll have to time my visit better next time. Be sure to check out the website for the house if you're planning a visit.

The terrible fires were just starting about this time. It was extremely hazy with the smoke and I was lucky to get out of LAX when I did because they cancelled some flights the next day due to low visibility.

This is a view of the Ennis-Brown house using a 300mm telephoto lens
from the site of the Hollyhock House.

You can see the patterns in the concrete blocks here.

The house is located on a hill. The gate to the driveway is to the right of this picture.
Evidently when the house is open for tours you can park on the property.

It's a pretty steep hill....

Notice some of the damaged blocks. The exterior of the house needs repair.

And you can see some scaffolding in place. It reminded me of the time
I toured Fallingwater when it had supporting beams in place.

Some of the art glass windows. Something to look forward to on the tour....

Notice the typical Frank Lloyd Wright seamless corner windows.

The main gate entry to the parking area.

The main entryway as photographed from just outside the gate.

Note the damaged walls on the left side of the photograph.

The view from the house is no doubt better, but this shows
the haze from the smoke in the air.

Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House

On a business trip I found a couple of hours to visit two of the more famous Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings in the Los Angeles area. I first visited the Ennis-Brown House and then stumbled upon the Hollyhock House. It's on a small hill that stands above a commercial district. Evidently the entire block was owned by the Barnsdall's at one point, but much of the block is commercial now. The house itself was fenced off, but I received a very complete tour from the docent, Peter Reidy. I'd previously seen Peter's name in the "Wright Chat" section of the FLW Building Conservancy website so it was nice to meet him in person.

This is the traditional view of the house. Note the ornamented concrete.

A closer view and also a view of the art glass from the outside.

The back of the house. Although the house reminds me of Unity Temple,
it also has a prairie house feel here.

Again, some of the art glass in the house from the outside.

A close-up of some concrete work.

The Art Gallery on the site is not a Wright building,

but it was designed in the Wright style. That's my reflection on the door.

The entryway is extensive. The covered walkway felt somewhat like
the covered walkways at Florida Southern College

I thought the horizontal slats here were unlike
any other pattern of Wright's that I have seen.

Mr. Reidy said that the stairs on the guest house were added to meet the fire code.

The view from the hill. Note the FLW style lamp.
I don't know if the lamps are original, but I am guessing they were added later.

A view of the Ennis-Brown house using a telephoto lens.

The observatory on the hill overlooking the Hollyhock House area.
I drove up the hill to try to get a view, but unfortunately the observatory site was closed.
It was very hazy from the brush fires in the area anyway so I might not have seen much.