Schindler's Kings Road House in West Hollywood

Entry to the Schlinder house, left turn after coming down the driveway

Studio

Tilt-up walls of the Schindler House, and outdoor fireplace

I did a quick self-tour of Rudolph Schindler's Kings Road House recently while in LA. It was great not having to be lectured about the house and to be able to wander and explore, especially since we were the only folks in the place. In 1920, Schindler located to LA to do the construction oversite on Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House in Hollywood. He soon started his own practice, and he never left LA after that. In 1922 he built a house for himself and another couple. Both wings had living and studio space for working out of the house. Hollywood was a very progressive spot in the 1920's, where poets, actors, artists, dancers and the like all experimented with different ways of expression and ideas about living. Schindler's own house was the architectural manifestation of those ideas. Space flowing from inside to out, open air sleeping "basket" on the roof, and construction of raw materials: unsealed redwood, sliding canvas panels, and signature tilt-up concrete panels separated by a thin pane of unframed glass. Only the beautiful California climate could preserve such a loosely constructed and daring residence, which now glows with a soft patina of years of being lived in (Schindler lived there until he died).