HOW GREAT THOU ART

Eichler homes serve as video screens in Granada Hills art project

By Lisa Boone
Los Angeles Times September 16, 2013

"I think a lot about how our ideas are influenced by our environments," said artist Nate Page, who will screen nine short videos on the front of Eichler homes in the Balboa Highlands tract of Granada Hills on Thursday. "The psychological phenomenon of how we idealize modern living. These homes are perfect surfaces to screen something."

For a project titled "California Living," Page filmed 15-minute clips of homeowners who live in the neighborhood. The videos will show the interiors, sometimes with inhabitants moving about, as if passersby were looking into the homes through a window.

"I just asked the homeowners to be as creative as they want in representing their lifestyle inside the homes," Page said. "Or they could just do nothing. It's up to them. "

The videos will be staggered throughout the neighborhood, and which houses are serving as video screens will not to be obvious, said Page, who intended to create an experience in which viewers imagine the lives of the people behind the facades.

"I want people to project their own ideas about what the modern California lifestyle is like," Page said. "I was thinking a lot about isolation and modern living in California. People still need to create boundaries when they have that much openness."

Page said he researched a variety of architectural styles in which to explore the issues of isolation and openness, ultimately settling on Eichler because of the clear paradox between front and back.

"California Living" will screen from 8 to 11 p.m. Thursday on select houses on Darla Avenue, Lisette Street, Nanette Street and Jimeno Avenue, off Balboa Boulevard.

The event is part of the Machine Project Field Guide to L.A. Architecture, part of the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.

CASE STUDIES

The Stahl House (Case Study #22)

Why list Case Study houses on the National Register? 

By Carren Jao

LA TIMES August 27, 2013

Ten Case Study houses from Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Los Angeles Conservancy announced last week.

The listing includes homes designed by household names of California modernism, such as Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra and Pierre Koenig. All were part of the Case Study program organized by John Entenza, editor of Arts & Architecture magazine, in 1945. The magazine commissioned architects to develop prototype modernist housing for a post-World War II America, and in doing so, the program popularized a sleek aesthetic that endures today. The program encompassed more than three-dozen designs, but not all were actually built and some have been demolished or significantly altered.

The L.A. Conservancy’s Modern Committee spearheaded the National Register nomination, a nearly decade-long effort that culminated with the National Park Service formally listing 10 houses on July 24.

Adrian Scott Fine, the conservancy’s director of advocacy, spoke with us about the importance of this national recognition, what it means for the historic houses and why an 11th home, Case Study House No. 23A, was deemed eligible to be listed but wasn’t because of the owner's objection.

Question: Why did the L.A. Conservancy go through the trouble of getting these Case Study houses listed?

Answer: It was such an innovative program, instrumental to influencing the design of residences, not just in Southern California but also all over the country. Listing them was to give them the recognition they so dearly deserve.

How did the conservancy choose which homes to nominate?

It was a long process done mostly by volunteers. We focused on properties in Los Angeles County, since we’re an L.A.-based organization. We also looked outside of the county. We eventually trimmed down the list once we met with the owners or saw the property and realized it had too many changes already.

What protection does this listing offer the houses?

It’s pretty limited. Any building on the National Register could, in theory, be demolished. There are different types of designation for historic buildings from the national level down to the local level. It’s most often the local designation that provides real protection. However, we hope that knowing these houses have achieved this level of distinction, homeowners wouldn’t do something that would be detrimental to the home.

To what extent does the National Register listing protect the design?

Being listed doesn’t mean you can’t change anything on the house. You certainly can. The nomination calls out character-defining features. Case Study House No. 18 and No. 22 have innovative glass walls. Case Study House No. 28 has a great interior courtyard. Hopefully, owners wouldn’t change features like that. It would compromise the integrity of the house.

One home that the conservancy nominated was found eligible for designation but wasn’t included in the final listing. Why would an owner object to adding a home to the register?

Some owners were just uncomfortable with people knowing about their house. The other factor was the perceived level of government bureaucracy, which isn’t the case. The former [privacy] was the reason with the one owner who objected. It wasn’t that they didn’t care about the house or that they hadn’t done a good job preserving it.

What benefits are there to being designated?

They get the distinction of being able to say they live in a nationally historic property. Not every property can achieve that level of significance. The property would be eligible for a conservation easement because it’s listed. Owners would then receive a one-time charitable tax deduction for that.

There is also a federal tax credit program that credits 20% of the investment in the properties, but it only applies to income-producing properties. Most of the Case Study houses are individual residences, so this wouldn’t apply.

Considering the conservancy's submission was a multiple-property nomination, what are the implications for the other Case Study homes not registered?

If any of the houses that were left off want to be included, it would be a really streamlined and easy process to be listed because the hard work has been done. Why these houses are important has already been established. The homeowners can do the specific write-up on their house alone. They don’t have to make a bigger case.

THE LIST: ADDITIONS TO THE NATIONAL REGISTER

Case Study House No. 1, 10152 Toluca Lake Ave., Los Angeles

Case Study House No. 9, 205 Chautauqua Blvd., Los Angeles

Case Study House No. 10, 711 S. San Rafael Ave., Pasadena

Case Study House No. 16, 1811 Bel Air Road, Los Angeles

Case Study House No. 18, 199 Chautauqua Blvd., Los Angeles

Case Study House No. 20, 2275 N. Santa Rosa Ave., Altadena

Case Study House No. 21, 9038 Wonderland Park Ave., Los Angeles

Case Study House No. 22, 1635 Woods Drive, Los Angeles
Case Study House No. 23A, 2342 Rue de Anne, La Jolla, San Diego (eligible but not added)

Case Study House No. 23C, 2339 Rue de Anne, La Jolla, San Diego

Case Study House No. 28, 91 Inverness Road, Thousand Oaks

SPELLING CHA-CHING!

It's Official: America's Most Expensive Home Has A Brand New Billionaire Owner

By Morgan Brennan
 
Well folks, it’s official. The Spelling Manor, America’s most expensive home for sale, officially has a new owner. The sale of the $150 million Los Angeles, Calif. estate closed today and FORBES has the exclusive interview with co-listing agent Sally Forster Jones of Coldwell Banker Previews International. Forster Jones, who has more than $1 billion in sales to her name over the past decade alone, shared the listing with Rick Hilton and Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate.

“We are sold, it is closed,” says Forster Jones. “It’s the highest broker sale in Southern California in the history of Southern California and Los Angeles.”

As with many other ultra luxury home sales, the brokers signed Non-Disclosure Agreements on the property, meaning they can’t divulge the final sales price or confirm the identity of the buyer. But we have good reason to believe it is Petra Ecclestone, heiress to the Formula One racing empire and daughter of British billionaire Bernie Ecclestone. Representatives of Ecclestone, 22, announced she was in contract on the 56,500-square foot mansion last month. Today The Wall Steet Journal reports that the opulent estate sold for $85 million, or at a steep 43% discount off the $150 million asking price.

The Spelling Manor, built by Candy Spelling and late TV producer husband Aaron Spelling, was on the sale block for two and a half years, maintaining that hefty nine figure asking price the entire time. Forster Jones says the sale transaction went very smoothly. Deals of this magnitude tend to be all-cash — something we strongly suspect to be the case with this transaction. The high-end home broker could not confirm the nature of the sale but she did assert that sales of trophy properties like this one, “tend to be cash-type buyers because they [the home buyers] are the ultra wealthy part of population.”

Forster Jones also notes that the property enjoyed a “tremendous amount of interest” and that, unlike for sale homes at lower price points, two and a half years is not a long time on the market. “This is a glitzy Hollywood property, but it is also very homey – all the potential buyers could picture themselves calling it home,” remarks the Realtor.

The Spelling Manor, originally named L’Oiseau, is situated on about 4.7 acres in tony Holmby Hills, an exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood. The three-story, seven bedroom estate boasts every outrageous amenity a celebrity or billionaire could imagine. Among the offerings are a dog grooming room, five bars, a wine cellar and tasting room, a China room for displaying ritzy server ware, a “gift-wrapping” room, a flower-cutting hall with professional florist fridge, a projection room, game and billiards rooms, a bowling alley, and a beauty salon. An elevator runs between the floors.

The lavish estate’s grounds encompass expansive gardens, an orangery, a koi pond, lamp posts imported from Paris, a pool complex and tennis courts. The fountain-studded motor court holds up 100 cars in front of the limestone mansion.

Ecclestone is said to be moving into the palatial pad following her August nuptials to James Stunt, a businessman and London nightclub fixture. It’s been reported that the couple will split their time between London and and their new SoCal digs.

Candy Spelling, mother to actress-turned-reality star Tori, was the home’s seller. She snapped up a $35 million penthouse apartment in Century City, a luxe L.A. high rise owned by billionaire Stephen Ross‘ Related Co. in December and relocated there shortly after. Forster Jones has represented the Spelling family on six real estate transactions and says Spelling is “wonderful to work with.”

The Spelling Manor joins the ranks of most expensive billionaire homes in the country with Yuri Milner’s $100 million Silicon Valley estate, and industrial billionaire Ira Rennert‘s hulking Fair Field Estate in the Hamptons, valued at $200 million according to tax assessments.

Its sale today sheds light on a growing trend in America’s ultra high-end housing market: foreign buyers. Forster Jones says foreign buyers, primarily from Asia, Russia, Europe and the Middle East, constitute roughly 75% of all showings she gives of her $20 million and higher property listings. Coldwell Banker Previews International’s $10 million and higher listings in the Los Angeles area have been enjoying a rebound this year. Twenty-seven homes worth $10 million or more have sold thus far in 2011, compared to 15 sales in 2010 and 12 in 2009. Many of them were purchased by foreigners.