Page 56 - The Hunt - Winter 2019/2020

TRAVELER
were rarely on site simultaneously. As costs mounted and goals diverged, the two clashed.
Wright dispatched project manager Rudolph Schindler to California to
manage Hollyhock House. Wright’s son, Lloyd, then head of design at Paramount Studios, also assisted with construction and landscaping. The original plan called for two secondary residences, a director's house, a dormitory, studios and shops, but only Hollyhock House, Residence A (currently undergoing renovation) and Residence B (since demolished) were built. Thankfully,
a series of restorations has made Hollyhock House fit for visitors, if not the owners’ original plans.
Two perfectly balanced concrete doors swing open easily to reveal the dramatic interior. In the dining room, a hexagonal tabletop sits on a triangular base and the spines of the chairs represent the home’s eponymous flowers, epitomizing Wright’s fondness for geometric shapes. On the other side of the entranceway is a cozy library with
built-in shelves, soft lighting and a Hiroshige print on the wall. A Buddha overlooks the peaceful loggia.
Wright believed that the living room should be the heart of a home, and he spared no expense in the design and materials. Built-in sofas were luxuriously upholstered. Torchieres throughout the room showcase Tiffany vases. A pair of Japanese screens flanks a wall of windows. The carpet, weighing in at a whopping 1,500 pounds, is a reproduction of the original Edward Fields rug Wright designed.
The living room’s pièce de résistance, though, is its monumental fireplace, boasting a poured concrete bas-relief hearth decorated with circles, rectangles, diamonds and the omnipresent hollyhock. Above this focal point is a skylight, and the room is surrounded by a moat
Originally, the water was supposed to
flow from a pool in the courtyard through a tunnel, around the fireplace and out the other side to a fountain. But the plumbing never
worked properly, and the feature was soon shut off. Plenty of water leaked in, though. Dismissive of such technical issues, Wright wrote, “Let’s forget it. The damned thing will float away some day and be forgotten.”
But that wasn’t the case.
Today, surrounded by a theater and art galleries, Barnsdall Art Park is closer to Barnsdall’s vision for an artists’ colony than
it was a century ago. Benign neglect has given way to extensive restoration efforts and the corresponding funding. The City of Los Angeles and Project Restore continue to develop and renovate portions of the park. In July 2019, Hollyhock House was one of eight Frank Lloyd Wright buildings inscribed on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List. A virtual tour is now available for anyone who can't visit in person.
The argumentative heiress and architect would probably concede that those are welcome developments—even if they weren’t their ideas.
Visit www.barnsdall.org.
IMAGINE YOUR DREAM
AT DELAWARE STATE PARKS
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86 THE HUNT MAGAZINE winter 2019-20