Built 1936 Designated 2009 Opened 1936 | Governing body private Reference no. 967 Architect Raphael Soriano | |
Architectural styles Streamline Moderne, International Style Similar Shulman House, Schindler House, Neutra VDL Studio and Resi, Silver Lake Reservoir, Hollyhock House | ||
Raphael Soriano’s first residential commission arose from his knowledge and passion for both language and music. The main feature of the house was to be a music room with excellent acoustic properties that could accommodate Mrs. Lipetz’s Bechstein Grand piano and up to twenty guests. Soriano designed the north end of this 15-foot (4.6 m) x 32-foot (9.8 m) room as a semi circle with continuous windows, creating a real-life backdrop of the vast San Gabriel Mountain Range, for Mrs. Lipetz’s performances. The site itself is on the pinnacle of a hill overlooking Silver Lake. Several hundred music albums were accommodated in shelves placed under built-in seating areas, and much of the other furniture in the house was also built-in. The music room comprised nearly one third of the total 2,300-square-foot (210 m2) area of the two-bedroom house. The design is in the International Style, built with traditional wood stud construction, similar to Richard Neutra’s frame, but with one innovate technological detail - steel beams supported the ground floor. The building was chosen as one of four U.S.A. buildings for the 1937 International Architecture Exhibition in Paris, and with it Soriano won the prestigious Prix de Rome. The house is in good condition with slight alterations.