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In 1926, skilled architect Lloyd Wright designed this masterpiece of a house for painter and photographer John Sowden, who the Mayan-style residence is named after. While Lloyd Wright initially endured a wave of criticism for the Sowden House, the response softened over his lifetime. When he passed away in 1978, the Los Angeles Times heralded the home as the masterpiece of his residential designs. While he enjoyed the revised kitchen and masterful landscaping design, he still found the courtyard changes unimpressive.
HISTORY
Yet since 2008 visitors to the New Canaan compound where Johnson lived with his longtime partner, the collector and curator David Whitney, before donating it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, have arrived to find the Brick House shut up tight. Designer Stephanie Hatten updated the Gatehouse Kitchen, turning it into an airy English-country-inspired space. An eye-catching natural stone by Walker Zanger was selected for the counters and backsplash, and the space was outfitted with the latest Monogram appliances.
Throwback Thursday: Revisiting The Domestead, a unique geodesic dome house in L.A.
Its transformation from private family home into hip showplace had already happened in 2001, when flamboyant real estate entrepreneur Xorin Balbes bought the home from the Mazur family for $1.2 million. After George died, his son Steve, a retired LAPD detective, was going through some of his father's possessions when he found two pictures of a lovely dark-haired girl. He soon became convinced that the photos were of Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, whose unsolved 1947 murder and mutilation had long been the stuff of Hollywood legend. In 1945, Dr. George Hodel purchased the already iconic house, which was so confusing to most average mortals.
Samuel-Novarro Residence
Even Steve’s first marriage was to a woman who wanted to use him as revenge against his father. Carrying on the legacy of his father, who worked with molded concrete tiles and blocks to create structurally innovative buildings, Lloyd Wright used concrete textile blocks to erect the Sowden House. The technique, just like in the case of his father’s best works, created a unique structure that’s reminiscent of ancient Mayan temples. The Sowden House was designed by noted architect Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, for his friends John and Ruth Sowden. The Sowdens, who were part of the Hollywood film scene, wanted a house that would accommodate lavish parties and entertaining, and they encouraged Wright to create a distinctive showplace. Critics derided the use of the concrete blocks, the cheapest available material, being used in expensive upscale neighbourhoods.
She objected to the pool, to the refinement of the entry staircase, and to the addition of Asian elements that were "completely wrong" for Wright's Mesoamerican design. Upon construction, Wright’s Sowden House utilized an open floor plan with the home’s central courtyard serving as an axis facilitating a flow between the radius rooms. As we mentioned, the famed architect’s use of concrete blocks was heavily criticized at the time for their affordability. Wright believed in landscape architecture, exhibiting a particular reverence for nature.
The designer outfitted a door handcrafted in India with a vintage mirror to create a one of a kind headboard and bathed the space in deep emerald green. The glamorous touches continue in the ensuite bath, where Sabatella added a custom mirror-tiled tub that plays off the vintage French tile floor. Hand-painted floors were the jumping-off point for designer Amy Peltier’s soothing primary bedroom design. “It was so much work, but it turned out beautiful.” The firm wanted the space to feel “light and airy and breezy,” and incorporated fabrics and wall coverings by Thibaut in a soft color palette. Peltier and designer Marina Kelly installed an arch to divide the bedroom from the sitting area, breaking up the large space.
The Potter Daniels Manor, the English Tudor Revival–style residence that hosted the 1975 and 1996 showcase houses, has been reimagined with 30 new interior and exterior spaces for the 2024 edition, which is now open until May 19. From the outside, the Sowden House appears to be a fortress, covering the secrets the residence holds within. The few lucky individuals who visit it can only describe the peaceful vibes the interior gives off. However, at night, when the fire is burning and it’s dark all around, a quick reminder may pop up that the legendary house gave birth to a murderous tragedy many years ago. In 2001, the Sowden House underwent a massive transformation by designer Xorin Balbes, who bought the home for 1.2 million. While the exterior still represents Wright’s iconic style, the interior is adapted to modern life.
Major criticisms focused on the changes to the courtyard area, the entryway staircase, and Asian accents that clashed with the pre-existing Mayan theme. But with the costly updates came new attention on a property that had largely gone ignored over the decades. Following renovations, the Sowden House appeared in commercials and popular films such as L.A.
Marijuana millionaire turns LA’s infamous Sowden House into cannabis oasis - Lake County Record-Bee
Marijuana millionaire turns LA’s infamous Sowden House into cannabis oasis.
Posted: Fri, 09 Feb 2018 08:00:00 GMT [source]
The Black Dahlia mystery
HomeLA has been bringing residents of Los Angeles together around dance and art in private space since its inception in 2013. For the project’s twentieth event, homeLA Founder Rebecca Bruno has collaborated with Founder and Creative Director Delaram Pourábdi of PARADEUX on a dance film in which their respective mediums meet through the home’s cyclical layout. The film follows Bruno’s unfolding physical relationship with the site and a soft sculpture made of an inherited shoulder pad collection owned by the choreographer’s grandmother.
The Sowden House was also once the home of notorious Black Dahlia murder suspect, Dr. George Hodel. An esteemed Los Angeles physician, Dr. George Hodel was never actually named as a suspect at the time of the investigation. However, his son, a retired Los Angeles homicide detective, later claimed that his father had murdered Elizabeth Short in the basement of the Sowden House in January 1947.
To hear the full story of Elizabeth Short's life and death, as well as more details on the Sowden House listen to Parts I and II of the Black Dahlia series of our podcast, Dark House. Many incriminating statements were caught on tape during the 24/7 surveillance period, and several other witnesses were interviewed to make a case against Dr. Hodel as the Black Dahlia murderer. Shortly thereafter, Jemison closed the case and cleared Dr. Hodel, a decision that baffles many today given the apparent evidence against him.
The house is noted for its use of ornamented textile blocks and for its striking facade, resembling (depending on the viewer's points of cultural reference) either a Mayan temple or the gaping open mouth of a great white shark. Designer Mark Hermogeno paid tribute to Silver Queen Susanna Bransford Emery-Holmes in the kitchen, butler’s pantry, family room, powder room, and mudroom. “We had thought, What if she actually came back to life and asked us to remodel the space?
Hollywood area tours often stop outside of the LA home to regale tourists with the tale. You’ll also regularly find independent locals stopping to snap photos of the windowless facade facing Franklin Avenue. In the shadow of such a grotesque story, the hungry, gaping “jaws” of the pyramid structure are hard to ignore.
Additionally, it serves as a venue for non-profit events centered on charitable giving and supporting the arts. Xorin Balbes sold the restored residence a few years after he initially bought it. Ever since the house has been purchased and sold endlessly for millions of dollars every few years. There have been more than ten owners of the Sowden House, John Sowden being the very first possessor of them all.
Long after either John Sowden or Dr. George Hodel lived in the house, it was renovated for new occupants. Designer Xorin Balbes purchase the home for $1.2 million in 2001 and then promptly declared it a wreck and spent an additional $1.6 million restoring it. With seven bedrooms, four baths, and about 5,600 square feet of living space, this was not a small undertaking. Balbes restored the stonework, converted the three-room kitchen into one, installed a pool and spa, and added new upscale bathrooms. Balbes also added enormous antique pieces, including an Indonesian stone Buddha, an antique Chinese dowry chest, and a 400-year-old Quan Yin statue. In addition to serving as the Howard Hughes home on film, the John Sowden House was actually once the home (from 1945 through 1951) of Black Dahlia murder suspect Dr. George Hodel.
The Los Angeles Police Department has never officially named George Hodel as a suspect in the Black Dahlia case, and the case remains officially unsolved. The Sowden House owes its unique design to Lloyd Wright, the son of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. With its distinct design and colorful history, the striking Sowden House is a stunning example of Mayan Revival American architecture, bound to capture the attention of anyone passing it by. Despite never being charged with the murder of Elizabeth Short, his son, Steve Hodel, has always maintained that his father killed her. The retired homicide detective believes multiple women were killed in the house and potentially buried there. Despite these claims, the Sowden House has never been excavated to look for any remains.
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