Rebuilding a Frank Lloyd Wright House, Piece by Piece
Bachman Wilson House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Image copyright Tarantino Studio; courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.
In Bentonville, AR, a house that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for a New Jersey couple more than 60 years ago has been painstakingly reassembled, board by board and pane by pane, overlooking the clear waters of the Crystal Spring. When it opens to the public next month on the lushly wooded 120-acre campus of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, it will be the first Wright house in Arkansas—a delicately preserved later example of the so-called Usonian homes that the architect conceived as models for affordable middle-class living.
How the house came to be in the Ozarks of northwestern Arkansas, some 1,200 miles from where it was first built, is a story that touches on the unforgiving potency of Mother Nature, a couple's untiring effort to restore and preserve an unsung architectural gem, and the ambitions of the Walmart heiress Alice Walton, who founded Crystal Bridges in 2011 with an eye toward establishing it as a destination for fans of American art and architecture.
Beautifully Preserved Usonian-esque House by FLW Disciple Asking $539k in Altadena
Located at the end of a long driveway in Altadena is this house that architect James De Long—a former Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice and fellow at FLW's Taliesin—designed for his parents. The Usonian-esqueresidence (referring to the houses Wright created with the aim of making his work accessible to a middle-class Modernist homeowner), built in 1951, is still "mostly in its original condition" and there's some really incredible stuff going on inside among the tray ceilings, concrete floors, handcrafted woodwork, and brickwork. Spread out over about 1,400 square feet, the two-bedroom, two-bathroom house includes a small, detached studio building, a patio, and a pool. The house is asking$539,000.
What $1,450 Can Rent You in Los Angeles Right Now
Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, where we explore what you can rent or buy for a certain dollar amount in various LA 'hoods. Is one man's studio another man's townhouse? Let's find out! Our friends at Zumper have helped us out with five listings within $100 of today's price: $1,450.
↑ If your new apartment is going to have carpet, the best that can be hoped for is new carpet, and that's just what this one-bedroom in Sherman Oaks has. The cat-friendly, lower-level unit also has a dishwasher, central air conditioning and heating, lots of storage space, and a balcony. The complex has a swimming pool and a barbecue area, and the apartment comes with one reserved, covered parking spot. Rent is $1,450.
How the Academy Movie Museum is Prepping For Work to Begin in March
When the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is finally completed, someone will have to make an understated, Oscar-bait drama to depict the development saga of this troubled project, which after years of languishing in Hollywood finally landed next to LACMA on the Miracle Mile. As plans there progressed, it ran into even more trouble—the project was approved in June by the LA City Council, but couldn't get permits due to a lawsuit threat from anti-development group Fix the City. Last month, they finally reached a somewhat mysterious settlement with Fix the City that'll involve some kind of private traffic mitigation plan. It appears that was the final bureaucratic hurdle (but don't quote us on that), and now, at long last, construction will soon begin on the museum, a Renzo Piano-designed renovation of and addition to the 1930s May Company department store building. Demolition crews are being brought in to make way for the new construction to commence in March 2016, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Downtown LA's Nightmare Cecil Hotel Inspired This Season of American Horror Story
Downtown LA's notorious Cecil Hotel has a long, sad history (suicides, mass murderers), but now that one of its more recent tragedies has a connection to the new season of American Horror Story, the Cecil has become a major tourist attraction. TMZ says "hordes of fans" are now coming to the hotel and hoping to stay there, especially in the bedroom of Elisa Lam, whose body was found in a cistern atop the Cecil in 2013 and whose strange death inspired the new AHS season, aptly named "Hotel."
The Best Day to Buy a House in Los Angeles is October 1
Buying a house in Los Angeles is a costly affair, and is only getting more so; some experts say we've got four more years of rising prices before there's any sort of change in the upward trajectory. But deals are still out there in some pockets of LA, and, there might be more if buyers know when to buy, says real estate data firm RealtyTrac. They crunched the numbers on sales of single-family houses and condos over the last 15 years looking for the month and date when, on average, buyers got the best deals. They found that this month, October, is a great time to buy.
Here's What the NFL is Talking About As It Tries to Bring a Team Back to Los Angeles
With dueling professional football stadium proposals in the works for Los Angeles, NFL team owners have a lot to discuss as they meet this week in New York to decide who and what will bring the league back to LA for the first time in two decades. (Will it be Rams owner Stan Kroenke with an Inglewood stadium or the combination Raiders/Chargers stadium in Carson?) Though the specifics of who's coming to LA and when won't be decided just yet, the NFL does want to make a decision soon, so a team (or teams) could move in time for next season, says the LA Times; and ultimately it's the full group of league owners who will make the call. There are a lot of different ideas about who will move and how they'll move, but most owners seem excited to have something happen and happen soon.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner Quietly Selling Pacific Palisades Compound For $45 Million
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are reportedly both still living in their big old Pacific Palisades spread post-divorce-announcement, but they're ready to get rid of it anyway. Variety hears that they're quietly shopping the place around for way more than twice what they paid—producer Brian Grazer sold them the compound in 2009 for $17.55 million.
Could SoCal Get Drought Water Shipped in From Alaska?
This week's rain was a drop in bucket compared to what LA and the entire state need to make up for years of drought. But maybe if the rainfall were to be augmented, say, by a ton of water shipped in from a pristine Alaskan lake, we'd feel a little relief. This week, U.S. Representative Janice Hahn got together with reps from the Ports of LA and Long Beach, the Metropolitan Water District, and two other water districts to talk about making that happen, discussing options for taking an Alaskan company up on their offer to send a tanker full of water from a non-drought-stricken Alaskan lake to Southern California, says the Daily Breeze.
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Are You a Minimalist, a Maximalist, or Somewhere in Between?
There's been a shift of late in the design world. Where a kind of minimalism once reigned supreme—a hybrid Japanese-Scandinavianstyle that seemed, ultimately, aimed at making us throw everything out and live like monks—eclectic maximalism has slowly regained its footing.
Bright 1950 Paul Tay With Updates in Long Beach Asks $749k
Modernist Paul Tay got his start in Long Beach after graduating from USC in 1950 and went on to design more than 30 residences there; this one in Bixby Knolls claims to be Tay's first. Built in 1950 as a spec house, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house features a wall of built-ins and a large brick fireplace in the living room/dining room area, which is illuminated by a wall of giant windows overlooking the backyard and pool. (Those windows help the 1,475-square-foot house feel "dramatically larger than advertised.") The kitchen and bathrooms have been recently redone, and so has the heating and air conditioning. The house, which sits on a 6,474-square-foot lot, includes a front courtyard and multiple patios. It's listed for $749,000.
Beyoncé and Jay Z Are Renting The Big Lebowski's Mansion For $150k a Month
Carters via Getty
Beyoncé has a place to live! REPEAT. Beyoncé has a place to live! Just last month Beyoncé and Jay Z were told that the Holmby Hills mansion they were renting for $150,000 a month had been sold, and that they had 60 days to find a new home. Well, they have, and that house has certainly got some history to it. TMZ reports that Bey and Jay are moving into ex-Dodger owner Jamie McCourt's old house in Holmby Hills.
The McCourts bought this property in 2004 for $21.25 million and spent another $14 million on shipping in the entire kitchen from their Massachusetts home. It was a castle fit for a fairytale marriage. Then, the divorce, in which Jamie got the real estate—but she decided she wasn't too keen on keeping the family property. She tried to sell the 20,637-square-foot European style villa for several years with no luck, eventually slashing $20 million off the asking price. Then last year she finally unloaded it, on someone TMZ is calling a "British billionaire," for $45 million.
This Drone Video Takes You On a Relaxing Trip to the Beach
"This place makes flying easy as everything is so picturesque," drone filmmaker Scott MacFarlane writes in the description of his latest—a from-above look at Manhattan Beach. Viewers are treated to aerial views of the beach and the pier (which is captured in a fabulously Wes-Anderson-like shot for the title credit), paddleboarders, surfers, and kayakers—views that otherwise wouldn't be so easy to come by for non-birds. The soundtrack of classical music is occasionally dotted with the crashing of waves, and the combined effect with the beachy visuals is almost as soothing as if you were there in person. Almost.
"Megadevelopment" Seeks to Singlehandedly Gentrify Hollywood's Donut Time District
Image via Google Maps
The strip of Santa Monica Boulevard around Highland Avenue in Hollywood is known for two things: its former Del Taco location (RIP) and its still-kicking Donut Time, epicenter of the neighborhood's trans prostitution scene (which was lovingly captured in the recent movie Tangerine—check it out!). It's a land of stripmalls and check cashing places, but one developer wants to singlehandedly reinvent the Donut Time District as a place where boring yuppies can have a good time living and shopping too. The Los Angeles Business Journal reports that developer AvalonBay just spent nearly $100 million to buy land at Santa Monica and Las Palmas, and will spend another $375 million on a six-acre "megadevelopment" that is "large enough, it hopes, to be its own safe haven and even a catalyst for gentrification in the area."
Megadeth Guitarist Dave Mustaine Selling Quaint English Country Mansion in Rural SoCal
Dave Mustaine via Getty Images.
Of course Dave Mustaine, guitar shredder for thrash band Megadethand the original guitarist for Metallica, lives in this fancy mansion that looks like an English cottage, but is actually located in rural San Diego County. The nine-and-a-half-acre property in Fallbrook comes with "pastureland," vineyards, and a pond, and is possessed of a "castle-like air," says the LA Times. In other words, it looks a lot like Medieval Times in there, if Medieval Times were bankrolled by a rich person. The roughly 5,300-square-foot main house's "regal interior" features rock and stone work, leaded and stained glass, and 10 fireplaces.
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