Kings Road House
Encyclopedia
The Schindler House, also known as the Kings Road House or Schindler Chace house, is a house in West Hollywood, California
designed by architect
Rudolf Schindler
. The Schindler House is considered to be the first house built in the Modern style.
The Schindler House was such a departure from existing residential architecture
because of what it did not have; there is no conventional living room, dining room or bedrooms in the house. The residence was meant to be a cooperative live/work space for two young families. The concrete walls and sliding glass panels made novel use of industrial materials, while the open floor plan integrated the external environment into the residence, setting a precedent for California
architecture in particular.
, Schindler and his wife Pauline vacationed in Yosemite in October 1921. Inspired by the trip, Schindler returned to create a design for multiple families to share a modern living area, much like the camp site.
s (referred to as the Schindler and Chace apartments) using the basic design of the camp site that he had seen a year before. Each apartment was designed for a separate family, consisting of 2 studios, connected by a utility room
. The utility room was meant to serve the functions of a kitchen
, laundry
, sewing room, and storage. The four studios were originally designated for the four members of the household (Rudolf & Pauline Schindler and Clyde & Marian Chace). The house also has a guest studio with its own kitchen and bathroom. The house, at just under 2500 square feet (232.3 m²), sits on a 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) lot.
Instead of bedrooms, there are 2 rooftop sleeping baskets. The baskets were redwood
four post canopies with beams at mitered
corners, protected from the rain by canvas sides.
The house is built on a flat concrete
slab, which is both the foundation and the final floor. The walls are concrete tilt up slabs, poured into forms on top of the foundation. The tilt up slabs are separated by 3 inches (76.2 mm), filled with concrete, clear glass or frosted glass. The tilt up panels act as the hard sheltering wall at the back of the house, and a softer permeable screen at the front. Schindler had long been fascinated by the construction method of tilt up concrete slabs, having done extensive research on them in his early days working for Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichert. He was now intent on using this method for the new home he was designing, along with friend, Clyde Chace.
With Schindler as architect and Chace as builder to save costs, construction began in November 1921. Construction was complete by May 1922, with a total cost of $12,550. The landscaping, furniture and sleeping baskets remained to be completed. The Chaces and Schindlers shared the house from the summer of 1922 until July 1924 when the Chaces moved to Florida.
along with his wife Dione and son Frank lived in the Chace apartment from March 1925 until the summer of 1930.
Pauline Schindler left the house and her husband in August 1927, Rudolph remained at the house until his death in 1953. The Chace apartment had a variety of famous and creative people live in it, including; art dealer & collector Galka Scheyer, dancer John Bovingdon, novelist Theodore Dreiser
, photographer Edward Weston
and composer John Cage
. Pauline Schindler returned to live in the Chace Studios part of the house, separate from her former husband, in the late 1930s and stayed until her death in May 1977.
Pauline Schindler died in May 1977, leaving the house in the Schindler family until the Friends of the Schindler House (FOSH) purchased the property in June 1980 for $160,000. The house was restored by FOSH in the mid-1980s. By this time, the West Hollywood neighborhood had been rezoned to allow four-story apartment buildings. Some FOSH members, including Gregory Ain
(who greatly admired Schindler), advocated that the property should be sold and the house rebuilt in the desert, because its context had changed so profoundly. Some aspects of the restoration were criticized, as they erased changes Schindler had made to the structure over time.
The house is now open to the public on weekends and serves as an exhibition and architectural center.
or "MAK" (the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna) to create the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House. The agreement allowed FOSH to retain full ownership of the property, with MAK being responsible for financial obligations and programming. The programming at the MAK Center at the Schindler House investigate the relationship between art and architecture, and includes exhibitions, lectures, symposia and concerts. The MAK Center also sponsors six month residencies for four art and four architecture students annually. The residents live in Schindler's Mackey Apartments in Los Angeles, owned by the MAK Center.
The Schindler House is open for unguided visits from Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm, and for tours on weekends. Group tours are available during the week by appointment only.http://www.makcenter.org/MAK_General_Info.php
The house was included in a list of all time top 10 houses in Los Angeles in a Los Angeles Times survey of experts in December 2008.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
designed by architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Rudolf Schindler
Rudolf Schindler
Rudolph Michael Schindler Rudolph Michael Schindler Rudolph Michael Schindler (born Rudolf Michael Schindler (1887 Vienna - 1953 Los Angeles) was an American, born in Austria, architect whose most important works were built in or near Los Angeles during the early to mid-twentieth century....
. The Schindler House is considered to be the first house built in the Modern style.
The Schindler House was such a departure from existing residential architecture
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
because of what it did not have; there is no conventional living room, dining room or bedrooms in the house. The residence was meant to be a cooperative live/work space for two young families. The concrete walls and sliding glass panels made novel use of industrial materials, while the open floor plan integrated the external environment into the residence, setting a precedent for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
architecture in particular.
Site
After completing the Hollyhock HouseHollyhock House
The Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House is a building in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as a residence for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, built in 1919–1921...
, Schindler and his wife Pauline vacationed in Yosemite in October 1921. Inspired by the trip, Schindler returned to create a design for multiple families to share a modern living area, much like the camp site.
Architecture
The Schindler House is laid out as two interlinking "L" shaped apartmentApartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
s (referred to as the Schindler and Chace apartments) using the basic design of the camp site that he had seen a year before. Each apartment was designed for a separate family, consisting of 2 studios, connected by a utility room
Utility room
A utility room is a room within a house where equipment that are not used in day to day activities are kept. Utility refers to an item which is designed for usefulness or practical use, so in turn most of the items kept in this room have functional attributes...
. The utility room was meant to serve the functions of a kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
, laundry
Laundry room
A laundry room is a room where clothes are washed. In a modern home, a laundry room would be equipped with an automatic washing machine and clothes dryer,and often a large basin, called a laundry tub, for hand-washing delicate articles of clothing such as sweaters, and an ironing board...
, sewing room, and storage. The four studios were originally designated for the four members of the household (Rudolf & Pauline Schindler and Clyde & Marian Chace). The house also has a guest studio with its own kitchen and bathroom. The house, at just under 2500 square feet (232.3 m²), sits on a 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) lot.
Instead of bedrooms, there are 2 rooftop sleeping baskets. The baskets were redwood
Redwood
-Trees:Conifers* Family Cupressaceae *** Sequoia sempervirens - coast redwood**** Albino redwood*** Sequoiadendron giganteum - giant sequoia*** Metasequoia glyptostroboides - dawn redwood* Family Pinaceae...
four post canopies with beams at mitered
Miter joint
A miter joint , sometimes shortened to miter, is a joint made by bevelling each of two parts to be joined, usually at a 45° angle, to form a corner, usually a 90° angle...
corners, protected from the rain by canvas sides.
Construction
When Schindler first submitted plans to the local planning authorities, they were denied, citing this radical, at the time, new method of construction. After many trips to the local planning office and extensive talks to convince them of its merit, the Building department granted him a temporary permit, meaning that they reserved the right to halt construction at any stageThe house is built on a flat concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
slab, which is both the foundation and the final floor. The walls are concrete tilt up slabs, poured into forms on top of the foundation. The tilt up slabs are separated by 3 inches (76.2 mm), filled with concrete, clear glass or frosted glass. The tilt up panels act as the hard sheltering wall at the back of the house, and a softer permeable screen at the front. Schindler had long been fascinated by the construction method of tilt up concrete slabs, having done extensive research on them in his early days working for Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichert. He was now intent on using this method for the new home he was designing, along with friend, Clyde Chace.
With Schindler as architect and Chace as builder to save costs, construction began in November 1921. Construction was complete by May 1922, with a total cost of $12,550. The landscaping, furniture and sleeping baskets remained to be completed. The Chaces and Schindlers shared the house from the summer of 1922 until July 1924 when the Chaces moved to Florida.
History
Schindler's friend, partner and rival, Richard NeutraRichard Neutra
Richard Joseph Neutra is considered one of modernism's most important architects.- Biography :Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Vienna, Austria Hungary, on April 8, 1892. He was born into both-Jewish wealthy family...
along with his wife Dione and son Frank lived in the Chace apartment from March 1925 until the summer of 1930.
Pauline Schindler left the house and her husband in August 1927, Rudolph remained at the house until his death in 1953. The Chace apartment had a variety of famous and creative people live in it, including; art dealer & collector Galka Scheyer, dancer John Bovingdon, novelist Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...
, photographer Edward Weston
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
and composer John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
. Pauline Schindler returned to live in the Chace Studios part of the house, separate from her former husband, in the late 1930s and stayed until her death in May 1977.
Pauline Schindler died in May 1977, leaving the house in the Schindler family until the Friends of the Schindler House (FOSH) purchased the property in June 1980 for $160,000. The house was restored by FOSH in the mid-1980s. By this time, the West Hollywood neighborhood had been rezoned to allow four-story apartment buildings. Some FOSH members, including Gregory Ain
Gregory Ain
Gregory Ain was an American architect active in the mid-20th century. Working primarily in the Los Angeles area, Ain is best known for bringing elements of modern architecture to lower- and medium-cost housing.- Biography :...
(who greatly admired Schindler), advocated that the property should be sold and the house rebuilt in the desert, because its context had changed so profoundly. Some aspects of the restoration were criticized, as they erased changes Schindler had made to the structure over time.
The house is now open to the public on weekends and serves as an exhibition and architectural center.
MAK Center for Art and Architecture
In August 1994, the Friends of the Schindler House signed an agreement with the Museum für angewandte Kunst WienMuseum für angewandte Kunst Wien
The Museum of Applied Arts or just MAK, a short version of its German name Museum für angewandte Kunst is located in Vienna, Austria.The museum is located in the 1st district of Vienna .-External links:*...
or "MAK" (the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna) to create the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House. The agreement allowed FOSH to retain full ownership of the property, with MAK being responsible for financial obligations and programming. The programming at the MAK Center at the Schindler House investigate the relationship between art and architecture, and includes exhibitions, lectures, symposia and concerts. The MAK Center also sponsors six month residencies for four art and four architecture students annually. The residents live in Schindler's Mackey Apartments in Los Angeles, owned by the MAK Center.
The Schindler House is open for unguided visits from Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm, and for tours on weekends. Group tours are available during the week by appointment only.http://www.makcenter.org/MAK_General_Info.php
Other
In recent years, the Schindler House has had to contend with the rising density of the surrounding neighborhood. The surrounding neighborhood is currently dominated by 4 story condominium and apartment buildings, vastly different than the original expansive lots for single family residences.The house was included in a list of all time top 10 houses in Los Angeles in a Los Angeles Times survey of experts in December 2008.