clock menu more-arrow

Los Angeles Architecture

‘Live documentary’ examines architect R Buckminster Fuller

In a one-night-only performance at Skirball Cultural Center, director Sam Green and Yo La Tengo will perform Green's live film on the visionary Buckminster Fuller. Curbed asked Green and Yo La Tengo guitarist Ira Kaplan about the project.

0 comments

Glamorous estate by the king of Hollywood Regency asking $8.85M

Designed by John Elgin Woolf in 1954, this refined residence between Sunset and Doheny in Beverly Hills boasts four bedrooms, five baths, impressive public spaces, and a regulation-size tennis court.

5 comments

Megamansion architect uses slavery as defense of megamansions

Richard Landry, the LA-based architect who builds over-the-top houses with absurd amenities, is the subject of a new profile, wherein he talks cluelessly about income inequality.

3 comments

Neutra’s Kronish House restored to midcentury modern glory

Nearly doomed to the wrecking ball, Richard Neutra's 1954 Kronish House was saved at the last minute back in 2011. Now, it's been fully restored, and it's looking better than ever. It even just won a prestigious landscaping award.

8 comments

Long Beach's midcentury modern tour will showcase 9 era-defining homes

On October 15, nine homes will open their doors to the public in an event to benefit an upcoming exhibition on influential furniture dealer Frank Bros. The store’s sophisticated offerings made it a magnet for architects and decorators.

3 comments

Schindler's Kallis-Sharlin House asking $2.85M

Integrated into its hillside lot in the Cahuenga Pass, the multi-level modern was built in 1946 for artist and Universal Studios art director Mischa Kallis, and features four bedrooms, three baths, original built-in furniture and panoramic views.

16 comments

Winsome 1940s Farmhouse by Gerard Colcord asking $850K

The gifted architect designed the three-bedroom home, located on a 14,848-square-foot lot in Chevy Chase Canyon, for his sister Eunice and her family. It features custom woodwork, built-in shelving, and numerous fireplaces.

5 comments

Architect of LA’s tallest building says he didn’t intend for it be the tallest

Wilshire Grand's architect Christopher Martin says clinching the title of tallest building wasn’t important to him "at all."

5 comments

Newsletter

By signing up you agree to our terms of use.

See these modernist gems in next month's MAK tour

Siip on a pair of those sexy blue booties! This fall's tour offers up-close looks at nine notable homes in Silver Lake, Echo Park, and Mt. Washington designed by John Lautner, Harwell Hamilton Harris, RM Schindler, Gregory Ain, and James DeLong

The story of Malibu's spectacular first beach house

In the days when their family owned all of Malibu, an heiress and a wannabe cowboy built themselves a seaside mansion covered in spectacular tilework. Malibu was eventually sold off piece by piece, but the Adamson House still stands.

8 comments

Landmark modern by Gregory Ain asking $1.8M

One of the master architect's earliest solo projects, the Anselem A. Ernst House was built atop a hillside lot in the Los Feliz Oaks in 1937. The three-bedroom, two-bath home features walls of glass, a dual-level fireplace, and spectacular views.

5 comments

See the latest images of Peter Zumthor’s LACMA redesign

As the museum readies to begin the environmental impact report process for its big new redesign, it’s launched a website with shiny new renderings and up-to-date information on this much anticipated project.

42 comments

5 high-dollar LA homes with sick pools

From pools perched above the Sunset Strip to ones that appear to flow right into the ocean, here are properties for sale right now in Los Angeles that will make sunbathers jealous.

John Lautner’s famed Palm Spring house finds a buyer

One of Palm Springs' best-known Modernist houses, the Elrod House, finally finds a buyer. An indoor-outdoor pool flows into the hillside house's living room, where the ceiling is a concrete dome connected to walls of retractable curved glass.

1 comment

What’s the ugliest building in Los Angeles?

Go ahead, tell us how you really feel.

48 comments

Primed for a comeback: 1930s fixer in Palm Springs

Following decades of neglect, the 10-bedroom villa, built for Singer sewing machine heir Arthur Bourne, is being restored by preservation-minded development firm ReInhabit. So far, it has cleared away more than 90,000 pounds of debris.

10 comments

What comes after midcentury modern?

Palm Springs is famous for the midcentury modern design that has become ubiquitous in the last decade, but the city is spurring a new design trend as it embraces its brutalist treasures of the 1970s. How long until we all have concrete coffee tables?

17 comments

Cliff May's Brentwood Masterpiece Asking $16M

Occupying a 1.45-acre lot on private Oakmont Drive, the 1938 hacienda comes with four bedrooms, five baths, pool, paddle tennis court, and a bit of Hollywood history. It was was constructed by a team of master craftsmen in 1939.

3 comments

LACMA's Peter Zumthor Redesign is Actually Moving

Two donors have just contributed $75 million to LACMA's huge renovation project, putting it nearly halfway toward its $600-million goal. Meanwhile, the designs are headed toward a review process, with groundbreaking planned for 2018.

6 comments

Lloyd Wright's Derby House Sells for $2.3 Million

The Glendale house showcases cool textile blocks—a favorite of Lloyd Wright's father, Frank Lloyd Wright—that really drive home the Mayan influence on the residence. The new owners are art collectors who intend to do a thorough restoration.

6 comments

John Lautner's Elrod House in Palm Springs Wants $10.5M

The Palm Springs Modernist masterpiece is back for $3.4 million less than its last list price. The house has a circular living room and fame for its role in the James Bond film Diamonds are Forever.

1 comment

Handsome Supportive Housing Opens in Westlake

This lovely building holds 52 apartments for formerly homeless veterans and disabled people. The complex has gardens, courtyards, and on-site support services to help the tenants, and is expected to receive LEED Gold certification.

4 comments

Dreamy Streamline Moderne Apartment is up for Rent

Now up for grabs is a one-bedroom apartment in Hancock Park's landmark Mauretania complex, designed by Milton Black in 1934. The top-floor unit features hardwood floors, crown moldings, a private deck, vintage tile, and two circular dining areas.

10 comments

Retro Instagram: Unusual New Views of Modernist Gems

USC Digital Libraries has digitized more than 1,300 photos of Modernist masterpieces shot from unconventional angles. The images form what one could "imagine an architecturally inclined Instagram feed from the 1950s and 1960s would look like."

2 comments

First Look at Big Aquarium of the Pacific Expansion

The Long Beach aquarium announced a big, undulating expansion yesterday, revealing plans for a new wing they're calling Pacific Visions. The 29,000-square-foot addition will include a number of flashy components, including an immersive theater.

2 comments

Parabolic Property by Fritz Haeg Now up for Rent

Originally a 1920s Spanish duplex, the heavily revamped house has been featured in the New York Times.

5 comments

Check Out these Architect-Designed Cat Shelters

A recent fundraiser for homeless cats brought some of the most prestigious architectural firms in the city into competition to design a new kind of cat shelter. Celebrities also joined in the fun, decorating cat bowls now up for auction.

Lloyd Wright's Calori House Updated, Up For Sale

The Glendale house is now fully decked out with smart tech and marble bathrooms.

4 comments

Allyn E. Morris's Bubeck Residence Lists For $1.4M

The glassy Glassell Park modern has a cantilevered fireplace, an atrium, and turquoise toilets.

1 comment

Barely SFW Rap Video is Amazing Architectural Tour

This rap video is actually one of the best tours of the Sheats-Goldstein House you could get.

6 comments

A Complete Guide to LACMA's First Piece of Architecture, the Most Spectacular House in Los Angeles

This morning, the LA County Museum of Art announced its first-ever architecture acquisition: the Sheats-Goldstein House high in the hills of Beverly Crest, designed by John Lautner and owned and loved for decades (and now promised to the museum)...

A Resident Expert's Guide to West Adams, Los Angeles's Neighborhood of the Year

The People's Guide takes a page from Curbed SF and offers tours of LA's neighborhoods, led by loyal readers, favorite bloggers, and other luminaries of our choosing. We kick off Curbed LA's inaugural episode by welcoming a resident of the Curbed...