Architecture Fieldtrip - Hollywood Hills East
“An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles” by David Gebhard and Robert Winter is my primary fieldtrip resource. You can see my book is tagged with yellow stickies and I even mark pages with pen and ink (gasp!).
The book describes in meticulous detail hundreds of projects but includes images only for several in each section. Each fieldtrip, I choose to visit a handful of sites to drive by, essentially what I can fit into a couple hour jaunt so as to avoid rush hour LA traffic.
Chapter 4, Greater Hollywood is divided into 6 areas:
A) West Hollywood,
B) Central Hollywood,
C) East Hollywood
D) Los Feliz
E) Los Feliz Hills, Griffith Park (last week’s fieldtrip)
F) Hollywood Hills, East
G) Hollywood Hills, West
This week, I planned a visit to a couple of sites in Hollywood Hills, East (section F). An unexpected bonus, was a stop at several Central Hollywood sites (section B) immediately upon exiting the 101 freeway, including the iconic Capitol Records Building.
As can happen in the hills of Los Angeles, iPhone map apps sometimes get confused. That is how I landed in a neighborhood high above the Hollywood Reservoir. The views were stunning, though and the street aptly named Wonder View Drive. Many hikers were in the area on their way higher still to The Wisdom Tree along a trail of the same name. In the image below, you can view Hollywood Reservoir behind Mulholland Dam. Southeast of the reservoir, you can just make out the DTLA skyline.
While wandering nearby N. Knoll Drive, this circular helipad house designed by Lorand West caught my eye on a curve in the road. Lorand West also designed for LA restaurants like Morton’s and The Ivy.
Hural House by Gregory Ain , 1940
I was happy to view Hural House, a project of Gregory Ain. Recently, I had taken a fieldtrip to Ain’s Mar Vista Tract which was completed later in 1948.
As the architectural guidebook stated, the best view of Hural House is via the stairway connecting Vine Way Alcyona Drive. I noticed a house cantilevered over the hillside at the top left of my image. That would be the next and final stop for the day.
Photos of the house taken by Julius Shulman can be found at this LINK.
Gantert House by Pierre Koenig, 1981
One of Pierre Koenig’s last completed houses, this is located on a hilltop up a gated road. With just a little effort, you can view dramatically from a trail below. The trail has a bench where you can take in the southwest view, similar to that seen by residents of the Gantert House.
