Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “Many wealthy people are little more than janitors of their
possessions.”
Hi everyone, Ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse"!! Today we are exploring the Hollyhock House
in Los Angeles, California.
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In 1917, Aline Barnsdall’s father passed away, leaving her a fortune.
She inherited half of the assets from the Barnsdall Oil Company which included massive
land holdings across the country as well as millions of dollars.
Throughout her entire life, she had been fascinated by the performing arts, pushing the boundaries
of theatre with experimental productions of her own.
Now, with more money than she could spend in a lifetime, she hired an architect who
also pushed boundaries.
In 1919 she hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design for her not only a house, but a commune of
sorts which would serve what she referred to as her “progressive theatrical community.”
It was to have a wide variety of large spaces for performances and smaller spaces for intimate
gatherings all while harmoniously and organically tying back into nature.
If this was not enough of a challenge, Aline had one more stipulation, that the house be
designed to reflect her favorite flower, the Hollyhock, in the entirety of its essence.
As construction began, Aline quickly realized that the amount she had been quoted for the
project was laughable.
Construction costs were soaring far beyond estimates, so she fired Frank and retained
his son Lloyd to finish the house.
Nonetheless, the house was finished to Frank’s specifications, though only two rooms would
end up housing furniture which he had designed for the house.
In 1921, the house was finished with walls tapering back at 85 degrees, wrapped with
an abstraction of Hollyhock Blossom reliefs in the building’s frieze with vertical elements
meant to echo the plant’s stalks.
Due to the mild climate, The house was arranged around a central courtyard with stairs rising
to roof top terraces, allowing the exterior of the home to become an expansion of the
interior space in an early example of indoor/outdoor living.
Further expanding on this idea of elemental integration, Wright worked water into the
design.
A semi circular seating area, reminiscent of an ancient amphitheater, wrapped around
a pool which drained into tunnels below the house, before surfacing in the living room
which we will see shortly.
Though the house was surrounded by open land, Frank chose to compress the space around the
entryway as guests made their way through the narrow loggia towards the front doors,
barely visible in the shadows.
Each door was made from concrete and weighed 250 pounds, balanced on pins so that they
could swing open with the most gentle of touches.
Walking inside, the space rapidly expands into a massive living room where our eyes
will rest on the hearth, tying the theme of elements together with a water filled moat
surrounding it as fire blazes in blocks cut from the earth as fresh air passively breezes
through the house’s openings.
Here we see one of the 2 rooms which Wright was allowed to furnish with custom furniture,
creating a more intimate area for conversations.
The dining room, with seating for 6, contained furniture designed by Wright to further play
on the Hollyhock’s inherent geometry, being crafted from Gennesaret wood which was used
throughout the interior.
The Hollyhock motif continued, with geometric abstracts playing out in every room being
used to scale proportions with its motifs made to decorate surfaces, such as the many
stained glass windows which can be found throughout.
Wright’s had delivered his client a truly spectacular piece of art, but Aline found
the house hard to live in with water constantly leaking through the floors and ceilings, causing
never ending maintenance.
Within a few short years, she had spent more money maintaining the home than she had ever
imagined.
She wanted so desperately to be rid of the financial burden that she did not even attempt
to sell the house.
In 1927, she donated it to the city of Los Angeles on the condition that they would allow
her California Art Club to use it as its headquarters for 15 years.
In the following decades, the city took on the responsibility of completing constant,
costly maintenance.
Then, in 1994, the Hollyhock house was seriously damaged during the Northridge earthquake,
which the house’s concrete cantilevers were not able to withstand.
Over the next 11 years, the house was painstakingly put back together, opening to the public in
2005.
In that same year, further efforts to restore the house commenced with Project Restore continuing
to fund the restoration work for an additional 10 years.
By 2015, it was opened to the public once again for tours and designated a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 2019, as part of a collection of Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings across
the United States.
If you have ever visited Hollyhock, I would love to read about your experience down below
in the comments section.
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