I’m a John Lautner hoe. I can’t lie. I visited a few houses he’s made and they changed my life. We really all live in shoe boxes and it’s dumb.
Here comes the Wolff House that I was eyeing for a bit. It went for sale last year and a couple tours were organized. I hit up my special agent and she got me in.
John is a goddamn supreme master of volumes and mystery. From the street going up, you don’t fucking know anything about what’s going on in this “house”. But you know it has to be neat. You can just feel it in the detail, from the floating white ceiling to the brass-made balcony to the giant rock walls.
This is the carport. The entrance to the house is on the right, hiding. There’s more style in here than in the entire Gehry’s catalog. It’s strong yet light. It’s aggressive yet peaceful. I would take pictures all the time in there. Notice the little white camera that wasn’t supposed to be there. John would rip this shit off. John would be right.
It is a bachelor pad. It is not big. But boy, it’s sumptuous. Here some bad picture of the 16 feet doors (that you push like they weight less than a model on the runway) that open onto the balcony with its built-in bench. Absolutely wonderful. You feel extremely protected yet free. Love it.
Peep this! How the ceiling is cantilevered to oblivion (I mean, as far as technically and physically possible), floating over the rock walls. Having this light coming through a line, all along the house, is life-changing. It does make something thick and vertical a lot more open and airy. The recessed lighting looking like the one in the carport. The continuous wood line under it, underlining the ceiling and hiding more lighting… It’s smart as hell, brings unity in the house and ultimately, feels good to the human chilling inside said house.
So this is the view from the bedroom, under the living room. A level below is the small (but deep) pool. It’s cantilevered over the road. See the little concrete triangle? This was supposed to extend over the road, but the city of Angels said “uh, nah bruh”. John said “who do you think you are? I am! Let’s keep it but let’s make it rise”. The rest is History. It looks cool. It adds a little bit of privacy when soaking. John Lautner didn’t give a fuck.
Back to the balcony. When sitting on the built-in bench, this is what is in the corner. A built-in BBQ. Small, but the house is small too so stop hating, jeez Louise. It’s a detail but it’s really well designed and placed, smoke wise. D E T A I L
Well, I was taking notes. This glass is roughly thick like my finger. That is a seriously long sheet of glass though. *costs estimates happening*
Harold for the corner 3 above the road!.. BANG. (yes, there’s a little gap in the corner, I’m suing)
This goes to the guest house on the right and to the laundry room. This means that you have to use those stairs up and down to do laundry. Yikes. That shit is cool looking but you’re tipsy and you can die rather quickly. Split your head wide open on mean concrete steps. No railing, nothing to hold your ass. If you die, you die. John didn’t care about no kids or no pets.
Small, vertical. Lots of stairs to move around. Amazing feeling of shelter and protection without feeling like living in a cave.
If I could, I ‘d buy it and chill in there in winter when I feel like it. Just normal stuff.