Ward / Berger House

Ward / Berger House

From the entrance to the L-shaped, Ward-Berger House, visitors enter a split-level space and take in a view of the fireplace and the tall trees beyond it. For the house, Richard Neutra used a range of different kinds of brick for a variety of purposes including long, smooth Roman fire brick with crisp edges for the walls of the fire box, flat brick which continues from the hearth outdoors into the patio, as well as a rougher, white-painted common brick for the walls of the fireplace. The white brick stands in contrast to the dark color used for the wall behind it, further projecting the fireplace forward into the space of the living room. The hearth was placed perpendicularly to wide sliding glass doors and addressed both the living room and the patio. Located in the Hollywood Hills, with views of the San Fernando Valley, the house’s living room area has an open feeling with its abundant use of glass which contrasts with the more private bedroom wing, creating a divide between the northern and southern faces of the building. The house was built for a working couple and outfitted with low-maintenance built-ins suited to their lifestyle.

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 152.