Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lew House

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lew House

The Lew family’s house is set on the hills above West Hollywood on a tight lot. At the center of the façade, a glassed public entrance welcomes visitors, while to the left, a carport with deep overhangs and tubular column, has a private door through the which the family would enter the kitchen. This carport doubled as an outdoor living space while a large balcony on the east side of the house was connected to the living room and master bedroom. Richard Neutra’s playful use of materials in the house is clearest in the composition of piano wires which stretch from floor to ceiling between the living room and open stairwell, and the same wires also appear in the rear balconies. While these wires create a vertical rhythm, horizontality is achieved in the use of contrasting woods to separate the board from the batt on the lower floor.

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 357.