Frederick and Mary Auerbacher Mountain Lodge

Frederick and Mary Auerbacher Mountain Lodge

Frederick and Mary Auerbacher commissioned Richard Neutra twice, beginning with this cabin in the San Bernadino mountains. Above a base course of Arizona stone is a homey space that is virtually entirely composed of wood. Elevated three feet above grade, the house was specifically designed to accommodate winter weather, and deep Douglas fir beams support its flat roof in enduring the heavy weight of accumulating snow. Neutra positioned the house so that it appears to be in the middle of a green canopy of trees which required a carefully positioned foundation that would bridge the closest trees’ root systems. Vertical board and batt sheeting echoes the lengths of the tree trunks around the home. A thin roof projects far from the house, far enough to preclude the need for gutters and ensure water fell away from the house. The rear elevation resembles a De Stijl-styled composition, with squared and rectangular volumes emerging at varying heights and depths. The slope falls away from the house, leaving it supported by outrigger spider legs—some fifteen feet tall—and a separate apartment intended for relatives, which is set into the hill below. Above, the primary living spaces include a kitchen large enough for the multiple cooks required for entertaining and bathrooms with small hampers that emerge like pieces of casework from the plaster. The quality of the construction is a result of Fordyce “Red” Marsh, a craftsman responsible for many of Neutra’s most challenging designs.

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 244.