Edward J. Flavin House

Edward J. Flavin House

Knowledgeable about modern architecture, the clients of this house admired the work of East-Coast architects including Marcel Breuer, Gregory Ain, and Frank Lloyd Wright, but concluded that Richard Neutra’s “houses [represented] . . . the organic wholeness [they had] been looking for.” When their first attempts to purchase preexisting houses by the architect—the Meltzer and Sokol houses—failed, the Flavins hired Neutra to build a new home for them. The resulting three-bedroom, 1,587-square-foot structure was a member of the “Silver Lake Colony,” located on the slope above Neutra Place. The site proved challenging to build on, and the resulting plan reflects these difficulties in its unusual U-shape, with a south end that is broken to step up to slope. The clients had a typical level of involvement in the project, contributing ten pages of notes and diagrams. They described their desire for peace and quiet, which resulted in the banishment of bric-a-brac, while a large workshop made room for activities and their accompanying equipment, ranging from pianos to shop benches. Edward Flavin was detail-oriented, and he assumed the role of general contractor, a decision that likely limited the expected costs of the original bid of $27,803.92 by one contractor.

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 334.