Dr. and Mrs. Henry Singleton House

Dr. and Mrs. Henry Singleton House

As the young chairman of Teledyne Corporation, Henry Singleton was on the cover of Forbes in January 1968, and about a decade earlier, the decision to commission Richard Neutra to design his new home suggests his ambition. The space was large, with many terraces and expensive fixtures. The visitor is welcomed to the house with a procession of wide steps, composed of concrete panels, which lead to a path through three decorative outrigger spider legs framing the doorway. Once inside, the glass walls to the south reveal a reflecting pool, the Hollywood Lake, and the distant valley beyond. Neutra wrote of his intent to “bring the lake close to the house” with the pool. In an iconic photograph, Julius Shulman captured a spider leg which reaches from the southeast corner of the living room and hovers over the reflecting pool and three stepping stones in it. The house is divided along this central axis between the children’s wing to the west and he master bedroom to the east. Throughout, the spaces are unified by terrazzo floors, exposed redwood ceilings, and walnut or birch cabinetry. Outside, landscaping with Japanese-inspired plantings was conceived of by Jocelyn Domela, who frequently worked on Neutra houses. While luxurious, the design for the home reflected the Singleton’s requests for simplified and efficient housekeeping and yard work.

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 368.