Benedict and Nancy Freedman House

Benedict and Nancy Freedman House

For his clients—an emerging screenwriting couple who wrote for movies such as Mrs. Mike—Neutra designed a small writers’ sanctuary. But he also balanced multiple demands; in addition to needing workspaces, the couple was soon to have a child. The house is sited to allow for privacy, away from both of the streets that abut the corner lot. Neutra softened the boundaries between interior and exterior zones and its layout flows easily along two axes. The house is divided with a large patio space between a bedroom on the west and the rest of the house on the east. Glass sliding walls open the house on the north and south. The pool and surrounding quarry tile paving runs perpendicularly to this. Behind the pool, Neutra designed pergola trusses out of interwoven strips of redwood to bridge the divide between the pool and the board-and-batt house. Inside, features included a built-in chaise lounge next to the bedroom, bookshelves, and an organ. Tall ceilings and clerestory windows give it a bright, spacious feel.

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 211.