Douglas Fir Plywood Model Demonstration House (Brice House)

Douglas Fir Plywood Model Demonstration House (Brice House)

This 1,618-square-foot house was included in an exhibit sponsored by the Los Angeles Building Center of homes using new building materials and methods. Exterior plywood, which Neutra used, had just been formulated with new glues to enhance water resistance. The exhibit itself showed no new architectural impulses, in spirit like a miniature version of the Columbia Exposition of 1893 in that it hearkened back to period styles … except for Neutra’s. He stacked the master suite above the kitchen to create a smaller second storey with a generous roof deck. The exterior, with its white-stained plywood panels held in place with metal strips, creates a similar rhythm on the facade as the Robertson panels he used for his all-steel buildings. Neutra’s drawings show a careful analysis of the opportunities to cross-ventilate the house in every room, aided by the T-shared footprint opening rooms to the outdoors. As usual, he adroitly addressed the need to have both a public entrance, steering the visitor through the living room to the view beyond, and a family entrance to the kitchen near the utility room. Like the rest of the model homes, it was raffled off in a free drawing with the stipulation that it be moved. With its light steel frame and demountable panels it was readily reassembled at its new site in Westwood.