Jason Hailey House (for Villard Investment Co.)

Jason Hailey House (for Villard Investment Co.)

This low-budget, $25,000 house was designed by Richard Neutra for a speculative builder on a hilltop in the midst of Los Angeles. It has an unassuming, fifty- by twenty-foot, rectangular footprint from which the post-and-beam structure rises with seven, eight-foot bays. Designing around a steep lot, Neutra transformed the carport, which was set just off the road, into an entrance feature with a projecting roof that offered shade. Along with living spaces and a deck to its southern exposure, the house had one bedroom and a sitting room or den that could be closed off for an overnight guest. Neutra placed the two bathrooms along the less valuable street side of the house, as well as the fireplace. On the other side of the house, views look out over eucalyptus trees which Neutra planted to hide the Spanish tile roofs on the hills below. The house has features that reflect Neutra’s signature style, including built-ins he designed, and the clever use of materials such as asphalt tile in the kitchen and Philippine mahogany, tempered Masonite, and Marlite in the bathrooms. Exposed beams support the fir ceiling.

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 392.