Sidney and Arilla Troxell House

Sidney and Arilla Troxell House

Located atop Paseo Miramar, amidst olive and laurel trees, Sidney and Arilla Troxell’s house offers easy transitions between indoors and out. Architectural elements stretch outward and into the landscape, such as a wedge-shaped pond which, positioned at the crux of the L-shaped house, follows the contours of the hill behind it. The push and pull between the architecture of the house and its surroundings is furthered by other elements in the composition, including the deep overhang above the pool. A terrace overlooks this wedge-shaped pool, and a curving flight of stairs connects the water feature, the terrace, and a “garden room,” which also offers views of the scene. A secondary, rectangular pool, abutting a glass wall and a row of plantings, achieves a similar effect. On the other side of the glass wall, the same exposed aggregate concrete pavers that outline the water feature are used inside. The landscape architect Jocelyn Domela worked with Richard Neutra to integrate the house with the site, and she selected low-maintenance native plants for it. Neutra’s interest in experimental materials made itself known in an early plan for the use of tempered Masonite as an exterior wall surface, although the Los Angeles Building Department denied him the permissions necessary to proceed. Neutra was in close communication with his clients, whose preferences he accounted for. For example, Arilla Troxell requested a U-shaped kitchen and space for the storage of enough food to last for four to six months. Among the other practical concerns Neutra considered was the cleaning of the windows, and a catwalk along one southern window made this possible, although, without a railing, not very feasible. Instead, the catwalk becomes one of many visually stimulating architectural features of the house.  

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 312.