The (R.M.) Schindler List

Schindler designed this country home in 1939 for the actor Albert Van Dekker, who appears in Dr. Cyclops (1940), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), and The Wild Bunch (1969), and who later became a state legislator and a critic of the communist witch hunts of Hollywood. The Van Dekkers moved into the home in 1940. Its current urban setting belies its original placement among grasslands and wheat fields:

photo by R.M. Schindler

After being blacklisted by McCarthy, Van Dekker sold the house to work in Broadway. Writer and screenwriter Al “Buzz” Bezzerides bought the home in 1955 and lived there until his death at 99 in 2007. Between the first two owners, Bogart, John Wayne, Clark Gable, and Robert Mitchum hung out at the house and William Faulkner stayed there.

Buzz hadn't maintained the house in his latter years (and Schindlers need a lot of maintenance...) and, to make matters worse, the house sat empty after his death leading to vandalism and squatting. The home was destined for the wrecking ball when it was saved by a LA City Historic Monument listing and the next two owners who restored the house back to its near-original glory while at the same time gently updating it.

before restoration (source)

The house was part of the MAK Center's annual home tour this year, so we flew out to LA to partake!

As we rounded the corner of the driveway, we were taken aback by the colors of the house. Is that yellow original?!?! Indeed, it (apparently) is. Schindler intended the yellow to represent the wheat once grown in the valleys, the taupe stucco to represent Topanga Canyon shale, and the crumpled green copper to represent a giant leaf draped over the house. However, a 1945 LA Times article described the stucco as "grey" and the trim as "greenish-yellow" (the current yellow is more exuberant than greenish-yellow and seems more exuberant than something Schindler would have chosen; but we like it!).

The entry sequence is Wrightian with a low ceiling into a mud room. It's also farmy and down-to-Earth. This doesn't really make sense for its current urban setting, but it does considering it used to be way out in the country. The stone at the lower levels and on the fireplaces is rough and grey (and gorgeous).

(photo from listing)

Following the stone like bread crumbs upwards to the light takes you to the grand entrance into the living room:

This space is gaspingly good. Windows out the whazoo, the rhythm of the woodwork in the ceiling, the odd-shaped windows are all breathtaking. This is a grand room yet still at the human scale due to the warmth of the colors.

The fireplace echoes the odd angles of the structure and brings the copper of the roof inside. Here, the copper is unpatina'd, perhaps emphasizing the contrast of the protective indoors from the unprotective outdoors.

Light enters from all four directions:

Off the back side of the living room is another room that confused me at first. Was I inside or outside? I had felt the same thing at Richard Neutra's VDL House (1963). Am I inside or outside?

What threw me off was all the windows in the house itself (supposedly more than 100), the use of glass in some of the windows in the patio, and the coziness of the space.

Also off the back of the living room and aside the porch is a small office:

On the other side of the living room is the dining room, the kitchen, and another patio:

i missed getting a photo of the dindin room. this one is from the Robb Report

This is a big kitchen by Schindler standards. The Van Dekkers had staff, so generally staff areas were not as luxuriant as the other spaces, but there are a lot of windows and natural light here.

The master suite is above the kitchen area and can be accessed from several directions and has indoor and outdoor patios. Interestingly, these spaces are architecturally and compositionally complicated yet still calming.

the original master bath

The other bedrooms were joined up in pairs in the remodel to make the rooms bigger.

Heading downstairs from the entryway takes you to a lounging area, a poolroom (with a Brutalist bench!), and a hidden wine cellar.

Outside, the remodelers added a pool, there's a carpark and garage, and the landscaping.

The Schindler built-ins are here, but it appears the previous owner took the furniture Schindler designed for the space.

The corner credenza is a Schindler design:

photo source

Here's the kitchen table and chairs which look in too good of shape to be originals (but who knows!):

(photo source)

I've read that the house has 3,756 square feet but other sources that list 2,500 square-feet: could be the difference between indoor and outdoor space.

The home now has solar panels, something so well hidden that I didn't know they were there until I saw a drone photo of the property.