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:
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 didn't maintain the house in his later years (and Schindlers need a lot of maintenance...). To make matters worse, the house sat empty after his death leading to vandalism and homeless squatting. The home was destined for the wrecking ball when it was saved by a Los Angeles City Historic Monument listing and the next owner who restored the house back to its near-original glory while at the same time gently updating it.
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?!?! Schindler intended the yellow to represent the wheat 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; regardless, we like it!).
The entry sequence is Wrightian with a low yellow beams outside and a low ceiling beyond the front door 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 (and was a secondary home). The stone at the lower levels and on the fireplaces is rough, grey, and gorgeous.
The use of stone for the outside approach, the floor of the mudroom, the upward stairs, and the central fireplace (the upper parts visible from the mudroom) provides metamorphic bread crumbs to the living room:
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 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:
Here's the kitchen table and chairs which look in too good of shape to be originals (but who knows!):
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.
Speaking of the listing, this house is currently on sale for $4.5 million. Hopefully someone who knows what they are buying buys it.
And speaking of the listing again, below are interesting photos from said listing:
