The Hollywood Hills remain peppered with several architectural wonders that resemble treehouses from pre-war Austrian and German designers. However, none lay quite as enveloped by its natural landscape and design as the 1947 Rudolph Schindler-built modern house in Los Angeles. The masonry home belongs to Pamela Shamshiri—the interior design maven whose client list includes Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway and musician Beck.
Austrian architect Rudolph Schindler built Shamshiri’s Lechner house — named after the original proprietor—in the weeks following a visit to the prehistoric masonry dwellings of the Pueblo Native Americans who built their homes into cliff faces. Wedged in a V-shape on the side of Laurel Canyon, the Lechner home captures the same spirit of the earthenware masonry homes that were both a part of nature and voyeurs on it.
Modern Lechner House Design: A work in progress
Shamshiri has frequently commented on how her home resembles a treehouse; endless glass walls provide uninterrupted views of verdant nature in the valley beyond and below. Moreover, clerestory windows diffuse light throughout the building, and sliding doors honour Schindler’s intention to create rooms that invite nature in.
Image Source: 1stdibs.com
The LA-based designer spent eight years restoring the modern house back to Schindler’s original design. The early black-and-white photographs, plans, and drawings diligently archived by the University of California, Santa Barbara, aided this. Half a century and eight owners later, Shamshiri sandblasted 17 layers of paint to reveal the building’s natural grain and tore down marble, drywall, and black granite to showcase Schindler’s stainless steel fireplace and brick columns.
Shamshiri also reinstated key furnishings of the house in Los Angeles. It included built-in asymmetric sofas, a mirrored bar, and a pull-out dining table. But, not all the renovations were beholden to the spirit of Schindler’s master plan. The gallery design kitchen of the modern house extends to fit more people. Also, an entirely new Onsen-like bathroom was built, boasting a cedar tub and plywood cabinets. Shamshiri has matched her own design eye with Schindler’s philosophy of using low materials for high design; to create a truly modernist family home, one which becomes a gift to architectural history.
