The Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House

Frank Lloyd Wright created the Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House in Los Angeles' East Hollywood district as a mansion for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall. The mansion is massive in scale, but it smoothly combines indoor and outdoor gardens and living spaces. Its structural system predates Wright's other Los Angeles residences' textile-block system. The living-room hearth, topped by a skylight and incorporating a supposedly floating hearthstone, bas-relief stone mural, and wood-slat screen, provides an especially dramatic focal point.

Despite this, it has been remodeled multiple times, has long been plagued by water intrusion and was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The City and Project Restore, a public-private collaboration, began planning a structural needs and restoration project in 2007. The project team launched a four-year project in 2010 to repair and avoid water damage, seismically fortify the house, restore historic aspects, and reverse previous renovations. Hollyhock House reopened to the public in February 2015, and the thorough restoration garnered a Conservancy Preservation Award in 2015. This project was a significant accomplishment for the City of Los Angeles, as well as compelling evidence of the need for civic investment in historic places.

The structure is now the focal point of the city's Barnsdall Art Park. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2019, together with seven other structures created by Wright in the twentieth century. It is the first time that modern American architecture has been added to the list of World Heritage Sites. The Hollyhock House is notable for pioneering an important architectural approach that integrated indoor and outdoor living spaces.

Address: 4800 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027, United States

Construction started: in 1921

Architectural styles: Modern architecture, Organic architecture, Mayan Revival architecture