Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House has found a buyer in Los Angeles

2022-02-26T10:05:00-05:00

On Thursday, USC announced that it had finalized the sale of the home to Richard E. Weintraub, president and CEO of the Weintraub Real Estate Group, a Los Angeles developer who has worked with historic properties in the past. (He and fellow developer Tom Gilmore helped bring the old St. Vibiana Cathedral in downtown L.A. back to life as a restaurant and events center.)

The home hit the market in July and has undergone extensive restorations in order to repair structural damage caused by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The need for additional repairs was reportedly behind the agreement reached between the school and Weintraub, which negotiated a reduction of the originally listed price from $4.25 to $1.8 million on the condition that the developer will make the proper and necessary changes along strict conservation guidelines in addition to opening the home to public tours a minimum of time per year.

Previously on Archinect: USC puts Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale; Freeman House; Image © Liz Kuball

USC says it is in the process of “reaffirming its mission and priorities, which is academic teaching and research,” and that it lacks the funds necessary to make more than basic restorations.

“The textile-block houses, in particular, have very specific conservation needs,” the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Linda Dishman told the Times. ...

USC puts Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale

2021-07-23T15:29:00-04:00

The University of Southern California (USC) School of Architecture is putting the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale. Built in 1924 and named after the clients Samuel and Harriet Freeman, the Freeman House is one of four Wright homes in Los Angeles to include distinct concrete textile blocks along a Mayan Revival theme, the others being the Ennis House, Storer House, and Millard House. Both the Ennis House and Millard House have also been sold in recent years.

The Freeman House in 2008. Image: Wikimedia Commons user Los Angeles.

Set in the Hollywood Hills, the Freeman House measures almost 2,900 square feet, spanning two floors across a sloping site. Wright designed the house using an experimental system of over 12,000 concrete textile blocks inspired by Mayan temples, reinforced with steel to improve resiliency. Intersecting with the house’s strong horizontal emphasis is a series of double-height corner glazed windows overlooking an external patio, combining with ...

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Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House has found a buyer in Los Angeles

USC puts Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale