Built in 1932, the VDL Research House designed by Richard Neutra is one of Southern California’s modernist gems. Now it has been named a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior following the tireless work of its owners, the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation and, in particular, the VDL House director and chair of the architecture department at Cal Poly, Sarah Lorenzen. The effort was assisted by Los Angeles Congressman Adam Schiff, who helped celebrate the designation last Sunday.

Neutra’s third building in the United States, and his own private home, the House is said to encapsulate his ideas. For the famed Austrian-American architect, the role of contemporary architecture was to shape life in the modern world, marked by new technologies and new lifestyles. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the House is “the only property where one can see the progression of his style over a period of years and is among the key properties to understanding the national significance of Richard Neutra.”

“Only those, who have lived in a Neutra House, would ever understand how wonderful the daily satisfactions and delights are and how much this experience helps to augment the joy of living,” his wife, Dione Neutra, stated back in 1970. “This is especially the case in this house, which is built on three levels. With the many glass surfaces, mirrors, pools that reflect trees and flowers, every step from room to room, stairway up and down, is an aesthetic and artist experience, which I have the good fortune to enjoy, while I move about the house and watch the changing weather.”

The house that currently stands on Silver Lake Boulevard, across from the Reservoir, is actually a reconstruction of the original, which burnt down in 1963. “It is all over, there will be no way to reconstruct this ruin,” Neutra had stated. But, following efforts lead by Neutra’s son Dion, the house was rebuilt with some adjustments, including enlarging the kitchen, adding a balcony, and installing two-story, automated vertical louvers—all made following close studies of issues in the original design as well as to accommodate changes that had occurred in the neighborhood.

In 1980, Neutra’s wife Dione—by then a widow—donated the building to Cal Poly Pomona. By 2008, the building had fallen into a state of disrepair and a fund-raising campaign was launched to preserve it. These efforts were led by Lorenzen and assisted by a range of friends, notably Archinect editor Orhan Ayyüce. The firm Marmol Radziner volunteered to deal with water intrusion issues and other restorations pro-bono.

Now that it’s a historic landmark, the VDL House will have assistance in securing grants, tax credits and other opportunities to assist in its preservation.

As an aside, the Neutra VDL Research House has been the gracious host of many Archinect events, from a launch party for Treatise: Why Write Alone? to our recent, live-podcasting event Next Up: Floating Worlds. We want to extend a heartfelt congratulations to Lorenzen and all our other friends who made the designation happen!