Dion Neutra, the son of the 20th century architect Richard Neutra and a practitioner in his own right who also waged a decades-long war to save his father’s iconic buildings from the ravages of time, remodeling and demolition, has died at his home on Neutra Place in Silver Lake, a neighborhood studded with Neutra architecture.
Neutra, who was 93, died Sunday in his sleep, said his brother, Raymond Neutra.
— The Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times highlights the life and career of Dion Neutra, the son and collaborator of Richard Neutra, the famed Los Angeles architect behind many of the city's sleek Modernist-era structures. Dion worked alongside his father on some of the firm's most creative works, including the VDL II Research House.
In his later years, as his father's works increasingly fell to the wrecking ball, Dion became an ardent preservationist. In 2004, he told The Los Angeles Times, "There should be a national will to save these buildings,” adding, “It shouldn’t have to be a one-man crusade.”
The approach is one he lived through and through. "My wife gives me hell because I’ve kept the original 1950s Case toilet that doesn’t flush right,” Dion explained to The Los Angeles Times, "'Listen,' I tell her. 'This is the toilet that Richard Neutra sat on — I’m not getting rid of it.'"
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I got to work with him over the summer working on the vdl research house probably around 2003?. Cool dude...I still have a scar on my nose from running into that plate glass window to the rear patio. Lol.
I'll never forget we were having a meeting about the restoration of the house. A well known "architect of record" (who i only saw one time over the whole summer) was hired on and he kept talking about the original "intent" of the Architect etc etc. As if Dion wasn't sitting there in the room, and finally he was like "You have the original Architect sitting right here!" It was classic. Rest in peace.
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