A Rudolph Schindler-designed home in Los Angeles that’s only had four owners in its nearly 80 years is on the market for $2.8 million.
Screenwriter and actor Roxy Roth commissioned Schindler to build the Studio City home in 1946, and each of the owners since then have been “in the business,” including journalist and “The Orchid Thief” author Susan Orlean, said listing agent Ilana Gafni of Crosby Doe Associates. She listed the home last week with Mark Priceman of Compass.
It’s now being sold by TV writer and producer Zahir McGhee—best known for his work on “Scandal”—and his wife, Erica. They bought the home from Orlean and her husband, John Gillespie, in July 2018 for $2 million, records on PropertyShark show.
“We had no clue about Schindler,” Zahir McGhee said, but once they walked in the home, “it felt warm and like home, and it felt creative and inspiring.”
Schindler, who began his career working for Frank Lloyd Wright, developed his own form of modernism that he called “Space Architecture,” which prioritized a home’s interior design over the exterior.
“You don’t truly experience [his designs] until you go inside,” Gafni said. “It’s almost like this interior space comes first and the exterior is just a byproduct of that.”
Schindler’s original design has remained nearly entirely unchanged. The only notable changes have been a remodel of the kitchen—which had become a “wreck,” Gafni said—that re-created the original style, and the carport was converted into an office by architect Barbara Bestor. The rounded office space is about 400 square feet and lined with clerestory windows.
“What an incredibly inspiring place to write,” McGhee said.
The highlight of the home’s design, though, is the open-plan living and dining room’s large picture window that looks out over the valley and mountains in the distance.
“When I saw it for the first time, that’s when the lightbulb went on for me with Schindler’s work,” Gafni said.
The nearly 2,000-square-foot interiors are geometric, with alcoves, hidden storage and original built-ins. Every room leads to the outdoors, McGhee said, and the abundance of windows allows for views from nearly every perspective.
“Because there are so many windows and [Schindler] was so out-of-the-box and creative about the angles, I’ll find myself laying down on the couch in a different direction than I normally would and going, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve never seen that view before,” he said.
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A loft-like primary suite, which is one of three bedrooms, is raised up behind the living room, giving it a view out the picture window. A folding wooden screen closes for privacy, and the bedroom also has access to a small balcony and built-in reading lights on either side of the bed.
Outside, there are small patios surrounded by native landscaping, and a set of steps leads to a sitting area above the house that has a fire pit.