Moving on up

posted by on 2008.08.25, under Uncategorized

Quite a while ago, two architectural office back in my past, I worked on drawings for a house up in Brentwood. While working on the project, I found out that they could only build the new house once they had settled on what to do with the old house. Seems there was an old Neutra house sitting there on the site, and the owners wanted to build a new, much larger one in its place. While they were working on getting their new house designed, the Neutra house got listed on the Historical Register, making it impossible to demolish. This sort of threw a monkey wrench into their plans. There was a solution however, it could be moved! Only, doing so is not so simple. And so it sat.

Well, I only worked on the project briefly, and as it got held up in all kinds of local, county, and historic preservation shenanigans, I moved on to work on other things. Eventually, I left that office and went on to work in a couple of other offices. Totally forgot about that little Neutra.

Now today, upon browsing the LA Times website, I see that the Maxwell House (as the old Neutra house was originally called) is on the move! Seems the owners found a buyer for the house, and eventually (its been about six years) got everything worked out in order to relocate it. LA Times has a great article with a photo essay showing part of the move, and the house in its original condition. Not a classic example of Neutra, but a sweet little place anyway.
I wish I had been on top of it, as I would have loved to go document the move.. but alas, I am not really in touch with those folks anymore.

Moral of the story. Don’t try to tear down a Neutra. It’ll cost you six years off your life. Now if only the folks in Gettysburg would get the message.

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