Prolific American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was able to design over a thousand structures during his 70-year career. But the iconic Ennis House in the Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles officially became his most expensive work ever sold.
After more than a year on the real estate market, an anonymous buyer finally purchased the one of a kind sprawling residence for $18 million. It catapulted it to become the most expensive building designed by the legendary architect.
The three-bedroom residential structure, complete with three and a half bathrooms, is part of a 6,000 square foot property. Its main house and detached guesthouses lie on under an acre of the hillside property. Wright designed the structure, and then his son Lloyd Wright built it in 1924.
The residential building’s design is inspired by ancient Maya temples and Wright’s other earlier buildings like the Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House in Hollywood and the Wisconsin-based A.D. German Warehouse. It has a very prominent feature: the relief ornament seen on its 27,000 patterned and perforated decomposed granite blocks, based on the appearance of the symmetrical reliefs common in Uxmal’s Puuc architecture.
Ennis House in the Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles
The interior of the property features a dramatically long hallway made with marble. It spans the entire length of the property’s main house. The hallway’s design connects the different rooms inside the structure, including the formal living area with an intricately-designed mosaic-tiled hearth, a breathtaking formal dining room with a cathedral-like ceiling, and a tucked up library with stunning views and wide windows.
The house also has a vintage-looking kitchen with black-and-white tiles on the floor. It has glass doors that residents can open out to an adjacent terrace. There is also a secluded screening room complete with an open fireplace and a curved bard on the lower portion of the house. All the bathrooms also come with unique patterned tile and leaded glass doors and windows.
The new owners can also enjoy dipping in their large swimming pool in the backyard. It also has a narrow koi pond to add another conversation piece in the outdoor area. The home’s southern portion also comes with several balconies, terraces, and many courtyards that showcase LA’s amazing views.
Due to its unique design and aesthetics, the Ennis House became a favorite location to film movies, TV shows, and advertisements. It became widely known in the 1982 film “Blade Runner.” It also served as the backdrop of some music videos, including 3T’s “Why” together with their uncle Michael Jackson and S Club 7’s single “Have You Ever.”
The property structure had significant damage after the destructive Northridge earthquake in 1994, but billionaire Ron Burkle restored it after purchasing it in 2011 for $4.5 million. He reportedly had the property reconstructed for a total of $17 million before putting it back on the real estate market in 2019 with a $23 million asking price. But the new owners of the house purchased it a little under the listing value. The current owners of the Ennis House remain undisclosed.
