Exclusive Video of Wright’s Jaw-Dropping Hollyhock House

Immerse yourself in the stunningly restored Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece

Annie Thornton July 7, 2019

Houzz Editorial Staff

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This story, originally published in 2015, has been updated with news of Hollyhock House’s UNESCO designation.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s famed Hollyhock House in Los Angeles, which reopened in 2015 after a multimillion-dollar restoration, has been described as the harbinger of California modernism. The monumental hilltop home has open multipurpose rooms and eliminates the barrier between the interior and the exterior in many places. These are features that became synonymous with California living and residential design as a whole. “It began to change the way Americans used and lived in domestic interior spaces,” says Jeffrey Herr, curator of Hollyhock House. On Sunday, July 9, 2019, UNESCO named eight works designed by Wright, including Hollyhock House, to its World Heritage List.

Joshua White

The Hollyhock House takes its name from the home’s original owner’s (Pennsylvania oil heiress Aline Barnsdall’s) love of the flower, and it features hollyhock motifs throughout the 17-room house. This house, Wright’s first in Los Angeles, is done in the then-new “California romanza” architectural style; “romanza” is a musical term meaning “the freedom to make one’s own form.” The home dominates the surrounding landscape and is built around a central courtyard with many indoor-outdoor connections and views of the Hollywood Hills and Los Angeles basin. “This house was built for an unconventional client, so it’s an unconventional house,” Herr says.

Watch: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House as You’ve Never Seen It

Barnsdall, who was a traveler, philanthropist, art collector and political radical, hired Wright to build a theater complex where she could put on avant-garde plays, but the project evolved to include her house in a larger art complex. Construction began in 1919, but Barnsdall fired Wright from the job in 1921, citing ballooning costs as cause for dismissal. Architect Rudolph Schindler moved from Chicago to California to oversee the project’s completion.

Joshua White

Despite its enduring architectural significance, Barnsdall wasn’t satisfied. She donated it, along with surrounding land, to the city of Los Angeles in 1927 to be used as a public art park, and never lived there. Now the California modernism harbinger and surrounding buildings comprise the Barnsdall Art Park. It’s a national historic landmark.

Watch: Experience a flyby of the restored Hollyhock House

Shown: Wright designed the home’s original concrete bas-relief fireplace. A skylight above the fireplace and a pool area at its base bring the four elements together at the hearth, the traditional center of the home.

Joshua White

The house has served different uses during its nearly 90 years as a city-owned building, and it became a permanent museum after a city-sponsored renovation in 1974.

The $4.4-million renovation returned the house to its original grandeur, inviting guests to experience what the house looked like when it was originally completed.

Construction focused on fixing leaking roofs and restoring floors, windows, doors and original paint colors, among other details. “With Frank Lloyd Wright, and especially Hollyhock House, the restoration is about re-creating the lost details,” Herr says.

Watch: See more of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House