Lovell House

Lovell House or the Lovell Health house was a large modernist style house designed and built by Richard Neutra¸in 1929 on a site in Los Angeles, California for the physician Philip Lovell . The house was a turning point in Neutra's career.

It was the first steel frame house in the United States and also made extensive use of concrete. Neutra was his own contractor for the project, not being satisfied with the quality of the work of available contractors.

Neutra exploited the steep hillside site fully by spreading out the house and making terraced gardens overflowing with greenery. More than any other of his other creations of domestic architecture, Lovell house showed off his mastery of landscaping. Many pictures of the house show only the main body, neglecting the gardens and their concrete retaining walls, and the outbuildings, which together combine to form a work of Art.

As was the case with other Neutra houses, the interior was both beautiful and cosy. In this domain, Neutra set himself apart form other genial modernist architects, who all too often put aesthetic considerations above human comfort. Not surprisingly, Philip Lovell was enchanted with the house and praised his architect publicly.

References

• Hines, Thomas. Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture.. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
• Neutra, Richard Joseph. Life and Shape. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962.