Lautner's Own Home for Sale - Page 2

Upon the architect leaving his family for business partner Douglas Honnold's wife in the late '40s, Lautner's wife owned the house, but later moved back to Wisconsin. It changed hands, and at some point another bedroom and three-quarter-bath were added downstairs and the balcony enclosed.

"Originally, it was a two-bedroom with an open balcony," said the realtor, who recently unearthed permit papers for the room addition bearing Lautner's name, indicating his participation.

In 1984 the home was purchased by a couple that included schoolteacher Clare Frith, who lived the rest of her life there before dying last November. Noting that Frith was instrumental in making the house one of eight Lautners on the National Register of Historic Places, Gafni remarked, "Clare, from what I've heard, was very proud of the house."

And, no doubt, of the neighborhood as well, site to numerous mid-century modern masterpieces, including three Lautners and a Rudolph Schindler on Micheltorena Street alone.

"There's just dozens here in Silver Lake," said Gafni, noting that firm principal Crosby Doe represented one of Lautner's most famous creations at 2138 Micheltorena when it last sold in 2014. Silvertop, as the Reiner-Burchill Residence (1963) is known, then underwent a 30-month restoration that won a 2018 preservation award from the L.A. Conservancy.

"It's such an honor to be representing this house," she admitted of the Lautner residence, speaking by phone a few days after listing it. "This is the first time I'm selling an architect's residence of this importance."

The estate trustee selling the house has yet to set an offer date, and Gafni, who is planning a website for the listing, has already had "a bunch of showings" to potential buyers scheduled. With a nod toward a current reality that John Lautner might never have imagined, the realtor added, "I'm spacing showings out quite a bit."

Then again, if any architect could see into the future, the creator of Googie style and so many innovative designs might just be the one.

For more info on the Lautner listing, click here.