Ennis House

34.116222222222 - 118.29286111111Koordinaten: 34 ° 6 ' 58 "N, 118 ° 17' 34 " W

The Ennis House is a building located in the Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, south of Griffith Park. It was designed for Charles and Mabel Ennis in 1923 by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1924.

Building

The 930 -square-meter house consists of two buildings, the main house and the west of it lying garage with an apartment for the chauffeur, separated by a paved courtyard. In contrast to the three other houses in this style, the Wrights Ennis House has combines a long portico, the Community and private spaces on the north side with the rooms on the south side.

Following La Miniatura, which is also known as Millard House in Pasadena, and the Storer House and Freeman House in Hollywood, the building was the fourth and largest of the buildings, the pre-cast concrete blocks connected in the north of Los Angeles from what Wright "textile block called system ", were built. The design is based on the temples of the Maya and in addition to other, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright houses - AD German Warehouse in Wisconsin and the Hollyhock House in Hollywood - it is sometimes cited as an example of the style of the Maya Revival. The striking feature of the building are the relief ornaments of concrete blocks, which are inspired by the symmetrical reliefs of Mayan buildings in Uxmal.

"No house shoulderstand ever be on a hill or on anything. It Should Be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house shoulderstand live together each the happier for the other. "

" No house should ever be on a hill or on anything else. It should be a part of the hill. Belong to him. Hill and house should live together, rejoice together. "

"In the building, each separate portion of the building devoted to a special purpose Asserts Itself as to individual factor in the whole. The completed wholesale crowns the end of a high ridge in Hollywood. "

" In this building every single part of the building has a specific purpose and manifests itself as a single part of the whole. "

History

Because the costs increased and during the Frank Lloyd Wright's son, Lloyd Wright, directed construction difficulties were encountered, the owners took over the site management after the shell had reached the window. They carried out several modifications of the plan drawn up by Wright. In 1940, the house was sold to the media personality John Nesbitt, who had it rebuilt by Wright. There came a swimming pool on the north side and added a billiard room on the ground floor. In addition, Nesbitt was the first time to install a heating system.

According to Patricia Kennealy - Morrison Jim Morrison 's widow once showed interest to purchase the house.

Although it is known as the Ennis House initially and even today, it was a long time the name Ennis -Brown House, because Augustus O. Brown, the eighth owner of the house, who lived from 1968 to 1980 is it the Trust for Preservation of Cultural Heritage donated. In August 2005, the house got its former name and the Foundation was named the Ennis House Foundation.

The Ennis House has been classified by city, state and federal level as a historic structure. Due to his condition it was in 2005 designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of the eleven most endangered monuments. Even before its completion, there were problems with regard to the stability of the construction as a part of the concrete blocks in two jumping and the lower parts of the walls are bent under the load. The use of broken granite at the site, to stain the concrete blocks in a natural way, contaminated the concrete mixture and resulted in co-operation with the air pollution to premature decay. Applying a protective layer causing further problems. Even more damage caused the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and the record rainfall of the rainy season 2004/2005. The foundation was assumed that five million U.S. dollars are applied for the stabilization of the structure and fifteen million dollars for a complete restoration. After the rains had temporarily access to the building is prohibited and even the end of 2005 accepted under certain conditions, because the retaining walls on the southward back of the building had significant damage.

A grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 2006 and a construction loan of First Republic Bank in the amount of $ 4,500,000 was used to set the reconstruction started. This project included the replacement of the retaining walls, the replacement of damaged concrete blocks, renovating windows and a new roof. The restoration was completed in 2007.

In July 2011, the Ennis House Foundation announced that the building was sold to the American investor Ron Burkle under the condition that the renovations continued and the house will be made available at least 12 days a year to the public.

Use as a film set

The exotic -looking appearance made ​​the property an appealing backdrop for Hollywood filmmakers; a morbid achieved fame in the exterior facade in 1959, turned B-movie The House on Haunted Hill. The 1975 film shot The Day of the Locust, chose it extensively as a private property, but only in 1982 with Blade Runner got the house itself to popularity among moviegoers, although only an arrival scene was actually filmed with the main person in the Ennis House.

Parts of reminiscent of a cathedral interior, especially the higher -lying Dining room with open fireplace opposite the balcony and the lower altitude living room appeared in several films, including Black Rain, Predator 2, The Karate Kid, Part III - The final decision, The 13th Floor - Are you what do you think? and Rush Hour ( even the interiors parts of a skyscraper in Hong Kong represented ). The house was used as a filming location for television commercials, music videos and fashion shoots. From the second season of the television series Buffy - the Vampire Slayer of the facade of the house was filmed as the residence of Angelus, Spike and Drusilla. Has been used extensively for the interior of the music video for Have You Ever the group S Club 7 The Ennis House served in succession Wing series South Park as the headquarters of a Chinese gang.

With Footprints of the relief ornaments filmmakers have designed numerous buildings for movies that were not shot on the spot, including around a door frame in Mulholland Drive - road of darkness or Deckard's apartment in Blade Runner. For The Rocketeer parts of the Ennis House has been reconstructed in detail in the studio, but arranged differently, and it was added a second floor.

Because the Ennis House is located in a densely built-up urban district, the steady flow of tourists and the frequent presence of film crews have led to criticism by the neighbors.

Documents

• About The Ennis House Foundation ( English ) Retrieved on February 8, 2011.
• Ennis - Brown House - History & Photographs ( English ) Archived from the original on 7 March 2005 Retrieved on February 5, 2011..