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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S ENNIS HOUSE BACK FROM THE BRINK

"You see, the final result is going to stand on that hill a hundred years or more. Long after we are gone it will be pointed out as the Ennis House, and pilgrimages will be made to it by lovers of the beautiful – from everywhere." – Frank Lloyd Wright, in a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ennis (1924)

Tim Street-Porter

Severely damaged by the Northridge earthquake, heavy rains, and deferred maintenance, Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic 1924 Ennis House stands firmly once again in the hills above Los Feliz. A just-completed combination of structural and restoration work has stabilized this world-renowned masterpiece, the last and grandest of Wright’s "textile block" homes built in Los Angeles.

Photo Gallery
The House
The Project
Next Steps
The Project Team
For More Information
Donate to the Restoration Effort
(through the National Trust for Historic Preservation)

Please note that the Ennis House is not open to the public.

The House

Tim Street-Porter More photos

Designed in 1923 for businessman Charles Ennis and his wife Mabel, the Ennis House is the last of four Wright-designed textile block houses built in Southern California in the 1920s. At 10,000 square feet, it was also the largest, since the Ennises were relatively wealthy and liked to entertain.

Wright's experimental textile block system used interlocking, identical pre-cast concrete blocks. The textile block served as a single building component for both the inner and outer walls that was structural as well as ornamental. Believing that the house should be "of" the hill rather than merely "on" it, Wright integrated the house into the hillside and used soil from the site in the concrete blocks (which ultimately played a role in their deterioration).

Tim Street-Porter More photos

Perched in the hills above Los Feliz, the monumental structure is a masterpiece inside and out, with beautiful custom art glass and spectacular views of Los Angeles. Its unique, exotic appearance made the Ennis House a popular filming location for decades; its most memorable appearances include 1959's The House on Haunted Hill, 1982's Blade Runner, and the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Original owner Charles Ennis lived in the house only a few years, until his death in 1928. Mabel Ennis sold the house in 1936. It had a series of successive owners, including Augustus Brown, who made the house available for public tours and donated it in 1980 to the nonprofit Trust for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. After Mr. Brown's death, the nonprofit was reorganized in 2005 and renamed the Ennis House Foundation. The Ennis House is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Project

National Trust for Historic Preservation More photos

Despite its significance, the Ennis House has suffered greatly over the years from deferred maintenance, deterioration of the concrete blocks, the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and the record rains of 2005. The situation grew so dire that the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the house on its 2005 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places, and the World Monuments Fund placed it on its list of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world.

The Ennis House Foundation spearheaded a major effort to stabilize the house. Using a FEMA grant and a $4.5 million construction loan from First Republic Bank, construction began in mid-2006. The project team built a new structural frame to support the motor court, chauffeur's quarters, and part of the south wall, which had partially collapsed. The team also replaced the roof; repaired and restored interior woodwork, floors, ceilings, art-glass doors and windows, and a mosaic glass tile mural; painted the kitchen cabinetry in its original color; and cleaned interior concrete blocks. They repaired or replaced nearly 3,000 of the house’s 30,000 concrete blocks, many of which had eroded over time or were treated with waterproofing materials that inadvertently caused damage. As many of the original blocks as possible were repaired, and new replacement blocks were cast from molds made from the originals.

Next Steps

Robert Leary More photos

The Ennis House Foundation is now preparing a historic structures report for the house, funded in part by The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, to document the property's condition and outline future preservation and maintenance requirements. The Foundation is also crafting a fundraising plan to repay the construction loan.

The Ennis House is not currently open to the public.

The Project Team

The Ennis House Foundation is governed by a twelve-member board of directors that includes representatives of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, and the Los Angeles Conservancy. The project team includes construction manager Alfatech Cambridge, general contractor Matt Construction and its subcontractors, structural engineer Melvyn Green and Associates, preservation consultant Historic Resources Group, art-glass conservator Judson Studios, and architect Eric Lloyd Wright, grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The stabilization project was funded by grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California Heritage Fund, a construction loan from First Republic Bank guaranteed by Ron Burkle, grants from the American Express Historic Preservation Fund and Friends of Heritage Preservation, and generous contributions from individuals and groups worldwide. The Ennis House Foundation has applied for funding from the Getty Foundation and the federal Save America's Treasures program for additional concrete block repair.

For More Information

For more information about the Ennis House and its ongoing restoration, please visit the Ennis House Foundation's website at www.ennishouse.org. You can also donate to the restoration effort through the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Ennis House Photo Gallery