the culture fields / blog

Client: Mr. and Mrs. Russ Garcia (Russ Garcia was a jazz composer)
Located on Mulholland Drive on a steep mountainside.

Features: Wooden arched roof and steel frame “floats” above the hills supported by two V-shaped steel supports. The structure is divided into two distinct living spaces: half consists of the open living room with built-in sofas, the other half private spaces (bedrooms). Central entry is open with curved stairs leading from the carport above.

Quote: “Lautner described the Garcia House as ‘lamellated wood arches [designed] to blend in the hills’ by taking the same form as the curved ‘hum’ in the terrain. The house echoed a more complex topography by splitting itself into two at a slight fold in the land-decisively dividing the house into the two distinct domestic zones the clients required-and then bridging the gap.” (Between Heaven and Earth, page 100)

In the News: A restoration project was in the works in 2008 (curbed LA article) by current owners Bill Damaschke and John McIlwee (NY Times article) with a pool being a more recent addition (curbed LA article 2).

In pop culture: This is the house that was “blown up” in Lethal Weapon 2. It’s a pretty impressive rendering of how one would collapse and destroy the structure: