Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House

The fourth, final, and largest of Frank Lloyd Wright’s textile block houses, the highly distinctive style of the Ennis House grabs visual attention. I wasn’t lucky enough to tour the inside of the home before it shut down for structural issues, but the interior has been well filmed by Ridley Scott and Joe Johnston (not surprisingly both movie directors with production design backgrounds). With both front and back sides of the house viewable from the street without intruding on the property, it has the most visible exterior of any textile block home.
For FLW fanatics visiting Los Angeles, the art deco Griffith Observatory (see
), FLW’s Hollyhock House (see
), and Lloyd Wright’s (FLW’s son) John Sowden House at 5121 Franklin Ave (see
) are in the same area as the Ennis House. All can be visited in half-​a-​day. Note that only the overly ornate front façade of the Sowden House can be seen.

Not enough Drake but the Temple of Doom is wicked.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would look at again whilst enjoying a mid afternoon stroll through residential areas I cannot afford.

I’m giving the Ennis house 5 stars and I only got to stand at the front gate and take pictures — like most of the other reviews (except for you lucky individuals that actually got to take the tour).
Two of my fav movies were filmed here so I had to take a drive by. The house is much larger than I thought and it stands out prominently both from the front and the back. Judging from the view — (looking through the gate) it’s pretty awesome.
It’s up a windy single lane road — be super careful about going around the blind turns…
Worth the drive by if your a fan even if you can’t get inside.

I was recently given a tour thru the Ennis House. It’s nearly done with construction and from what I can tell it’s mainly exterior work being done now. The house is pretty amazing. The entrance is kind of below street level and has the feeling like your walking into a pharaohs tomb. The details were very interesting and definitely worth visiting when it becomes open to the public again.
To my surprise the exterior material continues throughout the house. There are fantastic Lilly ponds/​zen garden like areas off a large part of the house. It does have a awkward layout, but overall it’s sort of like an awesome compound worthy of old school batman. The pool is beautiful and it’s surprising that right on the other side of the wall closest to the road is a fairly large sized pool. The details and craftsmanship of the people working on it is extremely high quality, which might explain why it’s taking forever to complete. When it opens to the public it will likely only be for 1 day per month.
The outdoor gardens, views, pool as well as the history of the house make is a worthwhile visit. But do be warned it is currently closed for construction and there isn’t a lot to see unless you are a fan on architecture.
Be careful driving up the winding road and don’t even think about trying to access the observatory by car from the neighborhood.

The neighborhood is now a bunch of winding narrow streets, but when this Frank Lloyd Wright house was constructed in 1924, it must have been quite a sight!
Movie fans of House on Haunted Hill or The Blade Runner will recognize it as well as architecture buffs. Take a drive and enjoy!

I LOVE, LOVE FLW architecture. Have been following it all over the United States. I’m definitely a fan. Wait till you see this house! Wow! Very expansive grounds and residence. There are two houses. The main house to the left and the servants quarters to the right — when standing in the driveway facing the property.
Upon driving up the winding road the first thing you notice is just the massive size of this compound. The face of the building is just humungous! The grounds are approximately I think 3 acres. It’s huge and shaded and beautiful. Currently it is under renovation, I cannot wait till it reopens for tours, because I’m SO there.

All I can say is wow. You drive and you see this building and you can’t help but think that this is one of the most unique building or pieces of architecture in LA. You drive up a neighborhood of beautiful homes in Los Feliz, then bam this place hits you.
We parked on the street by one of the nearby homes and walked down the hills to walk along the perimeter. The entire place is currently fenced off, so you’re left to admire this home from the outside.
If you’re a fan of interesting architecture, or like me a casual architecture fan, you’ll appreciate a glimpse at one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in Los Angeles.

We stopped here on our own house tour. Absolutely breathtaking to see in person. There were workers inside and a landscaper outside. The landscaper said that repairs had recently started and did not know what or when they would be completed. Great to see that the house is being cared for!!!

We stopped by on an impromptu L.A. architecture tour (not through any company or anything. We just went on our own after a quick Unilocal search). What an insane ride through winding, narrow streets it was to get there.
The gates were closed and a chain was drawn across the driveway, but it was still worth making the drive from Barnsdall Park, where we were ogling the Hollyhock House, another of Frank Lloyd Wright’s darlings.
While my friends were going, «Wasn’t this in the Vincent Price version of ‘House on Haunted Hill’?» and «Wait, I think I remember this being in ‘Blade Runner’!!» I was keeping to myself that I recognized it from Ricky Martin’s «Vuelve» video.
Yeah, that’s right. I liked Ricky Martin. You wanna make something of it? Still, it’s kind of sad that my mind went there first, but I always figured a mansion with those textured tiles would be in Latin or South America.
Speaking of the texture tiles, though, they are definitely looking worn. The south-​facing part of the house shows the most restoration with the newer textile bricks being a browner color and have more of the definition of the original.
We peeked past the gate and saw the sunset’s golden light bouncing off the Ennis’ exterior walls. The light made the southern end of the house look so prolific, as we looked up at it from the road below.
Really looking forward to touring it when the new owners open it up for a handful of days a year.

does anyone know how to get on the tour– I cant find anything– thnx

This place is beautiful. My mother told me about this place and the BF brought me here. It’s nestled on top of a hill which overlooks LA. The park is beautiful and we tried to get on the tour but we missed the last tour of the day. Bummer, we did roam the grounds and hoped over to the gallery which is across the way and took a peek at the upcoming show. We are coming back for the tour. The home is beautiful and a the art deco accents are amazing. I was satisfied just walking around the home and peeking in the windows. A must see if you are in the area. Plus check the gallery hours perhaps you can make a day of it and check out both the home and the gallery end it with a picnic in the park.

I’ve read about the Ennis House over the years and I knew I’d have to visit it sometime. Because of damage from the Northridge quake and weathering, especially from the heavy winter rains of 2005, many of the textile concrete blocks need replacing.
The house was built in 1924 in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles south of Griffith Park. The house was sold recently to a private owner but the conservancy allows the public in a certain number of days per year.
I have toured the Hollyhock House of Frank Lloyd Wright in Barnsdall Park, and I hope to get to tour this house sometime too. We need to preserve this history.

The LA Times reported today:
‘Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, the 1924 hilltop mansion that is one of the master’s most celebrated residential designs and one of Los Angeles’ most revered architectural landmarks, has sold to billionaire Ron Burkle for about $ 4.5 million, 70% less than its original asking price.
… Burkle would be «an excellent steward» committed to finishing Ennis House’s rehabilitation and would provide at least 12 days of public access a year.‘
It seems like the public will, at least, have a limited opportunity to visit Ennis House. Yeah!

Gorgeous Frank Lloyd Wright house with one of the first kitchens to have an island. Molds of the concrete textile blocks were used for Deckard’s apartment, inside and outside, in Bladerunner.

Favorite run in Los Feliz…
Start at Vermont and Los Feliz Blvd. Don’t worry about which streets to take. Just keeping going uphill. You’ll get there. Every time you find a hidden staircase, take it.
Best album to listen to while doing this: «Oi Oi Oi» by Boys Noize
Worst album to listen to while doing this: Anything by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

I used to run this joint, so I’ve got a bit of an insider’s perspective (technically, I was the President of the Board of Directors).
So the good news: it has been completely and totally restored, thanks to incredible efforts by the Ennis House Foundation, the L.A. Conservancy, and others. It looks just as good as it did when built in 1924, maybe even better.
Bad news — you can’t go in. There used to be tours, but that’s no longer the case. Whether it will be in the future or not — that has yet to be decided. If it’s up to the neighbors — never; if it’s up to the members of the worldwide architecture community who come up every day to try and see it — yes. As of August 2011, the house was recently sold to a private individual (Ron Burkle, grocery store magnate) with an interest in architecture, and the L.A. Conservancy manages an easement that will require it to be open to the public in some form for 12 days each year. How that will be managed or what those days are has not been decided.
Short background: built between 1924 – 1926. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; construction supervised by his son, Lloyd Wright (see a pattern, here?). It is built on a «textile block» style that used local materials (instead of imported ones), and was supposedly fire, heat, and earthquake resistant — which actually turns out to be largely true.
There are three other textile-​block style houses in Los Angeles (and two other Wright-​designed houses that are not textile block), but this is the largest, and the last to be built. Despite Wright’s objections that his designs were completely original, it draws heavily from the Palace of the Governors at the Mayan site of Uxmal.
It is magnificent. It is gorgeous. Certainly worth a visit, though all you can see now is the exterior — which is stunning in and of itself.

Sitting high on the hills in Los Feliz, overlooking all that is East Hollywood, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House appears to crumble. There’s hardly any parking and you can’t get inside — but there are rumors that it’s going to be restored. And to that I say — yay.
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