Movie Houses: John Lautner Architect Modern Houses in Movies

It is hard to write a piece on Mid-Century Architecture without acknowledging the work of Architect John Edward Lautner (16 July 1911 – 24 October 1994), an American architect who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. Lautner opened his own architectural practice in California in 1938. I include him here as it is a testament to his design talent when you realize just how many of his houses have been featured in major movies. Here I will focus on just 5 of the many of his residential consignments which have been featured in films.

 

THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) – JACKIE TREEHORN’S MALIBU HOME

Designed and constructed between 1961 and 1963, The Sheats Goldstein Residence was conceived from the inside out and constructed directly into the sandstone ledge of a sloping California property.  The layout of the home was expertly executed by Lautner to seamlessly blend exterior and interior spaces ensuring the house is experienced as an extension of the natural landscape.  The creative use of elongated, angular lines of the home’s design was a solution to solve the problems of the challenging property.

The asymmetrical, geometric home has been featured in numerous television programs (crime dramas: Southland (2009 – 2013), and Snowfall (2017 to present)), photo shoots (November 2014 Vanity Fair) and music videos (Snoop Dogg, Rihanna and Calvin Harris).  More notable, The Sheats Goldstein Residence was featured as the Malibu home of Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) in The Big Lebowski (1998), and as the home of the villainous Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell) in Charlie’s Angels (2000).

 

 

 

 

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971) – THE HOME OF BILLIONAIRE WILLARD WHYTE

James Bond movies have always set the tone on style and the latest in modern living. From gadgets and tripped out cars to spectacular evil lairs, Diamonds Are Forever (1971) does not disappoint with Lautner’s Palm Springs Elrod House. In Diamonds Are Forever, the Elrod House is used as the winter retreat of billionaire Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean) where Bond (Sean Connery) is confronted by female bodyguards Bambi (Lola Larson) and Thumper (Trina Parks).

Located at 2175 Southridge Dr, in Palm Springs, CA. the 8,900-square-foot residence completed in 1969 has five bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, a large gym, and an indoor/outdoor swimming pool separated by a retractable curved glass wall which opens at the touch of a button.  The home is dramatically sited on a rocky ledge, incorporating naturally located boulders as walls and dividers between rooms supporting the Lautner design trademark, blurring the lines between exterior and interior spaces.

In 2016, the house was listed for $10.495 million.

 

 

 

BODY DOUBLE (1984), THE TEMPORARY HOME OF JAKE SCULLY

Labeled “the most modern home built in the world” by The Encyclopedia Britannica, the home is known as “The Chemosphere” is a Lautner designed house planned to solve the common problem of constructing on a challenging site. In this case, a property which involves a 45-degree slope.  The spaceship styled house is a 2,200 square foot octagonal home resting on a 30- foot tall, 5-foot wide concrete pedestal, accessed by a private funicular. This uniquely designed home has survived numerous earthquakes and landslides due to the deep anchoring of its central pedestal into the sloping hillside. The home is located in the San Fernando Valley, perched in such a way as to captivate the extensive valley views on the entertaining side of the home, and intimate views of nature and wildlife on the bedroom side of the octagonal structure.

The house is named for the Chem Seal Corporation, one of two sponsoring companies (the other being the Southern California Gas Company) who provided an experimental cladding to the house, offsetting the original $140,000 cost (approximately $1.16 million today) to construct the home.

The house’s unique design makes it a natural for the movies and although originally built to house a family of six, the home is often depicted in movies as the ultimate bachelor pad. First used in The Outer Limits television series in a 1964 episode entitled The Duplicate Man, the production supplemented exterior shots of the house with interiors created on a sound stage.  The house was later used in Brian DePalma’s Body Double (1984) as a temporary residence for the main character, Jake Scully (Craig Wasson).  The movie, based on the voyeuristic theme of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), makes perfect use of the circular glass-walled home as the perfect perch from which to spy upon neighbors.

The Chemosphere also appears in the end credits of the Disney film Tomorrowland (2015), starring George Clooney, and was animated for The Simpsons television series for a 1996 episode entitled “A Fish Called Selma”.

 

LESS THAN ZERO (1987), THE CLAY FAMILY HOME

One of architect John Lautner’s favorite commissions was “Silvertop”, a 7,500 square foot residence designed to complement the topography of an unusually contoured property. Built between 1957 and 1963, the four-bedroom home’s main feature is the curved living room window framing the ocean view out over an infinity edged pool.

The movie Less Than Zero introduces the Lautner design brilliantly during the opening credits.  Director, Marek Kanievska has the camera follow 18-year-old lead character Clay (Andrew McCarthy) returning home to Beverly Hills for Christmas break from Princeton. Clay is shown exiting a taxi cab in the homes circular drive, entering the grand residence and then followed throughout the homes meandering interior. The scene not only displays the obvious wealth of the character’s family but also portrays the director’s love affair with the perfectly designed home.

 

A SINGLE MAN (2009), GEORGE AND JIM’S RESIDENCE

The Schaffer Residence was one of the earlier Lautner commissions received shortly after finishing his apprenticeship under Frank Lloyd Wright, and aptly demonstrates Wright’s influences. It was constructed for the Schaffer family who owned a large parcel of land and desired a home designed to be integrated with the large oak trees on the property. To accomplish this, Lautner designed a remarkably airy space which meanders in and around the existing trees.

The home constructed in 1949 is not large, containing just 1,698 square feet of interior space and two bedrooms; however, with Lautner’s use of an open floor plan and trademark blending of the interior and exterior spaces, the home feels much larger.  The architect accomplishes this feat through the use of large runs of pivoting glass exterior walls which merge the interior spaces with expansive decking, and a ceiling that appears to float.  Constructed of glass, steel, concrete and redwood cladding the home’s blending of spaces is supported by its incorporation seamlessly into the natural landscape of the property.

Located at 527 Whiting Woods Way in Glendale, CA, the Schaffer Residence stands in as the Santa Monica home of George Falconer (Colin Firth) and his deceased partner Jim in A Single Man. The interiors and exteriors of the house were extensively used by Tom Ford in his directorial debut, who relied heavily on his design training to ensure the house depicted the characters refined taste while ensuring everything in his life has a proper place.  To accomplish this, Ford, with design expert Amy Wells (Mad Men) debated and positioned every object and prop shown on screen to ensure the main characters home was a reflection of his personality, and ultimately a depiction of the disruption of his orderly world.