Three weeks ago, days before Beverly Hills held a celebration marking the coincidence of the calendar with their famed zip code 90210, a true landmark in the city, John Lautner’s 1950 Shusett House, was demolished.

The destruction of what Lautner historian Frank Escher calls “one of the two major houses of his early career” occurred after negotiations between the John Lautner Foundation and the owner, Enrique Mannheim, broke down. Aware of Mannheim’s intentions, the Foundation had found a devoted Lautner fan, Michael LaFetra, who first offered to buy the house, and then when the Mannheims balked, said he would move the house to another location and subsequently restore it.

These overtures were dismissed as well. The Mannheims did not want any delays before starting the construction of a new house on this lot just north of Sunset Boulevard.

After the Lautner Foundation supported by other conservancy groups then failed to get ‘a stay of execution’ passed by the Beverly Hills City Council, the landmark house was summarily ripped apart. (This rich enclave stands apart from many other cities in Southern California, including Los Angeles, in that it has no conservation ordinances.)

“It was a very upsetting thing to watch it go,” said Mark Haddawy, who photographed the event over two days.

Shusett House under demolition. Photo: Mark Haddawy.

The Shusett house was hardly the gem it had once been after multiple renovations and general lack of attention. Still, the other home designed by Lautner at the time – the Harvey house in Los Feliz – was in a similar straits when bought over ten years ago by the Hollywood star Kelly Lynch and her screenwriter husband, Mitch Glazer. The couple restored it, and now it is a showcase for the architect’s highly structural vision of design.

From its inception, the Shusett house was a true example of how Lautner not only conceived and then built wonderful sculptural forms but connected them with nature. Arriving at the site in the late 1940s, Lautner was confronted by a large Canary pine, already over 60 years old.  He decided that the main section of the house – holding public rooms like the living and dining area – would have a semi-circular form that, in turn, would surround this magnificent tree. (Another wing housing the domestic areas extends from the semi-circular structure to the street.)

Aerial photo of the Shusett House by John Lautner in Los Angeles. Photo: Tycho Saariste.

To make such a structure, Lautner placed gently-curved beams atop delicate steel pins. A similarly curving glass façade was pulled back from the edge of the roof, and on the lawn in front of this semi-circular terrace the architect placed large, playful circles of concrete. Chaises and other outdoor furniture were to float on these. The overall effect was emblematic of the highly optimistic future that California promised at the time. (In subsequent renovations the windows were pushed out to the edge of the roofline but the basic steel structure of this spectacular canopy remained intact.)

Many architects, of course, would have simply removed the giant pine, but not Lautner. Argues Escher, “He worked in quite the opposite way that, say, Neutra and Mies did. They brought their designs into nature. Lautner insisted on bringing nature into design.”

And despite a quite considerable oeuvre that demonstrated this philosophy – often in extraordinary ways, such as with Chemosphere house off Mullholland Drive – Lautner felt angered at the end of his life that he hadn’t received the recognition he deserved. In recent years, thanks in part to a well-publicized exhibition of his work, ‘Between Earth and Heaven: ‘The Architecture of John Lautner’ opening at the Hammer Museum, his fans and family had begun to think that he was finally getting his due.

Sadly, the reverse is the case within the confines of Beverly Hills.

– David Hay

Shusett House under demolition. Photo: Mark Haddawy.

Shusett House in 2007. Photo: Tycho Saariste.

Shusett House under demolition. Photo: Mark Haddawy.

Shusett House in 2007. Photo: Jan-Richard Kikkert.

Shusett House under demolition. Photo: Mark Haddawy.

Shusett House in 2007. Photo: Jan-Richard Kikkert.

Shusett House under demolition. Photo: Mark Haddawy.

Tycho Saariste explains how he and fellow Dutch architect Jan-Richard Kikkert developed a passion for the work of John Lautner:

“In 2007 we headed an excursion to LA with a group of students just to visit as many Lautner projects as possible. After that trip we continued our research and went back to the US many times to visit literally anything John Lautner designed. At the moment we have seen 98 out of 99 existing projects, most of them also from the inside.

It was on our first trip in 2007 that we visited the Shusett house. Mrs. Mannheim [Ed. note: the home's last owner] showed us the house, but did not really understand why we wanted to see it. We tried to explain her that Lautner was a very important architect and we showed her the books. She was surprised to find a small picture of her house in the 1994 Lautner monograph.”

Some photos of the interior, taken circa 2007:

John Lautner’s Shusett House, circa 2007. Photos: Tycho Saariste (L) and Jan-Richard Kikkert (R).

Shusett House in 2007. Photo: Jan-Richard Kikkert.

Shusett House in 2007. Photo: Jan-Richard Kikkert.

And finally, it’s interesting to note how unassuming the Shusett House was from the street:

Shusett House in 2007. Photo: Jan-Richard Kikkert.

by David Hay

posted in before and after you can find me

tagged beverly hills, demolition, domestic architecture, historic preservation, John Lautner, modernism, shusett house, travesties

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