Driving up the winding hill to Hollyhock House, it looked like Frank Lloyd Wright’s sandy replica of a Mayan Pyramid. Abstract hollyhocks carved into the earthy plaster reaching to meet the clear blue sky. The carefully manicured trees and gardens that frame the landscape of Los Angeles are an introduction to what visitors are about experience. Both inside and outside the house is a careful combination of architecture and nature. The floor plan directs you from the entrance. Embracing the horizontal plan, the house opens up in the living room. A center point for the house, the room is expansive but furniture placement and a large fireplace makes the room intimate. Each room in the house is proportional to its use. Framing and blocking, each window is placed giving the visitor the perfect panorama.
Hollyhock was one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s first Los Angeles homes. Aside from the architectural majesty, it stands as a testament to the accepting nature of Los Angeles. Created for Aline Barnsdall, an old money woman, single mom who supported an anarchist, neither she nor her house fit into the world of 1919. Yet, now Hollyhock joins the Walt Disney Center, the Los Angeles Cathedral, and even its neighbor the Kaiser office building in a hodgepodge of structures in Los Angeles. Hidden in the Hollywood Hills, Hollyhock is a unique and historic part of Los Angeles.