LA has many secrets; but it’s up to you to discover it. Hollyhock House is definitely one of LA’s better kept secrets. Having lived in this city for more than ten years, I do consider LA home. I have never, however, even heard of this historical landmark. Like most of us who live in a place for a long time, I found my curiosity erodes with my routine lifestyle, I’m no longer looking for new roads to get to work, my “explore mode” is on standby. Today’s trip reawakened my inquisitive mind; reminded me that LA indeed has many secrets. Like early gold miners, I need to look in those nooks and crannies to find my treasure.
Hollyhock House is located in the heart of Los Angeles, aloft on a quiet and serene hilltop, overlooking the Hollywood hills, yet surrounded by modern architecture, bustling city streets and mega-sized theaters. Hollyhock House is originally designed to be an artisan compound. Now after almost a hundred years, and recent restoration, its original purpose has come closer than ever before: a sanctuary for pilgrims-the imaginative and dream-filled aspiring artists and actors. Overlooking the iconic Hollywood sign, I can only imagine what aspiring actors and artists would do: they would probably meditate, reexamine the world around them, perhaps reexamine their own life’s direction, or even take a nap on the hillside lawn.
The architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed this house with the intention to be a part of the natural landscape, unique, stylistic, expansive and exotic. He is extremely conscious to spatial awareness. The most interesting design was his treatment to atriums. Although personally not my favorite (I even felt somehow claustrophobic), I found it quite interesting. He employed “vertical compression” and “horizontal compression” techniques, which naturally lowered and shrank the entry hall as one gets the feeling that he/she is getting bigger as he/she enters the house. If one only takes a moment to snap a picture, he would be perfectly framed in the doorframe. Could it be Mr. Wright’s psychological treatment for Barnsdall and her entourage was to help them become a piece of art?