Schindler House facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Schindler House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	833 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood, California
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1922
Architect	Rudolf Schindler
Architectural style	Modern
NRHP reference No.	71000150
Added to NRHP	July 14, 1971

The Schindler House, also known as the Schindler Chace House or Kings Road House, is a famous house in West Hollywood, California. It was designed by the architect Rudolf M. Schindler. This house was very different from other homes built at the time.

It didn't have regular living rooms, dining rooms, or bedrooms. Instead, it was designed as a shared space for two young families to live and work together. The house used new materials like concrete walls and sliding canvas panels. Its open design connected the inside with the outside, which became a popular style in California architecture.

History of the Schindler House

How the House Began

In October 1921, Rudolf Schindler and his wife Pauline visited Yosemite. They were inspired by the simple, shared living spaces they saw there, like Curry Village. Schindler wanted to create a modern home where multiple families could live together in a similar way.

Building the Unique House

When Schindler first showed his plans to the local building authorities, they said no. They thought his new building methods were too unusual. After many meetings, he finally got a temporary permit. This meant they could stop construction if they didn't like how it was going.

The house was built on a flat concrete slab, which served as both the foundation and the floor. The walls were made from concrete slabs poured on the ground and then tilted up into place. These "tilt-up" slabs were separated by small gaps, filled with glass or more concrete. Schindler had studied this building method for a long time. He worked with his friend Clyde Chace, an engineer, to build the house.

Construction started in November 1921 and finished by June 1922. It cost about $12,550. The Chace and Schindler families lived in the house together until July 1924, when the Chaces moved away.

Who Lived in the House

From 1925 to 1930, Schindler's friend and fellow architect, Richard Neutra, lived in the Chace part of the house with his family.

Pauline Schindler left the house in 1927, but Rudolf Schindler continued to live there until he passed away in 1953. Many creative people lived in the Chace apartment over the years. These included art dealer Galka Scheyer, dancer John Bovingdon, writer Theodore Dreiser, photographer Edward Weston, and composer John Cage. Pauline Schindler later returned to live in a separate part of the house in the late 1930s and stayed until her death in 1977.

Friends of the Schindler House (1977-Present)

After Pauline Schindler died in 1977, a group called the Friends of the Schindler House (FoSH) bought the property in 1980. This group was made up of architects, historians, and Schindler's family members who wanted to protect the house.

FoSH now owns and cares for the house. When they first got it, the house needed a lot of work. The first repairs were finished in the mid-1980s. Over the years, there have been discussions about how to best restore the house. In 2022, for the house's 100th birthday, FoSH started a project to make sure the house stays strong and preserved for the future. They held special events, film showings, and online talks about the house's importance in modern architecture.

MAK Center for Art and Architecture (1994-Present)

In 1994, the Friends of the Schindler House partnered with the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna from Austria. Together, they created the nonprofit MAK Center for Art and Architecture. The MAK Center uses the Schindler House as a place for art and architecture exhibitions and programs. It also runs a program for artists and architects to live and work at other Schindler-designed buildings in Los Angeles.

The FoSH still owns the Schindler House, but the MAK Center manages it for public visits, tours, and events. The MAK Center has also helped fund the restoration and upkeep of the house. In 2022, the MAK Center helped support FoSH's 100th-anniversary efforts to restore the Schindler House. That year, the MAK Center also presented "Schindler House: 100 Years in the Making," a series of events celebrating the building's centennial.

Schindler House Architecture

An isometric drawing of the Schindler House

The Schindler House is designed as two L-shaped apartments that connect. These are called the Schindler and Chace apartments. The design was inspired by the camp site Schindler had seen in Yosemite. Each apartment was for a different family and had two studios. A shared "utility room" connected the studios. This room was used for things like cooking, washing clothes, and storage. The four studios were originally for the four people living there: Rudolf and Pauline Schindler, and Clyde and Marian Chace. The house also has a guest studio with its own kitchen and bathroom. The house is about 3,500 square feet and sits on a large lot of about 20,000 square feet.

Instead of traditional bedrooms, the house has two "rooftop sleeping baskets." These were like open-air beds on the roof, made of redwood with canvas sides to protect from rain.

Recognition and Importance

Schindler's ideas for a shared live/work space were very new. The use of raw concrete walls and sliding canvas panels showed creative ways to use industrial materials. The open design that blended the house with the gardens was also very innovative.

The Schindler House is now surrounded by taller apartment buildings, which is very different from when it was built. Despite this, the house remains an important landmark. In December 2008, a survey of experts by the Los Angeles Times listed the Schindler House as one of the top 10 houses in Los Angeles.

Images for kids

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  Schindler House exterior from Kings Road

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