Wright's Ennis House up for grabs -- for $15 million
A movie star in its own right, the Los Angeles house slated to return to the private sector despite pleas from the community to keep it public.
(Posted by Mai Ling at MSN Real Estate on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 10:32 AM)
To the casual observer, the $15 million sale of Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House sounds like a brilliant opportunity for someone with a bundle of cash lying around to buy a modern castle. But to the folks at Curbed LA, it's the private sale of a public asset that will be sorely missed by the Los Angeles community.
Not only has the house been featured in "Blade Runner," "House on Haunted Hill," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Twin Peaks," according to Zillow.com, but donors also have poured millions into repairing the structure after the Ennis House Foundation took over its maintenance in 1980.
Over the years, the home, built in 1924 in an experimental "textile block" style for Charles and Mabel Ennis, changed hands numerous times and had fallen into neglect, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Already the foundation has spent $6.5 million to stabilize the property -- severely damaged in a 1994 earthquake -- and to begin its restoration. The price tag to continue with the renovations to return the home to its former grandeur is estimated at up to $7 million.
That alone explains why the foundation is hoping for a private sale, preferably to a person "with the passion, the vision and the resources to continue the restoration and to preserve this property," foundation President James DeMeo said in the Times.
It sounds like the foundation is well-aware of the importance of the Ennis House to the community, as DeMeo says a conservation easement held by the Los Angeles Conservancy is tied on to the sale of the house.
The intention is to ensure "there would be at least some limited public access -- maybe one or several days a year," DeMeo said.
Maybe you won't get to plan that extravagant wedding at the Ennis House, but at least it could still star in a few more movies and TV shows.
In the meantime, foundation member and grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright, Eric Lloyd Wright, insists that placing the home back in the private sector was what his grandfather intended:
"My grandfather designed homes to be occupied by people," he said in a statement to the Times. "His homes are works of art. He created the space, but the space becomes a creative force and uplifts when it is lived in every day."
