I walked into R. M. Schindler’s How House cold, knowing absolutely nothing about it. An hour later I left feeling like a Buddhist monk… zen, grounded, tranquil and full of love. It’s rare to experience this sort of transformation while moving through a home.
A decade earlier at the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois I had a similar experience and it literally brought me to tears. It was designed by Mies van der Rohe in the late 40’s, and is an iconic masterpiece of the International Style of architecture, just as this home is. The International Style began in the late 1920’s and continued into the early 1980’s. Hallmarks of this design movement include: rectilinear forms, open interior spaces, a visually weightless quality engendered by the use of cantilever construction, and light, taut plane surfaces stripped of applied ornamentation and decoration. I know that’s a mouthful for non architectural enthusiasts, but it helps give words to the ‘visual rhythm’ that a trained eye can identify.
When I first stood outside this home, I thought of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water, one of his most famous homes with overlapping horizontal and vertical planes. As it turns out, Schindler worked with Wright for nearly a decade on several of his most significant residences. One of the aspects of this home that really moved me, was the use of poured concrete walls with horizontal bands. As you can clearly see, that ‘banding’ theme was also applied to the exterior and interior woodwork of the home, as well as the windows and fireplace.
While conversing with Brian Linder, AIA, in the living room of the home, I learned that the home had been meticulously restored by Michael LaFetra in 2007. The original redwood wall panels were replaced by retrieving logs from the bottom of the riverbed where the original trees for the wood had been milled. How’s that for going the extra distance to keep the home as original as possible. You can read more about LaFetra’s restoration by following this link: Michael LaFetra.
Lastly, when I toured this home on Sunday July 10th, I had no idea that it was the first ever open house to the public. I’m so glad I opened my email from The Value of Architecture… it was gift from the heavens for those of us obsessed with important architectural gems like this.
See more photos, as well as the MLS listing, HERE
