Hollyhock House

The Hollyhock House is located at Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles, CA. This house was FLLW’s first project in LA. It was designed for the oil heiress, Aline Barnsdall. The house was built on Olive Hill which boasted 36 acres of land. According to the Hollyhock website noted below, Aline’s vision was to create two smaller residences, a theater, a director’s house, a dormitory for actors, studios for artists, shops and a motion picture theater. Aline’s dream was never fully realized and her and FLLW did not finish the project on good terms. Because FLLW was working on the Imperial Hotel in Japan, Aline brought in Rudolph Schindler and later FLLW’s son, Lloyd Wright. Interestingly, Aline never lived in the house. After gifting the house to the City of LA, the house was ransacked and sadly, most of its furnishings disappeared. The furnishings in the house have been replicated. The living room is stunning hosting a water feature in front of the fireplace. FLLW does a great job bringing the outside inside this masterpiece.

Hint: When visiting, it is very easy to drive past Barnsdall Art Park. The Hollyhock House is not visible from the street as it is located on top of a hill in the art park. Look for the Barnsdall Art Park signs for the parking lot. You can drive up to the top of the hill and park to visit the house. The park is open to the public. Tickets for the Hollyhock House are sold in the coach house. Access inside the house is limited to a few spaces due to ADA regulations which we were advised are being worked out, but one of the docents showed us pictures of the rest of the house on her iPad.