MY TRIP TO THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (PART 2)

Yesterday. I promised I'd show you the inside of Frank Lloyd Wright's spectacular Ennis House, the architectural gem perched quietly on a hill in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The site has been used for many films, including HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, BLADE RUNNER, THE ROCKETEER, DAY OF THE LOCUST and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.

Over the years, the house has been battered by rains and earthquakes and renovations have been ongoing. Repairs were completed within the last few years. Changing owners several times after the widowed Mabel Ennis sold it in 1936, it most recently sold for $18 million in 2019.

NOTE: I did not take any of the photos shown here today.

Here's the full story from Realtor.com:

Iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed Ennis House Sells for $18M

By Claudine Zap | October 21, 2019

After over a year on the market for $23 million, the Ennis House in Los Angeles has sold for a record-breaking price. The $18 million sale is the highest ever for a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home, according to Variety. 

The 1924 home, perched on a Los Feliz hilltop, was originally built for retailers Charles and Mabel Ennis. The eye-popping design, the last and largest of Wright’s textile block houses, is constructed from 27,000 concrete blocks. Each block was handmade using decomposed granite extracted from the site and marked with patterns inspired by ancient Mayan designs.

After Charles died, Mabel sold the home in 1936, and the property changed hands several times over the decades.

Its arresting look made it a star in Hollywood, where it made over 80 screen appearances, in films such as "Mulholland Drive," "Beverly Hills Cop," and "Blade Runner," and TV shows such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

The structure had sustained damage after the 1994 Northridge earthquake and torrential rains in 2005.

The home's sorry state led the National Trust for Historic Preservation to add it to its 2005 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. Work to stabilize the house began in 2006, earning it a Conservancy Preservation Award in 2008.

Enter a savior: billionaire Ron Burkle, who purchased the property for $4.5 million in 2011. He then took on a “thoughtful restoration” at a cost of nearly $17 million, according to the listing.

He placed it on the market in July of last year for $23 million. With its refreshed look, the home grabbed the attention of the internet, and topped our most popular homes list in August.

The 6,000-square-foot home features four bedrooms, three-plus baths, and a guest apartment over the garage. The patterned blocks continue inside, and walls of glass frame the city views. A marble hallway, soaring ceilings, and textile block columns add to the grand space.

Available furnished, the space includes a formal living room with a balcony and tiled fireplace, a massive dining room with city views through a corner picture window, along with another fireplace, a vintage kitchen, a billiard and screening room, a library, and a large terrace with a pool. 

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Following are two more sets of photos showing the interior of the Ennis House with a few added exterior views. I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of this place and am already vicariously living there!

Ennis House photo set 1:

Ennis House photo set 2:

A tour of the Ennis House by Architectural Digest (10:01):

Ennis House tour by NBC Open House (3:39):

John Lautner Architecture in-depth look at the Ennis House (30:00):

MY TRIP TO THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (PART 1)

It was a typical day in Los Angeles -- warm, sunny, and with that indescribable "lightness of being" Angelinos seem to always project. I was in town visiting my sister who lived in Culver City, just a short distance from the former Culver Studios where films like GONE WITH THE WIND and the original A STAR IS BORN was filmed, along with TV shows like LASSIE and BATMAN.

Located at 9336 West Washington Boulevard, Culver Studios was founded in 1918 by producer/director Thomas H. Ince and over the years, was renamed and went through several owner's hands:

• De Mille Studios
• Pathé Studios
• RKO-Pathé Studios
• Selznick International Pictures
• Desilu-Culver Studios
• Culver City Studios
• Laird International Studios

Legendary makeup artist Jack Pierce once worked for Ralph Ince, Thomas' brother, during his early years in Hollywood.

We had earlier embarked on what we came to call one of our "nostalgia tours" and had visited all sorts of interesting locations around Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. This day, one of our stops was the famous Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House in Los Feliz. Designated as a Los Angeles Cultural Monument in 1967, it remains a private residence and tours are rarely given.

Located at 2607 Glendower Ave. the Ennis House was designed for retailers Charles and Mable Ennis in 1923 and completed in 1924. The house is one of a series of four homes that are known as the textile block designs done in the Mayan Revival style and its location on a hill offers spectacular views of the city. About 27,000 Mayan motif blocks were used to build this incredible structure.

Horror film fans will recognize it for another reason: it was featured prominently in the opening segment of William Castle's HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, originally released in black and white in 1959.

This map shows the route we took (we were novices of GPS at the time!).

We slowly made our way up a steep, winding hill through an extremely narrow road. We finally arrived and luckily found a place to park across the street.

The first thing I noticed were a number of traffic cones placed here at the curb and in front of the driveway. Not surprising, since it appeared there were some renovations going on inside the home. I walked across the street and talked to one of the construction crew and told him I was there to take some pictures. He kindly obliged and even let me take a few steps inside the gate for a better view of the driveway. All bets were off, however, about gaining access inside, which was totally understandable.

These are just some of the photos I took that day. It is a magnificent building and I'm sure glad I finally got to see the "House on Haunted Hill" up close after watching the movie the first time so many years ago, that by the way, about scared me out of my PJ's! Doesn't look so creepy in the sunlight, does it?

The approach to the Ennis House on Glendower Ave.

Notice the "story-book" style house with the witch weather vane. This quasi-European style
was popular at one time in Los Angeles and Hollywood neighborhoods.

The plaque commemorating the house as a cultural landmark.

Come back tomorrow for a look inside the Ennis House!