John Sowden House

Infobox_nrhp | name =John Sowden House
nrhp_type =


caption = John Sowden House, 2008
location= 5121 Franklin Avenue, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
lat_degrees = 34
lat_minutes = 6
lat_seconds = 20
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 118
long_minutes = 18
long_seconds = 0
long_direction = W
locmapin = California
area =
built =1926
architect= Wright, Lloyd
architecture= No Style Listed
added = July 14, 1971
governing_body = Private
refnum=71000151cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

John Sowden House, also known as the "Jaws House", is a residence built in 1926 in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, California. Built by Lloyd Wright, the house is noted for its use of ornamented concrete blocks and for its striking facade, resembling (depending on the viewer's points of cultural reference) either a Mayan temple or the gaping open mouth of a great white shark.

Architecture and design

The original owner, John Sowden, was a painter and photographer who hired his friend, Lloyd Wright (eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wright), to build their home in Los Feliz. The house has been recognized as one of Lloyd Wright's most important works and a landmark in the Los Angeles area for its imposing Mayan-style front facade and temple-like features. When Lloyd Wright died in 1978, the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that Sowden house had been "hailed as the apogee of his residential work." [cite news|author=Ted Thackrey, Jr.|title=Lloyd Wright, Architect of L.A. Landmarks, Dies|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1978-06-02]

The house is also noteworthy for Lloyd Wright's continuation of his father's work in the early 1920s with textile-block construction and Mayan themes. His father had used the textile blocks in building the Samuel Freeman House, Ennis House, and Storer House. On the Sowden House, Lloyd Wright used ornamented concrete blocks to decorate a distinctive entry that it has been said "challenges the street." [cite news|author=Sam Hall Kaplan|title=Flamboyant Designer's Legacy: Architects in Their Own Wright|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1987-02-14] From the street, the home has the appearance of a Mayan fortress or temple. The sharp ridges and lines of the facade have been said to resemble the gaping open mouth of a great white shark, resulting in the home's being known in Los Angeles as the "Jaws House." It has also been described as having a "cultic, brooding" appearance. [cite news|author=John Pastier|title=Spectacular L.A. Civic Center: Lloyd Wright's Look at 20s|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1971-12-14] The "Los Angeles Times" has also described it as a "quasi-Mayan-style mansion, an otherwordly apparition that looms over Franklin Avenue in Los Feliz."cite news|author=Susan Freudenheim|title=Style & Culture: A new vision of the classics; Working at a feverish pace, Xorin Balbes brings new vitality to grand old homes, but preservationists aren't entirely happy|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=2003-01-10|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jan/10/entertainment/et-freudenheim10] A guest arriving at Sowden House passes through sculpted copper gates and then up "a narrow, tomb-like staircase" to the house. Sowden wanted a house that would be a showplace where he could entertain his friends in the Hollywood film community.cite news|author=Ruth Ryon|title=Home of the Week: This Place is a Chip Off the Old Concrete Block|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=2001-07-08]

The house was used as a shooting location to depict the home of Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's film "The Aviator." [cite web|title=The Sowden House|publisher=Architecture for Sale|url=http://www.architectureforsale.com/printable.php?property_ID=567]

Renovation by Xorin Balbes

The house, with seven bedrooms, four baths, and 5,600 square feet, was listed on the market at $1,575,000 in 2001. It was purchased that year by Xorin Balbes for $1.2 million. Balbes, who said the house was "a wreck" when he bought it, spent $1.6 million to restore the house, though some of his alterations drew criticism from preservationists as well as Lloyd Wright's son, Eric Lloyd Wright. In addition to restoring the stonework, Balbes converted the three-room kitchen area into a large open kitchen, added new upscale bathrooms, and installed a pool and spa in the central court. On viewing the renovations, Eric Lloyd Wright praised the new kitchen and landscaping, but criticized Balbes' decision to install a pool and spa in the middle of the courtyard. All of the house's rooms open onto the long central courtyard, which was originally a lawn that was used for seating during performances at the home. Eric Wright felt it was a "mistake" to break up the courtyard space with a pool and spa. Dana Hutt, an architectural historian who has written on the works of Lloyd Wright, was also critical of Balbes' alterations. She objected to the pool, to the refinement of the entry staircase, and to the addition of Asian elements that were "completely wrong" for Wright's Mesoamerican design.

As of 2008, the house was available for overnight rentals and for use as a shooting location. Interior photographs of the home and its amenities can be viewed at [http://www.architectureforsale.com/printable.php?property_ID=567 the property's rental site] .

ee also

*List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles
*Lloyd Wright

References