Final projects in the 1950s

"In the last three years remaining to him, 1949-1953, Schindler continued to cultivate the discordant elements even more. He branched out in one direction after another, using an even wider range of ideas and forms." Gebhard, p.138

This house for poet Ellen Janson, is perched on the edge of a cliff, high in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles. Janson was a modernist poet, and is widely considered Schindler's last girlfriend.

The Adolphe Tischler house, on a sloping hillside in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, has a street facade that is reminiscent of the prow of a ship. The street level contained a carport and artist's workshop, while the main entrance and living space was two floors above, facing the back of the lot. The house was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1991.

"The hillside house for M. Kallis at Studio City (1946) represents a strong departure from his typical pre-war de Stijl solutions. its loose informal V-shaped plan wraps itself gently around the hill. Its battered walls are integral with the roof so that the feeling both within and without is that of a suspended platform covered by a thin tent." Gebhard, p.137-138

The Robert and Mariana Erlik house was built in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles in the early 1950s.

Rudolph Michael Schindler died in Los Angeles, in August 1953. While he was not as well known as Wright or Neutra, his ability to bring high art into architecture cemented his legacy as one of the great architects of the 20th century. 

In 1967, his son Mark Schindler donated the archive of Rudolph Schindler's career (from circa 1914 until 1953) to David Gebhard in the Architecture and Design Collection at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Since Schindler lived and worked in one place, the Kings Road House, from 1922 until 1953, his archive is one of the most comprehensive accounts of his career.

For a complete list of the items in the Schindler collection at the ADC, see the finding aid:https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt709nf40k/entire_text/