Residences of the 1940s

"Where did Schindler stand in 1941 when the United States entered the war? His own appraisal is contained in a letter to Elizabeth Mock at the Museum of Modern Art (dated 10 August 1943): 'I consider myself the first and still one of the few architects who consciously abandoned stylistic sculptural architecture in order to develop space as a medium of art. I believe that outside of Frank Lloyd Wright I am the only architect in the United States who has attained a distinct local and personal form language.'" Gebhard, p. 133.

The house Schindler designed for Ralph G. Walker overlooks the Silverlake reservoir on a steeply sloping site. The three bedroom, two bath house is a series of interlocking planes and cubes, with clerestory windows and expansive views. Schindler designed the built-in furniture, as well as other furniture pieces for the home.

"The street front of the Walker house, with its simple rectangular shape and row of strip windows under the eaves, is International Style in feeling, while the rear of the house with its eight supporting concrete piers, horizontal trellis, deck and roof is completely Schindleresque." Gebhard, p.105

This house in the Studio City area of Los Angeles, was built in 1941 for Samuel and Yolanda Goodwin. The two-bedroom plus den house is sited on a street-to-street lot, with views of the valley.

"Schindler employed a shed or gable roof as a solution to the problem of vertical space, not for its picturesque qualities externally... In the Van Dekker house, such structural gymnastics are confined to the interior; externally the various shed and gable roofs (covered with copper and wood battens) are treated visually as angled planes." Gebhard, p.130-132

Hilaire Hiler was a well-known artist in the United States and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. He commissioned Schindler to build this house and studio, just off of Sunset Boulevard. The house was torn down in the 1960s.

"This is a real town house, located only a short block off Sunset Boulevard. The garages are set below it, at right angles to the street; above, placed centrally in the house, is a double-volume studio-living room, lit by extensive skylights with baffles suspended below to diffuse the sunlight." Gebhard, p.116

The house designed for writer Rose Harris was built on top of a rocky ridge in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles. The steep hillside site provided an unobstructed view down the canyon, but the footprint of the house was small, due to the restrictive building site. The house was demolished in the early 1970s.

Roxy Roth was a screenwriter and actor who commissioned Schindler to design a house in the Studio City area of Los Angeles. The house is on an irregular-shaped lot, with a curved driveway/covered garage with an entrance and exit. The house is sited along the street, to give a wide area for a yard and outdoor living space.

This desert house for Maryon (also listed as Marian) Toole, is located in Palm Desert, which at the time was an unincorporated area known as Palm Village. It features stone walls with wood framing, large glass walls and clerestory windows to let in light, and a large overhanging roof to keep the hot desert sun from heating up the inside.

Apartment Complexes

The Manola Court apartments were designed by Schindler for his friend Herman Sachs, on a steep hillside in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. Sachs was the muralist and painter of the interiors for LA landmarks such as City Hall, Union Station, and Bullocks Wilshire. He started purchasing land on Lucille Avenue in 1926 and had Schindler eventually design three buildings, and add to two others that were already existing, eventually finishing the 16 apartments in 1940.

"On a steep hillside site lying between two streets, Schindler placed the units as a series of steps which descend the slope. The larger apartments on the lower street are above street-level garages. A stepped public walkway,with Schindler's impossible steps, penetrates through the site and through buildings, leading from one street to the other." Gebhard, p.52

The apartment complex for Ted Falk at the corner of Lucile and Carnation avenues in Los Angeles, is one of the more complex designs for a Schindler apartment building. The four apartments are set on an irregular-shaped lot, on a steeply sloping hill. Schindler placed the two one-bedroom apartments and the two two-bedroom apartments above and set back from the streets to give each apartment a private outdoor space and a view of the city.

The Laurelwood Apartments were the last grouping of apartments Schindler designed before he died. The complex of twenty two-bedroom, one-bath apartments is set on a sloping lot, with each apartment having either a private patio or terrace and a private entrance.

"From outside, his post-war Laurelwood Apartments at Studio City (1948), could easily be mistaken for one of any number of contractor-investor apartments then and now being built in the Los Angeles area. What differentiates Schindler's apartments from the ordinary is what counts: his excellent siting of the complex, with its garage and automobile court separating the apartments from the street; the provision of really usable outdoor living areas; and the rich complexity of the internal spaces of each apartment." Gebhard, p.135-137

The Bethlehem Baptist Church on South Compton Avenue in Los Angeles is Schindler's only religious structure. It is one of few examples of modern architecture in South Los Angeles. The African-American church congregation commissioned Schindler to design the building in 1944, most likely due to his ability to work with small budgets and be his own contractor.
The church was declared a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument in 2009, and is still in use today by a new religious organization.