Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House in Los Feliz Lists for $23 Million – 2607 Glendower

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic Ennis House has returned to the market seeking a whopping $23 million dollars. The jaw-dropping Los Feliz property’s design is based on ancient Mayan temples and the home is considered to be one of the best examples of Mayan revival architecture in the United States and is perhaps one of the most recognizable and esteemed homes in the world.

2607 Glendower Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Asking Price:
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 3.5
Square Feet:
Lot Size: .83 acres
Year Built: 1924

The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for husband and wife Charles and Mabel Ennis – owners of a men’s clothing retail store  – in 1923 and was built a year later by his son Lloyd Wright. Following La Miniatura in Pasadena, and the Storer and Freeman Houses in the Hollywood Hills, Ennis House is the fourth and largest of Wright’s textile block designs, constructed primarily of interlocking pre-cast concrete blocks, in the northern Los Angeles area.

The Ennis House was constructed with more than 27,000 of these concrete blocks arranged on a concrete platform and reinforced by a retaining wall. Measuring 16 inches wide by 16 inches long, and 3.5 inches thick, each block was hand-cast in an aluminum mold.

The home occupies a majestic Los Feliz hilltop on .83 acres and is neighbors with several other architecturally significant homes on the hillside with cinematic views of Griffith Observatory, and Downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean.

Damaged in the Northridge earthquake and again during torrential rains in 2005, the house was partially rehabilitated in 2007. Billionaire investor Ron Burkle purchased in 2011 for $4.5 million with plans for further restoration. Burkle spent the next six years fully restoring the home with help from Wright’s grandson Eric Lloyd Wright. “My grandfather designed homes to be occupied by people,” Eric Lloyd Wright said in a statement to The Times. “His homes are works of art. He created the space, but the space becomes a creative force and uplifts when it is lived in every day.”

And now, today, this remarkable property hits the market after undergoing  years of thoughtful restoration at a cost of nearly $17 million.

All the systems have been redone and the tiles restored. Matt Construction executed the restoration work on the house, a project that involved structurally stabilizing the house as well as replacing nearly 4,000 of the home’s 27,000 textile concrete blocks. The building was also re-roofed during the restoration, and the home’s interior wood floors, ceilings, and art glass windows were restored.

A striking and almost dizzying long interior loggia with a mausoleum-like marble floor links the multi-level interior spaces that feature the same textured blocks as the exterior. Features also include enormous yet delicately geometric leaded glass windows, custom light fixtures, concrete columns, coffered ceilings,  hardwood floors, and walls of mosaic tile. The brilliantly proportioned rooms flow effortlessly from one to another.

Inspired by the ruins of Uxmal, Mexico, the striking 6,000-square-foot estate consists of a main house and a smaller chauffeur’s quarters, which are separated by a paved motor court.

According to the Times, Wright’s idea was to craft an organic structure that literally seemed to rise from the hillside site. In fact, workers extracted decomposed granite from the property to use in many of the 27,000 blocks.

The breathtaking dining room offers a soaring, exposed wood beamed ceiling and a fireplace. The cathedral-esque space feels all the more appropriate in today’s culture as so many of our places of worship have become our kitchens, our dining tables, and our favorite restaurants.

The room also boasts an ingeniously framed view of the Downtown skyline through a frameless corner picture window.

The residence also has an intimate library.

The home has four bedrooms, including this master suite, and a separate guest quarters.

Three and a half gorgeous baths each maintain a stately vintage charm.

While also feeling luxurious and unique.

The black and white tiled kitchen has been cleverly restored and is spacious and functional while also exuding warmth. The kind of kitchen you’d feel at home preparing a dinner for two or having a home chef cook for twenty.

In 1940, the house was sold to media personality John Nesbitt, who had Wright add a pool on the north terrace, and a billiard room on the ground floor. The billiard room is discretely tucked on a lower level, and now also functions as a games/screening room with an open fireplace and a curved bar. The perfect spot for indoor entertaining.

But if the next owner would like to entertain or relax al fresco, the incredible outdoor spaces can’t be beat. Seamlessly and naturally extending from the interiors, the lengthy southern side of the house opens to a series of sun-splashed courtyards, balconies and terraces that provide unobstructed city views, while the north façade opens to the broad terrace, a small koi pond, and a large swimming pool.

The Ennis House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The landmarked residence has been featured in dozens of films, television shows, fashion shoots and music videos including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, and, most famously, 1982’s Blade Runner. Why the dark depictions in film for a such a brightly lit and airy home?  The home’s first major role was in the campy 1959 Vincent Price-starring thriller The House On Haunted Hill. The Ennis House was used for establishing shots of the titular house which began a Hollywood tradition of the Ennis House serving as various dark residences and villain’s lairs.

At once powerful and awe-inspiring, The Ennis House is also remarkably livable. It is being offered furnished. The house is being shown by appointment only to prequalified buyers, so don’t plan on crashing an open house. The home was previously owned by the Ennis House Foundation, which sold the property to Burkle with a requirement that it be open to public tours for at least 12 days per year, a stipulation that will follow the house as it changes hands once again.

The legendary residence looms over the Los Feliz hillside neighborhood like an ancient temple, and can see and be seen for miles around. There are only a handful of residential properties in the world as astonishing as The Ennis House.

If you would like help arranging a special private tour of Ennis House, call me at (323) 697-3040 or email me at jacqueline.tager@sothebyshomes.com.

Jacqueline Tager | CalBre#: 1476997
jacqueline.tager@sothebyshomes | (323) 697-3040
Sotheby’s International Realty – Los Feliz Brokerage
1801 N Hillhurst Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90027

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