The Brice Residence, located in Brentwood Glen, is listed for just under $5 million.
CROSBY DOE ASSOCIATES
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Two Los Angeles homes designed by renowned Mid-Century Modern architect Richard
Neutra
hit the market last week, one of which hasn’t changed hands in more than 70 years.
The
Brice
Residence, located in
Brentwood Glen,
is listed for just under $5 million, while the Sten Frenke Estate in Santa Monica returned to the market for $15 million.
Neutra, an Austrian-American architect who died in 1970 at age 78, spent much of his career in Southern California. He was a proponent of the International Style, a modern movement of clean lines and open interior spaces, and was known for experimentation and embracing technology to connect humans to nature, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy, a preservation nonprofit.
The Brice Residence, which has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, is an all-plywood home that was built in 1936 for a House & Garden exhibition, according to the listing with
Crosby Doe
of Crosby Doe Associates. It was one of six created for the exhibit, and the only modern one.
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“It was originally on view to the public and people would pay to go through it,”
Mr. Doe
said. “After it was raffled off to the law partner of
John Entenza’s
father.” Entenza went on to sponsor the Case Study Houses project through Arts & Architecture magazine, an effort to promote modern architecture through well-known architects like Neutra that ran from 1945 to 1966.
The buyer,
Stella Gramer,
had it moved to its current location, which is on two lots in Brentwood. Architect
Maynard Lyndon
bought the property in 1943, according to the listing. It was then sold in 1950 to
William Brice
—an artist and son of comedian
Fanny Brice
—and his wife,
Shirley Bardeen.
It is still owned in a trust tied to the Brice family, according to public records.
The original residence is on one of the parcels, and an art studio, commissioned by William Brice and designed by Neutra, is on the other, the agent added.
“It backs up to a hillside and the Veterans Administration Golf Course so you really have the feeling of a park-like atmosphere,” Mr. Doe noted.
The Brice Residence is an all-plywood home that was built in 1936 for a House & Garden exhibition.
CROSBY DOE ASSOCIATES
About five miles west is the Sten Frenke Estate, a 1934 home built by Neutra for Ukrainian actor
Anna Sten,
according to the listing with
Billy Rose
of The Agency.
Discovered by
Samuel Goldwyn
and brought to the U.S.,
Ms. Sten
“was supposed to be the next
Greta Garbo,
” said, who holds the listing with
Santiago
Arana, also of The Agency. She and her producer husband,
Dr. Eugene
Frenke, commissioned Neutra to build the home, which has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
The current owner, German-born Hollywood director, writer and producer
Marc Forster,
bought the home for $4.7 million in 2009, according to public records.
Mr. Forster,
who was not available for comment, went to “great lengths” to restore and refresh the property, according to the agent.
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“He looked at it as a piece of art,”
Mr. Rose
explained.
For example, the filmmaker—whose work includes “Monster’s Ball,” “The Kite Runner” and “World War Z”—brought on the architecture firm of
Johnston Marklee
to design a work studio with guest accommodations on the property.
Although additions like that sometimes take away from the original architecture, these “harmonize,” Mr. Rose noted.
“I think of the Neutra house as the Motown classic and the studio as a modern remix,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Mansion Global.
