In the early 1920s, Philip Lovell was a naturopath and the author of the popular “Care of the Body” column in the Los Angeles Times, in which he advocated a lifestyle based on vegetarianism, physical exercise and exposure to sunlight. Along with his wife Leah, who was involved in progressive education, he moved in Los Angeles’s most experimental cultural circles. It was through this milieu that the Lovells met Schindler, commissioning him to design several projects, including a beach house in Newport Beach.
The couple wanted a building that could give architectural form to their particular understanding of health, one closely tied to the relationship between people and their surroundings. Schindler, for his part, was exploring new ways of living in which indoor and outdoor spaces were no longer clearly separated.