{"id":291377,"date":"2026-04-29T11:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/291377\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:36:19","slug":"this-la-apartment-building-was-revolutionary-after-years-of-neglect-it-has-finally-been-restored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/291377\/","title":{"rendered":"This LA apartment building was revolutionary. After years of neglect, it has finally been restored"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it was first built nearly 100 years ago, the Jardinette Apartments building in Hollywood made international headlines for its radical design. At the time, Los Angeles had never seen anything quite like architect Richard Neutra\u2019s iconoclastic vision of what apartment living could look like.<\/p>\n

But by the end of the century, the Jardinette had become dilapidated<\/a>, its historic significance hidden behind years of neglect.<\/p>\n

Now, this pioneering piece of L.A. architecture is coming back to life.<\/p>\n

Developer Cameron Hassid bought the nationally registered building in 2020 after previous owners tried but failed to restore it. With the renovation now nearing completion, the Jardinette\u2019s original concept once again is coming into clear view.<\/p>\n

Learn the ins and outs behind L.A.’s housing crisis.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a big, heavy lift,\u201d Hassid said, describing the project as the most complicated in his career. \u201cThere are so many apartment buildings in L.A. But none of them will have the story or any of the significance that this does.\u201d<\/p>\n

First steps for a now-famous architect<\/p>\n

In the 1920s, Neutra was a young Austrian architect who had recently moved to the United States to work with Frank Lloyd Wright and fellow Austrian \u00e9migr\u00e9 Rudolph Schindler.<\/p>\n

Historians cite the style he would go on to develop \u2014 with its flat roofs, expansive windows, deep overhangs and blending of the indoors and outdoors \u2014 as defining the language of mid-century California modernism. <\/p>\n

Neutra’s Palm Springs Kaufmann Desert House<\/a> from 1946 and his Silver Lake VDL Research House II<\/a> from 1965 became iconic homes of the period.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Richard Neutra’s family lived in the VDL Research House II, located in Silver Lake and designed by Neutra with his son, Dion.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Michael Locke via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

But the Jardinette<\/a>, built in 1928, was Neutra\u2019s first major commission in L.A., coming just a few years after his arrival in the United States.<\/p>\n

Architecture historians say Neutra\u2019s goal was to strip down the Jardinette\u2019s design, maximizing light and fresh air in the building\u2019s 43 modestly sized apartments, all in keeping with the burgeoning International Style.<\/p>\n

Long ribbon windows are the most striking feature in an otherwise unadorned facade. Windows join at corners and stretch across nearly entire walls, connecting living rooms and kitchens. Panes in the walls of interior closets bring \u201cborrowed light\u201d into shadowy interiors.<\/p>\n

Neutra outfitted many of the apartments with balconies that cantilever off reinforced concrete. The balconies were ideal for outdoor plants \u2014 hence the name Jardinette, or Little Garden.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The restoration of the Jardinette Apartments is nearly complete. <\/p>\n

Barbara Lamprecht, an architectural historian<\/a> who consulted on the preservation of the Jardinette, said Neutra\u2019s approach would have seemed utterly alien amid the 1920s development boom in L.A.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these other revival styles were happening: Tudor Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival,\u201d said Lamprecht, the author of Neutra: Complete Works from the publisher Taschen. \u201cThis was not a milieu that encouraged, fostered or remotely understood the tenets of early modernism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once-lauded edifice falls on hard times<\/p>\n

The Jardinette helped secure Neutra\u2019s fame far beyond the confines of Southern California. His work on the Jardinette was included in a landmark 1932 architecture exhibition<\/a> at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.<\/p>\n

But by the 1990s, the Jardinette had all but lost its visionary purity. It was painted pink and green. The previously uniform steel windows were mismatched, using cheap materials. The walls were graffitied.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

By the late 20th century, the Jardinette had fallen into disrepair. <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Junkyardsparkle<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was sad,\u201d said Corey Miller with June Street Architecture<\/a>, who worked on the renovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just what happens when buildings get neglected,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s important to look back on these ideas and not lose them and try to maintain them and not cover them up. Now, hopefully for another 100 years, more generations of people can experience the design the way it was originally intended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with the limits of a century-old building<\/p>\n

The team behind the Jardinette\u2019s renewal said the building was not easy to renovate. It was originally built without a cooling system. Its electrical system couldn\u2019t meet modern energy needs. It didn\u2019t have stand-up showers.<\/p>\n

Installing those modern amenities while preserving Neutra\u2019s original design proved challenging at times, said Anant Topiwala with June Street Architecture.<\/p>\n

The team preserved whatever original materials they could, Topiwala said, but they needed to order custom tiles, windows and other parts in order to match historic photographs and documents.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A historic photograph shows the Jardinette in its original state. <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Courtesy Cameron Hassid<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were like archeologists, in a way,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was a lot of peeling back. What do we think the paint color was? What do we think that wood detail was?<\/p>\n

\u201cNeutra didn’t like angles. We needed to make sure, for example, the casing around the doors didn’t meet at a mitered corner. There’s just so many interesting things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulling permits for a protected landmark<\/p>\n

The Jardinette has multiple historic designations. It\u2019s in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. And it\u2019s protected as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. Those classifications limit what kinds of changes are allowed in a renovation. Getting all the necessary permits was a job in itself, one handled by Michael Norberg with Cali Planners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything you can think of that could come up did come up on this building,\u201d Norberg said. \u201cBut I think the bones have been reinforced. The historic aspect has been retained. The entire nature and history and spirit of this building is still here.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I love the fact that the city was willing to work with us on maintaining that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How the past informs future plans<\/p>\n

Hassid said the renovation should be completed by this summer. He added that he\u2019s not yet sure what the building\u2019s future will be, but he won\u2019t sell it to a typical real estate investor. He recently put it on the market<\/a> with Neema Ahadian of Marcus & Millichap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve sold some really beautiful buildings, but nothing that has the history that you can find here,\u201d Ahadian said. The buyer will need to be someone who understands the value of preserving a piece of architectural history, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis building’s been through a few ownerships that have not necessarily had the same vision,\u201d Ahadian said.<\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/p>\n

Two windows join at a right angle and a door opens to a balcony in one corner of a Jardinette apartment.<\/p>\n

When he first took on the project, Hassid said, colleagues told him he was nuts. But he said ultimately the effort was worth it to preserve an L.A. architectural gem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we made Richard Neutra proud, bringing his building back to life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What does real luxury look like?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neutra built the Jardinette at a time when movie studios were growing. The Paramount studio lot is just a few blocks away.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Barbara Lamprecht, an architectural historian with expertise in Neutra’s work, consulted on the preservation of the Jardinette.<\/p>\n

Lamprecht, the Neutra historian, said she\u2019s looking forward to seeing how people occupy the apartments. She said Neutra designed the Jardinette to bring a new kind of luxury to occupants who might have included up-and-coming actors or below-the-line production workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe luxuries in life are access to sunlight, to views,\u201d Lamprecht said. \u201cThis was the raison d’\u00eatre for this entire building: to provide graceful, expansive lives to people who weren\u2019t in single-family dwellings in the Hollywood Hills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whoever the next tenants will be, Lamprecht said, \u201cI feel like, for the first time, this building is not invisible any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it was first built nearly 100 years ago, the Jardinette Apartments building in Hollywood made international headlines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1743,106513,48,52,51,47,50,49,124289,124288],"class_list":["post-291377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-hollywood","tag-jardinette-apartments","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-modern-architecture","tag-richare-neutra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}