Around 11 years ago, fashion designer Trina Turk ran across an article about a lesser-known house in Los Angeles that was created by modernist architect John Lautner early in his solo career, about a decade after he had finished an apprenticeship with Frank Lloyd Wright. Built in 1948, owned by the same family for over six decades, and on the market for $999,000, the modest-sized gem came with a striking butterfly roof and a site facing west toward the Pacific Ocean but was in need of an extensive makeover.
Turk and her late husband, photographer and designer Jonathan Skow, decided to go see it for themselves at a broker’s open house. “The funny thing is we were blown away and said, ‘This is amazing!’” Skow told The New York York Times in 2017. “And everybody was walking around going, ‘Oh my God, this is a nightmare.’” Added Turk, “We’ve been on enough architecture tours to see what potential a house could be. It sounded like a fun project.”
A full-height shelving unit and snack bar separates the kitchen from the living and dining area.
Sterling Reed
RELATED: Apple TV’s ‘The Studio’ Filmed at These 3 Scene-Stealing John Lautner Houses in L.A.
The couple went on to win a fierce bidding war in June 2014, beating out 14 others that included Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea with their $1.23 million and a letter to the late owner’s children expressing their plans to return the home to its original condition. Ardent preservationists who had purchased and restored several midcentury homes from L.A. to Palm Springs, they subsequently engaged architect Barbara Bestor to undertake an extensive and costly renovation that included waterproofing the house, redoing a 1960s bedroom addition, lifting the sagging foundation, unearthing the original red concrete floors, and sanding and restaining the board-and-batten redwood siding.
Now, after garnering a Preservation Award from the L.A. Conservancy in 2018 and being designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument by the city of L.A. in 2021, the stylishly redone home in the Echo Park neighborhood is now back on the market. The asking price is a dash under $2.4 million, with Brian Linder and Mark H. Mendez of The Value of Architecture at Compass sharing the listing.
The home features clerestory windows, red concrete floors, and redwood accent walls throughout.
Sterling Reed
RELATED: L.A.’s Iconic Stahl House Lists for $25 Million
Known as the Jules Salkin Residence—after the developer who commissioned it on spec—the home rests amid a hillside parcel spanning over a third of an acre and offers three bedrooms and just one bath in roughly 1,300 square feet across a single level. Among the highlights is a combination living and dining area sporting a fireplace with a white stucco chimney and sliding glass doors opening on both sides to a garden patio. There’s also a window-lined kitchen with black phenolic resin countertops, handmade ceramic tile, and a vintage O’Keefe and Merritt range.
An added bonus: Because of its landmark status, the property could be covered under the Mills Act in the future, meaning there would be significant property tax savings in exchange for preserving the historic appearance. The next owner will need to apply.
Click here for more photos of the Echo Park residence.
Sterling Reed
Authors
Wendy Bowman
Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…