BELOVED BUNGALOW CARRIES A DESIGNER LABEL.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Actually, L.A.'s newest landmark status home - sitting behind a plant-covered fence at the corner of Tampa Avenue and Valerio Street in Reseda - wound up costing $1,398 to build, not $2,500. And the famed architect Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr. (March 30,1890, Oak Park, Illinois – May 31, 1978, Santa Monica, California), commonly known as Lloyd Wright, was an American architect who did most of his work in Southern California. , son of Frank Lloyd Wright, only collected $50 of his $125 fee before quitting the project in a huff and never sending a bill for the balance due. Today, the fence around the property would cost more to build than the whole house did, and forget even being able to afford the architectural fees that a Lloyd Wright designed home would command in 1996 dollars. ``Bob and his dad, Bill, built the house themselves, so the only costs were materials,'' says Barbara Adams This article is about the British Egyptologist. For the American juror, see Trekkie#Trekkie controversy. Barbara Georgina Adams (February 19 1945 – June 26 2002) was a British Egyptologist. , Bob's widow, peering outside her tiny 625-square-foot home as a few more people stop on the street to look through the gates at this unique home from another time and place in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . A home declared a landmark by the city's Cultural Heritage Commission this month. A home designed nearly 60 years ago by Lloyd Wright, whose famed father had once written that every working man should have his own home. Bill Adams For the American football player, see . William Adams (born November 3 1902 in Tynemouth, died 15 March 1963) was an English footballer who played for Southampton, West Ham United and Southend United. was a working man. It had taken him and his wife, Bea, 25 years to scrape together scrape together or up Verb to collect with difficulty: he scraped together enough money to travel the money to buy a lot in the Valley for their first home. ``Our half-acre lies in the Valley, completely surrounded by mountains - a beautiful sight on a summer day,'' an excited Bea wrote in her journal in January 1939. Barbara smiles at the words her mother-in-law wrote more than 57 years ago. Bea wouldn't recognize the landscape today. The house is surrounded by more homes and six lanes of traffic. If you climb on the roof, you can still see the mountains - on a clear day. ``When Bob's father read what Wright had written about the working man, he wrote the architect, in a sense challenging him to design a home that he could construct with his own labor,'' Barbara said, slowly turning the pages of Bea's journal. ``Wright wrote back that he was tied up designing the famed Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, but was sending a sketch to his son Lloyd Wright in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. for the actual design.'' Wright dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. the home he designed the ``Mat House.'' It called for a ``bat-wing'' roof with 10-foot overhanging eaves on all sides, and walls at 45 degrees to the principal north-south, east-west directions Noun 1. east-west direction - in a direction parallel with lines of latitude direction, way - a line leading to a place or point; "he looked the other direction"; "didn't know the way home" , thus allowing the sun to light all four walls during the day. ``The thatch roof and eaves were to provide insulation and shade in the then 110-degree plus summer temperature in the Valley,'' Bea wrote in her journal. Ultimately, though, Wright wound up quitting the project over creative differences. Bea wanted a cedar shake roof, not the thatch roof of tule tu·le n. 1. Any of several bulrushes of the genus Scirpus, growing in marshy lowlands of the southwest United States. 2. tu·les Northern California Marshy or swampy land. reed Wright demanded be put on the Mat House. ``She didn't like the idea of rats and spiders nesting in her roof,'' Barbara says. ``Can't blame her.'' Since Bob passed away in 1985, Barbara has lived alone in this tiny house - a caretaker championing the memories of the people who built it and the man who designed it. It means a lot to her, this landmark status, she says. It is, in many ways, the culmination of promises she has made to her in-laws and late husband on the many nights she feels their spirits with her in these small rooms, working to restore the home. ``It's not a haunted haunt v. haunt·ed, haunt·ing, haunts v.tr. 1. To inhabit, visit, or appear to in the form of a ghost or other supernatural being. 2. feeling, or anything like that, but yes, I do feel them with me in this house, feel their support,'' Barbara says. Not a week goes by that she doesn't look out her window and see someone standing at the gate - a young architectural college student, a photographer, a teacher with her students. All of them staring stare v. stared, star·ing, stares v.intr. 1. To look directly and fixedly, often with a wide-eyed gaze. See Synonyms at gaze. 2. To be conspicuous; stand out. 3. at this unique house and wondering what it's like inside? Barbara will walk to the gate and invite them in - take them for a tour of the Mat House that her husband and father-in-law built in 1939 for $1,398. That Lloyd Wright designed for $50 before quitting the project in a huff. MEMO: Dennis McCarthy's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Landmark status has been bestowed on Barbara Adams'home in Reseda, which Lloyd Wright designed in the 1930s. Terri Thuente/Daily News |
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