Point of View
Between Earth And Heaven
By Joann Deutch
Jul 27, 2008 - 12:37:45 PM

What’s Between Earth and Heaven?  An apt name for an exhibit at the Hammer Museum honoring John Lautner’s masterpieces.  Why do I say masterpieces? His architecture literally stops traffic.  What better tribute can there be in today’s hurly-burley lifestyle than when people stop and look — ok maybe gape.  Who doesn’t remember their first glimpse of the perched  “flyer saucer”  house when they were whizzing west on Mulholland?
   The Malin House [Chemosphere/Flying Saucer House], a marvel of engineering, was built in 1960, a time in history when the United States and Russia were launching monkeys into space.
   However, at the base of the Chemosphere is another notable Lautner House, built in 1956.  The site has a spectacular view of the San Gabriel Mountains.  The Harpel House was named in the tradition of the day after the owner.  The name comes with an endearing story.  Willis “Bill” Harpel, the owner, was a well-known Los Angeles radio announcer.  Concrete caissons were used for the foundation. The caissons continued as columns for the roof frame.  Harpel, alongside the master builder John de la Vaux, worked as a subcontractor pouring “all the concrete himself.” Harpel would spend the day working as an announcer, and then come to the project site to pour concrete.  “At the end of 16 hours, he would say, 'This house is the most exciting thing in my life.'”  The house has a “to-die-for” garden and pool entrance. The house is now designated as a Cultural-Historic Monument [7764 West Torreyson Drive, Los Angeles].
   However, it is the Malin House — the flying saucer — up above the Harpel House that receives most of the artistic acclaim.  The Malin House has two bedrooms, three baths, and 3,012 square feet sprawling across more than an acre.  The story is as much about the house as it is about the designer. Lautner was a student in the 1930s of Frank Lloyd Wright at the Taliesin Fellowship.  He came to Los Angeles to supervise the construction of two Wright houses, and then set out on his own. Chemosphere was characteristic of Los Angeles; at that time “it didn't have to look like a house." This 1960 house is very much a product of its time and place.
   This house was also a product of Launter’s willingness to partner with the owner, Leonard Malin, a young aerospace engineer.  In the late '50s his father-in-law gave him a block of land north of Mulholland Drive.  The slope was all but unbuildable. Malin went to Launter for a solution and Lautner, “a brilliant but reputedly prickly man,” sketched a bold vertical line, a cross, and a curve above it. "Draw it up," he told his assistant.  Lautner was known as a practical problem solver. He didn't see the house as a flying saucer, but as a sensible solution. At the time, the world was enamored with technology.  Any obstacle could be overcome with the use of technology. The house being accessible by a funicular didn’t seem to be an obstacle.


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