Famous Homes: Habitat 67

The home for today's Famous Homes is not really a single home but a collection of homes in a brilliant minimalist masterpiece of architecture called Habitat 67.

Habitat 67 | Photo by James Brittain from his Revisited: Habitat 67 series

Architect Moshe Safide was only 23 years old when he designed the structure that would become Habitat 67 as a thesis project for his architecture program at McGill University. After leaving school, his former thesis advisor and architect Sandy van Ginkel approached him about developing the master plan for the upcoming International Expo 67, a World's Fair to be held from April to October 1967 in Montreal, Canada. Once working on the plan, Safdie proposed his thesis as one of the pavilions and was given permission. He withdrew from the planning commission to be an independent architect on Habitat.

Located on a manmade peninsula at Cité du Havre, on the Saint Lawrence River, Habitat 67 is a unique collection of 354 identical prefabricated concrete forms arranged in different combinations, divided into three pyramids, each reaching up to 12 residential stories. Together these units currently create 146 private residences of varying sizes and configurations. Safdie's original vision was a proposed solution to what he saw as a bleak future of more and more densely populated cities. Each unit has access to a terrace, some up to 1,000 sq ft large (!) located on the roof of a structure below. The physical location of the entire Habitat coupled with this access to greenery, light, and fresh air made the idea of "apartment living" very enticing. Indeed, units are now bought for much higher prices than Safdie or the original Habitat team could have ever imagined. The prestige building is now owned by its tenants, who formed a limited partnership after purchasing the building from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1985.

Habitat 67, southwest view | Photo by Thomas Ledl

The enduring fascination with this structure surely lies in its monolithic Brutalism, a style that has seen renewed interest. The layout, like tumbling blocks or a gigantic whimsical Lego creation on a staggering scale, is still startling to see, even after more than fifty years. Residents describe living in the buildings as akin to living on a ship with a nearly 300 degree view of the city across the river. Some homes still have the original and sought-after Formica kitchen, and many terraces have been covered and turned into year-round solariums where one can enjoy the changing of the seasons from the comfort and warmth of one's own home.

Walkway inside Habitat 67 | Photo by James Brittain from his Revisited: Habitat 67 series

Detail of Habitat 67 | Photo by James Brittain from his Revisited: Habitat 67 series

Interior residence of Habitat 67 | Photo by James Brittain from his Revisited: Habitat 67 series

Interior residence of Habitat 67 | Photo by James Brittain from his Revisited: Habitat 67 series

Interior residence of Habitat 67 | Photo by James Brittain

Habitat 67 is not open to the public but for a limited time each year, there are a select number of guided tours. Check their website to secure tickets!

Happy designing!

Famous Homes: Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House

In our continuing series of Famous Homes, let's travel to Los Angeles to take a peek at an amazing property designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1923 and built in 1924 for retailer Charles Ennis and his wife Mabel, now known (naturally) as The Ennis House.

The house, based on ancient Mayan temples (the Ennis House is sometimes referred to as an example of Mayan Revival architecture), is the fourth and largest of Wright's textile block designs, constructed primarily of interlocking pre-cast concrete blocks made of locally sourced decomposed granite. These textile blocks were inspired by reliefs seen at the Governor's Palace in the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal.

Each of the 27,000 concrete blocks used in the house measures 16 inches square with a 3.5-inch thickness and were made by hand using aluminum molds. These blocks were then woven together with steel rods, lending the name "textile blocks."

While the outside is staggering beautiful (check out that view of downtown LA!)...

...the 6,200-square-foot interior is where we find soaring ceilings and tall art glass windows (some of the last made by Wright). It is easy to sense the temple-inspiration in the proportions and layout of the interiors.

But the Ennis House has not been without its problems. Even while it was being built, it was plagued with structural instability issues with lower sections of the outer retaining wall buckling under pressure. And over a short amount of time, the concrete blocks began to decay prematurely because decomposed granite had been added to the concrete mix, which added natural impurities. That coupled with air pollution took heavy toll on the exterior, and consequently the interior. And then the house suffered extreme damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake as well as the record precipitation during the 2004–2005 rainy season. 

By then, the house was in such peril that the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the home on its 2005 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places. But after a nearly decade long restoration of the home with help from Wright’s grandson Eric Lloyd Wright, who was the historic preservation consultant for the project, the home is now in perfect shape. Restoration work involved structurally stabilizing the house as well as replacing nearly 4,000 of the home’s 27,000 textile concrete blocks. The building was also re-roofed during the restoration, and the home’s interior wood floors, ceilings, and art glass windows were restored.

And of course, because such a grand, unique home is located in Los Angeles, it has shown up in films, on television, in commercials, and even in music videos! It served as the backdrop for films like "The Day of the Locust," "Rush Hour," "Grand Canyon," "The Rocketeer," and "Black Rain."

Grand Canyon

The Rocketeer

Black Rain

It has been featured in episodes of  "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "Twin Peaks" but is perhaps most well known for being the location of Deckard's apartment in the classic sci-fi film "Blade Runner." While only a shot of Deckard arriving at the forecourt was actually filmed at the Ennis House, the interior of his apartment was created on a Warner Bros. set by by designer Charles William Breen who used actual plaster casts of textile blocks from the Ennis House to build the set! 

Even though the house is currently owned by a private individual and is generally not open to the public, part of a stipulation of the home's sale in 2019 is that it must be open to the public 12 days a year. But I can't find any information about when or how that takes place.

The Ennis House is listed on the Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places, as well as the National Trust for Historic Preservation list of Endangered Historic Places, and is a designated California Historical Landmark, and a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The Frank Lloyd Wright website gave the Ennis House its own page, seen here.

Happy designing!

The Furniture of John Dickinson

John Dickinson's San Francisco-based interior design career spanned decades, through the 60s and 70s, but he will be best remembered for a collection of whimsical, stylish, furniture and furnishings created in matte chalk white. Since his death in 1982, his console tables, side tables, lamps, and mirrors have become highly coveted items by interior designers and collectors. His original designs feature wry details like animal feet and the illusion of draped fabric but made in metal or plaster.

Dickinson's African table is an homage to the kind of rough-hewn anthropomorphic objects from that continent.

The following images of his Etruscan chair and table are a combination of historical elements from Greek and Roman furnishings (and even as far back as the Egyptians who put animal feet on stools and small tables) with the neo-classical sensibility of eighteenth century Europe.

His footed and hoofed demi-console, lamp, table, and stool are now iconic.

Another trompe-l'œil effect from Dickinson is his organic stacked stone console table. The unexpected style comes from the fact that it is executed in his hallmark matte white.

His tin console (part of the permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) and table look as if they have luxurious linens draped over them, cascading down into box pleats at the corners.This idea was so copied that we now see the idea in acrylic from various manufacturers and designers.

And finally, Dickinson ventured into "faux-bois" territory ("faux-bois" is a style of furniture that rose to favor during the Victorians and featured pieces in cast concrete that resembled rustic log furniture) with his twig lamp and mirror.

His pieces look wonderful as accents in rooms of any style. See if you can spot his pieces in each room below.

And here is a pine wood version of his African table in Dickinson's own San Francisco home, a renovated fire station!

Dickinson's original pieces were made in plaster but Sutherland Furniture has retooled the formula and has reissued some of these pieces in a mix of concrete and fiberglass. You can see and purchase them here. Take a look at the tableau from Sutherland below which features Dickinson's twig lamp and mirror over the tin console.

Happy designing!