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The house built by Lloyd Wright was rectangular in shape, with four connected wings looking in on an enclosed courtyard. The property was built using concrete textile blocks, which helped create the Mayan-style look. Respecting Wright’s initial effort to create a mesmerizing construction where nature and architecture intertwine, Balbes only restored the stonework. First, he chose to decrease the number of bedrooms to four and combine rooms he no longer needed to create a bigger kitchen. All in all, Balbes transformed Wright’s most significant work just perfectly to respect both history and the modern world.
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The first interior scene shows Hollywood sex workers dancing with their "johns" in the living room. The second scene shows a late-night meeting of LAPD Sgt. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) and Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) discussing their investigation in a dramatic scene filmed in the Sowden House kitchen. An office space in the Gatehouse is now a soothing spa-inspired lounge designed by Margaret Lalikian. The designer referenced the house’s original name, El Robles—Spanish for oak tree—with a tree-filled landscape mural by Arpy Dabbaghian.
Events
Lloyd Wright's infamous Sowden House purchased by "marijuana millionaire" - Archinect
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Independent filmmmaker Bashar Shbib was hired to design and realize the landscaping in and around the house. On viewing the renovations, Eric Lloyd Wright praised the new kitchen and landscaping, but criticized Balbes' decision to install a pool and spa in the middle of the courtyard. All of the house's rooms open onto the long central courtyard, which was originally a lawn that was used for seating during performances at the home. Eric Wright felt it was a "mistake" to break up the courtyard space with a pool and spa. Dana Hutt, an architectural historian who has written on the works of Lloyd Wright, was also critical of Balbes' alterations.
Architect
A Tour of Hollywood's Creepiest Houses - KQED
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He bought the iconic estate for $4.7 million in 2018 with plans to turn it into a cultural hub for art and events. When Goldfarb first learned the house was up for sale in 2017 (with a 4.7 million price tag), he had never been to Los Angeles in his life. The Sowden House became intertwined with the Black Dahlia case due to claims and rumors that George Hodel may have been involved in the murder of Elizabeth Short.
The breathtaking residence was designed for him by Frank Lloyd Wright Jr, son of the icon Frank Lloyd Wright. John Sowden and his wife Ruth were known to be talented artists and held a reputation for being real party animals. As a newlywed couple, they sought an experienced designer to build their dream house. Having designed numerous sets for Paramount Studios, Lloyd Wright was a perfect match, fulfilling their expectations. In 1926, he flawlessly designed a mysterious and theatrical house for the artistic party couple, which nowadays is known to be his best work and is even listed as one of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments. From serving as suitable scenery for scary movies to keeping real-life secrets within its walls, the famous Sowden House knows how to attract both film enthusiasts and amateur detectives.
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While the structure at 5121 Franklin Ave in Los Angeles — which is now known as Lloyd Wright Jr’s best work — retains its unique facade, many things have changed at the Sowden House. With its unconventional design and purported secret passageways, the Sowden House added to the air of mystery surrounding Hodel. Thankfully, thanks to Dan Goldfarb using the property for events such as fund-raisers and weddings, many great photos of the Sowden House as it looked very recently exist.
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“I’m all about gardens connecting the architecture into the landscape,” landscape architect Timothy John Palcic tells AD PRO. He used a limited palette of chartreuse and dark hues that nod to the brick exterior and arranged benches to create intimate seating areas within the larger English-garden-inspired space. Maybe Elizabeth (who was found in a vacant lot in Leimart Park 62 years ago this week) wouldn't have minded being used in this way. In a different time and place, the Sowden House would have been a temple and Betty Short would be the patron saint of scarred innocence.
An after-party was held at the Chateau Marmont, featuring surrealist art created by Brooklyn immersive art collective Little Cinema. Founded by Jay Rinsky, the collective was commissioned and flown in by TNT to take over the Marmont to re-create a scene from a future episode in which Dr. Hodel hosts a surrealist art party. With an atmosphere reminiscent of old Hollywood glamour and ’60s dreamlike weirdness, one room, bathed in red light, featured a live band playing classic jazz standards.
Here they are a house, a murder victim, their histories crossing paths only in the mind. According to Hodel’s son, a retired homicide detective, the doctor had committed the atrocity, along with several other murders, in the basement of the Sowden House. Short’s murder became popularly known as the Black Dahlia Murder, one of the most notorious crimes in American history. But before charges could be brought against Hodel, he abandoned his family, fleeing to Asia in 1950.
From there, authorities found evidence that led them to believe that Dr. Hodel was also a murderer. George’s son Steve, a retired cop for the LAPD, discovered several items after his father’s death that he believed belonged to his victims, including photos of the Black Dahlia. Various other acquaintances and regular partygoers further confirmed that Hodel participated in sadistic acts while at the home, and in 2013 cadaver dogs discovered that human remains were once present on the property. John Sowden was a retired painter and photographer who wanted to build a home where he and his wife Ruth could entertain guests by throwing parties and putting on amateur theatrical displays. John and Ruth Sowden commissioned the help of their friend Lloyd Wright (son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright) to construct a magnificent mansion that would become an iconic landmark for years to come.
Over the next several decades the John Sowden house would have several more owners, including the prestigious Mazur Family who purchased the home in 1974. Then things took an interesting turn in 2001 when a designer named Xorin Balbes acquired the property for $1.2 million and put it through two rigorous renovations worth $1.6 million in 2002 and 2009. There used to be John Sowden House tour options, but now that it’s privately owned, tours of the residence are unlikely. Although you might not get a glimpse of the interior these days, it’s worth taking a trip just to get a view of the remarkable property from afar. Many tourists can’t resist visiting the Sowden house to view the stunning architectural masterpiece in person.
These visits are unfortunately rare since there are no regular visitation hours or tours to speak of. Instead, you have to be on the lookout for the sporadic opportunity to reveal itself on various websites (such as the MAK Center for Art and Architecture listed below) or by using Google Alerts. Our break came in the form of an organization called homeLA that rented out the space (which you can do via the Sowden House’s official website) to host one of their performance projects. He thoroughly deals with evidence in the case, and by covering a number of different unsolved crimes against women, he gives you a real feeling of the anarchy of post-war Los Angeles. At first blush, you feel that Steve is tireless, and candid about his own life. His father was, in fact, a suspect (as a doctor and a man accused of sex crimes) in the killing of Elizabeth Short.
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