Blade Runner, Warner Bros., House on Haunted Hill, Castle Productions,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 20th Century Fox
The Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House changed hands this weekend from billionaire Ron Burkle, who oversaw the significant restoration after 1996 earthquake, to cannabis entrepreneurs Robert Rosenheck and Cindy Capobianco for 18M.
Frank Lloyd Wright based his design for Ennis House on ancient Mayan temples, featuring 27 thousand textile blocks – each cast by hand on both the interior and exterior, compression and release entryways, glass mosaic by Blanche Ostertag, mitered windows, and a loggia overlooking the pool and garden. The house, located in Los Feliz is a designated city, state, and national monument. The last and the largest of his four Los Angeles ‘textile block’ houses. Upon completion of the Ennis House in 1924, Wright immediately considered it his favorite.
Its significance in pop culture and film history cannot be overstated, the Ennis House is a Hollywood icon with over 80 onscreen appearances. It should have its own IMDB. In Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, Blade Runner, it was the home to Harrison Ford’s character, Deckard. In the 1959 Vincent Price film, the exterior façade was The House on Haunted Hill. Even Buffy the Vampire Slayer got in on the action, using the exterior as the mansion occupied by vampires Angel, Drusilla and Spike (see S3, E3 Faith, Hope, & Trick). It appeared in cartoon form in South Park and was influential to the design of Meereen Palace in Game of Thrones.
After all the estate has provided to celluloid history, it was the Hollywood community that rallied together, led by Diane Keaton and Joel Silver, to help fund the restoration, saving the house from appearing on the National Trust for Historic Preservation list of top ten most endangered places. Fully renovated, it’s one of the most famous houses in Los Angeles, I’m hoping the new owners continue to share it with the Los Angeles and Hollywood communities for years and films to come.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis House