National Register of Historic Places

Schaffer, J.W. House

Glendale, Los Angeles County, California
Listed
April 18, 2016
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
16000174

About this property

The J. W. Schaffer House is a residence in Glendale, California. It is on the National Register of Historic Places as a work of the architect John Lautner. The J. W. Schaffer House is on the northeast edge of the Verdugo Mountains, in the Whiting Woods neighborhood of Glendale, California. The house, constructed in 1949, is an example of the Wrightian-influenced Mid-Century Modern architecture of master architect John Lautner. The house exhibits the modest scale and massing, horizontal emphasis, large expanses of glass, and asymmetrical plan associated with Mid-century Modern houses, along with a connection to outdoors and focus on the specific site conditions of Organic architecture. The design worked around the existing oak trees. It makes extensive use of glass for its exterior, and is said to "feel like a newly pitched tent or a wood cabin that provides shelter and privacy without boxing out nature. The site was originally used by the Shaffer family as a picnic ground, but later decided to live there permanently. The Shaffer house was restored in the 2000s and put up for sale in 2008, eventually selling in 2012 for $1.35 million. The 2009 film A Single Man, directed by Tom Ford and starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, used the Shaffer house as George's (Firth's) residence. The interior and exterior were shown in the film.

Location

527 Whiting Woods Rd.
Glendale, Los Angeles County, California
34.21514, -118.24962

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Lanterman House
Industrial
2.6 mi
San Rafael Rancho
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2.6 mi
Doctors House
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2.7 mi
Ard Eevin
Civil War
2.9 mi
Bolton Hall
Industrial
3.4 mi

Nearby Battles

Siege of Los Angeles
1846Mexican-American War
11.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Schaffer, J.W. House listed on the National Register?

Schaffer, J.W. House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 18, 2016.

What type of historic resource is Schaffer, J.W. House?

Schaffer, J.W. House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Schaffer, J.W. House?

The period of significance for Schaffer, J.W. House is recorded as the industrial era.

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