Last-Ditch Effort to Save Wright's Ennis House

LOS ANGELES—Three groups have come together to save Frank Lloyd Wright's 1924 Ennis House in the Los Feliz Hills near Los Angeles, according to Hugh Eakin in today's New York Times.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and the Los Angeles Conservancy have created the Ennis House Foundation which plans to raise the millions needed for repair. Diane Keaton has led the campaign to save the house and is on the foundation's board.

The building was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1994 and again, recently, by flooding. "After the flooding, in which large chunks of the building's facade fell off and the south-facing retaining wall failed, the house was briefly "red-tagged" by the city's Department of Building and Safety as unsafe for entry," writes the New York Times.

The basic requirements have just been met by the foundation to obtain $2.1 million in earthquake relief money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, though the total cost of the renovation is expected to be $12 to $15 million.

"Reminiscent of an Aztec or Mayan temple, the sprawling building is the largest of the four houses that Wright built in the Los Angeles area in the 1920's using an experimental form of concrete block construction," writes Eakin.

FOR FULL STORY CLICK: New York Times: "Three Groups Join in Effort to Save Wright's Ennis House"