This House Is A Work Of Art, So The Owner Is Donating It To A Museum

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One of the most dramatic homes in Los Angeles has just been donated to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Designed in 1961 by John Lautner — an influential Southern California architect — the glass and concrete house clings to the side of a canyon. Its present owner, James Goldstein, has been revising and perfecting it for 35 years.

Goldstein — a property investor and basketball superfan — is as striking as his home. On the day of my visit he meets me in a leather cowboy hat, tight black leather pants with rows of horizontal zippers up each leg, high black boots, a blue leather jacket and a jaunty scarf around his neck. ("I'm very involved in fashion," he tells me.)

To arrive at his house, I've driven up a steep hill, and down a very steep driveway. Los Angeles has its share of stunning modernist homes, but even picky architects salute this one. (Movie-makers, too — you might recognize it from The Big Lebowski or Charlie's Angels.)

High up in a house that's mostly made of glass, you get a bird's-eye, panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean, Fox studios and downtown Los Angeles. The view is so bird's-eye, in fact, that actual birds sometimes fly inside.

"Most birds find their way out quite easily without my help," Goldstein says. "But the exception is the hummingbird — I have to assist the hummingbirds."

Goldstein's glass walls have almost invisible seams that open and shut at the push of a button. This was not part of architect Lautner's original plan.

"Actually, when the house was first built, there was no glass at all," Goldstein says. There were no walls of any kind in the living room — a device blew warm air into the room when it was chilly, but it didn't work all that well.

After Goldstein bought the house in 1972, he covered its four acres with a tropical jungle. His staff includes four gardeners, two assistants, a pool technician and a housekeeper. No chef, though.

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