What makes it mid-century modern
Mid-century modern is the style of roughly the late 1940s through the 1960s, and Los Angeles has one of the deepest collections of it anywhere. The idea was simple: open the house to the outdoors. That means walls of glass, sliding doors to a patio or pool, low flat or gently pitched roofs, and wide overhangs to shade the glass from the afternoon sun.
Inside, the plan is open. Kitchen, dining and living often flow together, ceilings are frequently exposed wood beams, and the structure is part of the look. Many of these homes are post-and-beam, where a grid of posts carries the roof so the walls between them can be glass. Materials are warm and honest: redwood, brick, terrazzo, clerestory windows, built-ins. The best examples sit low and frame a view rather than shouting at the street.
How LA got so many
The groundwork came early. Two Austrian-born architects, Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra, arrived in the 1920s and built some of the first modern houses in America here. Schindler's own house on Kings Road in West Hollywood dates to 1922, and Neutra's Lovell Health House in Los Feliz followed in 1929.
After World War II, the city boomed and land was still available on the hillsides and in the Valley. In 1945, Arts & Architecture magazine, edited by John Entenza, launched the Case Study House program, commissioning architects to design modern, buildable homes for postwar life. The program ran into the 1960s and produced some of the most photographed houses in the world, including the Eames House in Pacific Palisades and Pierre Koenig's Stahl House, cantilevered over the city in the Hollywood Hills. Craig Ellwood and Neutra also designed for the program.
Plenty of other names shaped the city's modern housing:
- John Lautner, who designed dramatic, sculptural hillside houses like the Chemosphere.
- A. Quincy Jones, whose post-and-beam work includes much of the Crestwood Hills community in Brentwood, and who also designed homes for the developer Joseph Eichler.
- Gregory Ain, best known for the Mar Vista Tract, a group of modest, cleverly planned modern homes from the late 1940s.
- Cliff May, who popularized the California ranch house: single story, rambling, built around patios.
- Buff & Hensman, known for warm, wood-heavy post-and-beam houses.
- Palmer & Krisel, who brought modern design to tract housing, with thousands of homes in the San Fernando Valley and Palm Springs.
Where to find them
Mid-century homes are spread across the city, but some areas have real concentrations:
- The Eastside hills. Silver Lake has a cluster of Neutra houses near the reservoir, and Los Feliz and Eagle Rock have hillside modern homes tucked between older Spanish and Craftsman houses.
- Beverly Hills. Trousdale Estates was developed in the 1950s and 60s and remains one of the best-known mid-century enclaves in LA, with low, wide homes and big views. The canyons of Beverly Hills Post Office have more.
- The hills above Sunset. The Bird Streets and the surrounding Hollywood Hills are full of glass-walled houses built for the view.
- The Westside. Mar Vista is home to the Gregory Ain tract, Brentwood has Crestwood Hills, and Pacific Palisades is where the Eames House sits.
- The Valley. Studio City has post-and-beam homes in its hills, and Encino, Sherman Oaks and Granada Hills have mid-century tracts, including Eichler homes in Granada Hills.
Buying one: what to look for
Original, restored or "MCM-style." Some homes are largely original, some have been carefully restored, and some are flips that painted the doors orange, added a globe light and called it a day. Ask what is original (beams, windows, fireplace, built-ins, terrazzo) and what has changed. Permit history helps.
Inspection points specific to the style:
- Radiant heat in the slab. Many homes were heated by water pipes cast into the concrete floor. Leaks are hard to find, and many systems have been abandoned. Ask whether it works and have it checked.
- Flat and low-slope roofs. These depend on good drainage and a sound membrane. Ponding water, worn roofing and leaks around skylights are common findings.
- Glass. Original single-pane glass in steel or aluminum frames is beautiful but loses heat and lets in sun. Replacement frames change the look, so choose carefully.
- Post-and-beam framing. Exposed beam ends that run outside the house can rot or attract termites. A good inspector will look closely where wood meets weather.
- Sewer lines and materials. Homes from this era may have Orangeburg or clay sewer pipe, so a sewer camera inspection is smart. Some original materials (certain floor tiles, ceilings, mastics) may contain asbestos, which matters before any remodel.
Preservation rules. Some homes are designated City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments, and some sit in a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ), such as the Mar Vista Tract. Either can mean design review for exterior changes, so check before you plan a remodel. City Planning lists the city's historic districts. Other cities, including Beverly Hills, have their own landmark programs.
The Mills Act. Owners of some qualifying historic homes may be able to enter a Mills Act contract with their city, which can lower property taxes in exchange for a commitment to restore and maintain the house. Eligibility, application windows and limits vary, so this is general information only. Start with the City of LA's preservation incentives page and verify the details with the city and a tax professional.