Garcia House, Los Angeles: architect, style and history

John Lautner designed this Hollywood Hills house on stilts 60 feet above a Mulholland Drive canyon in 1962 for composer and arranger Russell Garcia. Known as the Rainbow House for its parabolic roof over stained glass windows and a curved ceiling that rises to 30 feet, it packs three bedrooms and three baths into just over 2,500 square feet and has been called one of the ten most important midcentury residences in Los Angeles.

the building

The parabolic roof. The house's nickname comes from its parabolic roof arching over stained-glass windows, with a curved interior ceiling that climbs to 30 feet — the structural gesture that gives the small house its outsized presence on the canyon site.

the style

Built on stilts over the canyon, the Garcia House is characteristic of Lautner's mid-century experiments in dramatic structural massing rather than conventional post-and-beam framing.

the architect

John Lautner designed the Garcia House in 1962; it has been named one of the ten most important midcentury residences in Los Angeles.

significance

In 2002, Vincent Gallo sold the house for $1.3 million to DreamWorks executive Bill Damaschke and his partner John McIlwee, who spent another $1 million on a renovation supervised by Marmol Radziner, including a fence added to block public views into the glass-sided house.

nearby

Polito House 0.5 mi · International Style · 1940
Harpel House #1 0.6 mi · Mid-Century Modern
Foster Carling House 0.7 mi · Mid-Century Modern
Campo de Cahuenga 1.2 mi · Spanish Colonial Revival
C.E. Toberman Estate 1.3 mi · Spanish Colonial Revival
Hollywood Bowl 1.3 mi · Neues Bauen · 1922

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