Millard House
- Architect
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Year
- 1923
- Style
- organic
- City
- Los Angeles, CA
- Collection
- the wrights of los angeles
The Millard House, known as La Miniatura, is a three-story concrete-block residence at 645 Prospect Crescent in Pasadena, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1923 and completed in 1924 for the rare-book dealer Alice Millard. It was the first of four concrete textile-block houses Wright built in the Los Angeles area during the 1920s, followed by the Samuel Freeman House, the Storer House, and the Ennis House, and it was Wright's second design for the Millard family after an earlier house in Illinois. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing property to the Prospect Historic District.
the building
Textile-block construction. The house's water table is stucco, but the rest of the facade is clad in concrete textile blocks engraved with cross-shaped motifs, the technique Wright would repeat across his four Los Angeles block houses of the 1920s.
Two entrances on two levels. Because the house sits on an arroyo above a ravine, it has a pedestrian entrance at the first story facing Rosemont Avenue and a separate vehicular entrance at the second story facing Prospect Crescent.
Built into the ravine. The three-story house and its detached garage total 4,230 square feet, worked into a sloping arroyo site with a ravine at the bottom.
the style
La Miniatura is considered a textbook example of Wright's organic architecture, its concrete-block massing designed to rise out of the arroyo site rather than sit on top of it, with cross-shaped block ornament that became a signature of the textile-block houses that followed.
the architect
Frank Lloyd Wright designed La Miniatura as his second commission for the Millard family, following an earlier house for them in Illinois. It was also the first of four concrete textile-block houses he built in the Los Angeles area during the 1920s, preceding the Samuel Freeman House, the Storer House, and the Ennis House.
More on Frank Lloyd Wrightsignificance
The Millard House is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing property to the Prospect Historic District.
more by Frank Lloyd Wright
nearby
- Gamble House
- Rose Bowl
- Norton Simon Museum
- Richard H. Chambers United States Court of Appeals
- Colonial Court
- Hotel Green