Jardinette Apartments
Encyclopedia
Jardinette Apartments, now known as Marathon Apartments, is a four-story apartment
building in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
, designed by modernist
Richard Neutra
. It was Neutra's first commission in the United States. In his book Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century, Richard Weston called the Jardinette Apartments "one of the first Modernist buildings in America." It has also been called "America's first multi-family, International-style
building."
: "The Jardinette, a Class B apartment-house now under construction at Marathon street and Manhattan Place, is being erected on a site 71 by 130 feet. This house will contain forty-three apartments and will be built at an estimated cost of $225,000." The site is one block west of Western Avenue
, and one block north of Melrose Avenue
.
While the building was being constructed, noted architect Harwell Hamilton Harris
saw it and found it "unlike any building he had ever seen." It reminded him of expressionism
and its reinforced concrete
frame, continuous ribbon windows and cantilivered balconies intrigued Harris so much that he sought out the architect, with whom he would become friends.
said: "The new garden apartments bridge a gap between the worker's place of business and his home. Light and sunshine flood the apartment house and create a new harmony of family life and contentment, with every room as efficiently planned for service as the most modern business office." The building was published as far as Germany and Russia. The Los Angeles Times featured the Jardinette in a 1929 article on the "New Art" of architecture in Los Angeles. At the Museum of Modern Art
's famed 1932 exhibition entitled "Modern Architecture," Neutra's Jardinette Apartments was one of the few American examples included in the exhibition.
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The Jardinette building was Neutra's first commission in Los Angeles. Like the Lovell House
, which Neutra designed around the same time, the Jardinette is composed of "box-like forms, flat roofs, unbroken horizontal windows alternating with plain, banded spandrels extended to form balconies." However, Jardinette differs from Lovell House in construction. Neutra chose reinforced concrete for Jardinette, with long spans of reinforced concrete allowing for unbroken window strips. The original design also included rooftop gardens.
The building's main structure runs east to west along the back of the site, with two short wings at either end forming a shallow courtyard. The design was intended to convey a sense of openness: "Everything about the building speaks of condensed, efficient forms whose edges dissolve into the landscape." A writer for Art and Culture noted, "The Jardinette is a perfect example of the Modernist trend at the time."
The Jardinette was intended as a prototype for a series of garden apartments to be built in Hollywood. However, the developer, Joseph H. Miller, went bankrupt during the construction of Jardinette, and the other buildings were never realized.
One of the key features that set the Jardinette apart from other apartment buildings built in Los Angeles in the 1920s was the lack of ornamentation. The Los Angeles Times has written that the Jardinette represents the roots of Neutra's radical, free-form style. "This was radical architecture. It was without ornament, made out of industrial materials, and bold in its sculptural openness. Areas flowed from inside to outside, and glass made the artificially lush landscape of California seem to float into the very heart of each of the architect's buildings."
described the building as a "depressing" complex and suggested that its residents "may never guess that their cellblock-like building on a dismal and forsaken street is a landmark of modernism."
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
building in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, designed by modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
Richard Neutra
Richard Neutra
Richard Joseph Neutra is considered one of modernism's most important architects.- Biography :Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Vienna, Austria Hungary, on April 8, 1892. He was born into both-Jewish wealthy family...
. It was Neutra's first commission in the United States. In his book Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century, Richard Weston called the Jardinette Apartments "one of the first Modernist buildings in America." It has also been called "America's first multi-family, International-style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
building."
Construction
The construction of the building was announced in a November 1927 article in the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
: "The Jardinette, a Class B apartment-house now under construction at Marathon street and Manhattan Place, is being erected on a site 71 by 130 feet. This house will contain forty-three apartments and will be built at an estimated cost of $225,000." The site is one block west of Western Avenue
Western Avenue (Los Angeles)
Western Avenue is a major four lane street slightly west of Downtown Los Angeles and the center portion of Los Angeles County. Besides Sepulveda Boulevard, it is one of the longest north/south streets in Los Angeles...
, and one block north of Melrose Avenue
Melrose Avenue
Melrose Avenue is an internationally renowned shopping, dining and entertainment destination in Los Angeles that starts from Santa Monica Boulevard at the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and ends at Lucille Avenue in Silver Lake...
.
While the building was being constructed, noted architect Harwell Hamilton Harris
Harwell Hamilton Harris
Harwell Hamilton Harris, FAIA was a modernist American architect, noted for his work in Southern California that assimilated European and American influences.-Biography:Harris was born in Redlands, California in 1903...
saw it and found it "unlike any building he had ever seen." It reminded him of expressionism
Expressionist architecture
Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts....
and its reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
frame, continuous ribbon windows and cantilivered balconies intrigued Harris so much that he sought out the architect, with whom he would become friends.
Critical reception
When the Jardinette was completed in 1928, the building drew widespread attention for its radical modern design. The Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
said: "The new garden apartments bridge a gap between the worker's place of business and his home. Light and sunshine flood the apartment house and create a new harmony of family life and contentment, with every room as efficiently planned for service as the most modern business office." The building was published as far as Germany and Russia. The Los Angeles Times featured the Jardinette in a 1929 article on the "New Art" of architecture in Los Angeles. At the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
's famed 1932 exhibition entitled "Modern Architecture," Neutra's Jardinette Apartments was one of the few American examples included in the exhibition.
Design
Lovell House
The Lovell House or Lovell Health House is an International style modernist residence designed and built by Richard Neutra between 1927-29. The home, located at 4616 Dundee Drive in Los Angeles, California, was built for the physician and naturopath Philip Lovell...
, which Neutra designed around the same time, the Jardinette is composed of "box-like forms, flat roofs, unbroken horizontal windows alternating with plain, banded spandrels extended to form balconies." However, Jardinette differs from Lovell House in construction. Neutra chose reinforced concrete for Jardinette, with long spans of reinforced concrete allowing for unbroken window strips. The original design also included rooftop gardens.
The building's main structure runs east to west along the back of the site, with two short wings at either end forming a shallow courtyard. The design was intended to convey a sense of openness: "Everything about the building speaks of condensed, efficient forms whose edges dissolve into the landscape." A writer for Art and Culture noted, "The Jardinette is a perfect example of the Modernist trend at the time."
The Jardinette was intended as a prototype for a series of garden apartments to be built in Hollywood. However, the developer, Joseph H. Miller, went bankrupt during the construction of Jardinette, and the other buildings were never realized.
One of the key features that set the Jardinette apart from other apartment buildings built in Los Angeles in the 1920s was the lack of ornamentation. The Los Angeles Times has written that the Jardinette represents the roots of Neutra's radical, free-form style. "This was radical architecture. It was without ornament, made out of industrial materials, and bold in its sculptural openness. Areas flowed from inside to outside, and glass made the artificially lush landscape of California seem to float into the very heart of each of the architect's buildings."
Later decline
In recent years, the Jardinette has fallen into a state of neglect. In 1992, the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Today, the Jardinette is somewhat neglected and forlorn. . . . One can only hope that someday soon the Jardinette, inhabited by mere mortals who enjoy efficiency and sunlight, will be restored to its original abstract splendor." In 2005, the LA WeeklyLA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
described the building as a "depressing" complex and suggested that its residents "may never guess that their cellblock-like building on a dismal and forsaken street is a landmark of modernism."
Historic designations
The Jardinette Apartments have been recognized as a building of important historical value at both the national and local levels.- In 1986, the Jardinette was listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. - In 1986, the Jardinette was registered with the State of CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's Office of Historic Preservation. - In 1988, the Jardinette was designated as a Historic-Cultural Landmark by the City of Los Angeles.
See also
- Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
- List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles