735 Rome Drive, Mount Washington, Los Angeles, California 90065 |
Welcome to The Pilot House
www.thepilothouse-la.com
Architects: A Quincy Jones (1913-1979) and Whitney R. Smith
Structural Engineer: Edgardo Contini (1914-1990)
City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 717, designated on July 30, 2002.
Named The Pilot House not because it resembles the control deck of a ship, but because it was a pilot project to demonstrate how well-designed homes could be built on steep hillside lots for the Mutual Housing Association.
The Mutual Housing Association, now the Crestwood Hills Association, is a historic modern housing community designed by Jones and Smith adjacent to modern Brentwood. Of the 150 MHA houses eventually built, only 32 remain today in Crestwood Hills (several were destroyed in the 1965 Bel Air fire). Architect Cory Buckner (http://www.corybuckner.com/bio.htm) has been extensively involved in the restoration of a number of MHA homes, and in 2002 published the book entitled: A. Quincy Jones (Phaidon Press).
The Pilot House, built into the Mount Washington hillside in 1948, flies over open space, perched on a backbone of two steel I-beams that run the length of the house. This passively solar house faces almost due south,with an exterior soffit that shades the continuous sliding glass windows from the high summer sun, yet allows the low winter sun to enter and warm the house.
The post and beam construction is anchored on concrete blocks. The floor, ceiling/roof, and countertops are 2 x 6" tongue-in-groove clear Douglas fir. Interior and exterior siding, walls, shelves, and cupboard doors were largely clear A/A plywood, and low-voltage lighting was installed throughout the house. The exterior plywood did not withstand the elements, and has been replaced by British Columbia cedar in the front and stucco in the back. The front door is in the back of the house, at the end of a redwood bridge.
The Pilot House has been featured in several articles in Arts and Architecture and the Los Angeles Times. It was a featured home in the Highland Park Heritage Trust house tour on 2 May 1998.
Email us at: info@ThePilotHouse-LA.com
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