Storer House / Frank Lloyd Wright | Classics On Architecture Lab

Architects: Frank Lloyd Wright
Area: 2,967 ft²
Year: 1923
Photographs: Frank Lloyd Wright, Kyle Magnuson, Codera23, Alexrk2, Betsy Malloy Photography, franklloydwright.org, tesselle.com, moderns_r_us
Construction: Textile Block System
Client: Dr. John Storer
Historic Status: National Register of Historic Places (1971), Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #96 (1972)
City: Los Angeles
Country: United States

Storer House, a residential building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, advanced modular architecture through the textile block system and Mayan Revival design, completed in 1923. Part of a four-house series, it explored affordable, reinforced concrete construction integrating structure and ornament, reflecting Wright’s organic and democratic ideals. Inspired by Maya ruins, the house features four distinct block patterns, the most varied of the series. Its hillside placement and landscape, shaped by Lloyd Wright, created the effect of a man-made ruin emerging from nature. The 2,967-square-foot plan includes three bedrooms and a grand living room with Mayan-style columns and dual terraces. Entrance from the rear reinforced a sense of privacy. In disrepair by the 1980s, it was restored by Joel Silver with Eric Lloyd Wright and Martin Eli Weil, using site soil for new blocks and completing Wright’s original pool design. The restoration earned multiple awards and revived attention to Wright’s Los Angeles legacy. Storer House has since been featured in film and media, maintaining its cultural and architectural significance.

The Storer House is a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed residence located in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, completed in 1923 for Dr. John Storer, a homeopathic physician. It is one of four Mayan Revival-style textile-block houses Wright constructed in Southern California between 1922 and 1924, alongside the Millard House, the Samuel Freeman House, and the Ennis House. These homes marked Wright’s architectural exploration into modular construction and a synthesis of ancient architectural motifs with early modernist ideals. The Storer House exemplifies Wright’s Textile Block System, a construction method he developed using richly textured, brocade-like concrete blocks reinforced with steel rods. Frank Lloyd Wright aimed to create an affordable, modular building system that would allow ordinary people to construct their own homes. The method combined structural and decorative function, with the perforated blocks often serving as skylights, and embodied his philosophy of organic architecture—a seamless blending of building and environment. Wright believed this technique represented a modern and democratic approach to design, allowing architecture to be more accessible while rooted in a deeper connection to its surroundings.

At Storer House, Wright’s fascination with Mesoamerican archaeology is evident. He drew heavily from Maya architectural elements, inspired by recent archaeological discoveries on the Yucatán Peninsula. Using sledgehammers and aluminum molds, he imprinted elaborate patterns into the blocks, creating an exotic and monumental appearance. Storer House is unique among the textile-block houses in that it employs four different block patterns, making it the most texturally varied example of the series. The house is sited dramatically on a steep slope in the Hollywood Hills. At the time of its construction, the surrounding area lacked the rich vegetation seen today, contributing to the home’s striking visibility. Wright intended for the home to appear as a man-made extension of the landscape, almost as if it had emerged from the hillside itself. His son, Lloyd Wright, served as both the on-site construction supervisor and the landscape architect, shaping the grounds to evoke the feeling of a Pompeiian villa hidden in an overgrown environment. The result was an illusion of a ruin nestled within a jungle-like setting.

Despite this intent, some critics felt the design contradicted Wright’s ideals. Biographer Brendan Gill described the house as asserting itself on the hillside with an unexpected arrogance, particularly when it was first built and the landscape had not yet softened its presence. Nevertheless, the house has always commanded attention for its bold design, monumental presence, and ambitious integration of ancient forms and natural surroundings. The house has a T-shaped floor plan and spans approximately 2,967 square feet. It contains three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a den, a kitchen, a dining room, a staff wing, and a spa. The dominant space is a large upstairs living room with a soaring ceiling, tall narrow windows, and Mayan-inspired columns. This room serves as the street-facing front facade, and it opens to two terraces—one offering views of Hollywood, the other overlooking the hillside. Interestingly, the house was built without a traditional front door. Instead, entrance was gained through the rear, reinforcing a metaphor of privacy and retreat. While the front features five window or door openings that are aesthetically pleasing, they lack the sense of a singular, formal entry.

By the early 1980s, the Storer House had fallen into disrepair. In 1981, it was listed for $1 million, and in 1984 it was purchased for $800,000 by Hollywood producer Joel Silver, known for blockbuster films such as Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and The Matrix. Silver initiated a comprehensive restoration project with the help of Wright’s grandson, Eric Lloyd Wright, and preservationist Martin Eli Weil, then president of the Los Angeles Conservancy. One of the most challenging aspects of the restoration was replicating the original concrete blocks. To remain faithful to Wright’s concept of organic architecture, the restoration team used soil from the property itself mixed with cement to recast the blocks. The restoration also included the completion of a pool that had been part of Wright’s original plans but had never been built. The restored house was widely praised and received awards from the California Council of the American Institute of Architects as well as the Los Angeles Conservancy. In 2005, The New York Times called the Storer House “widely considered the best-preserved Wright building in Los Angeles.” Silver listed the house for sale in 2001 for $3.5 million but struggled to find a buyer, even after having invested heavily in the restoration. At the time, similar homes in the area sold for around $1 million, leading Forbes magazine to question whether anyone would pay a 400 percent premium for architectural history. The house was eventually sold in 2002 for $2.9 million and changed ownership again in February 2015, this time for a reported $6.8 million.

In terms of official recognition, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was designated Historic-Cultural Monument #96 by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission in 1972. It was also included in Sydney LeBlanc’s The Architecture Traveler: A Guide to 250 Key 20th Century American Buildings, and has been the subject of numerous articles and features on Wright’s Southern California legacy. The Storer House has also made its mark on popular culture. One of its distinctive blocks was used as the logo for Joel Silver’s production company, Silver Pictures, and appeared at the end of films such as The Matrix Trilogy, Conspiracy Theory, Cradle 2 the Grave, Swordfish, and Romeo Must Die. The house is featured in the 1991 film The Rocketeer and has appeared in the animated series The Venture Brothers as the fictional home of Phantom Limb, later occupied by the Monarch and Doctor Mrs. the Monarch. Moreover, a textile-block restroom and seating area in the Hollywood Backlot at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim was inspired directly by the Storer House, serving as a tribute to Wright’s enduring influence.

Today, the Storer House stands not only as a masterful example of Wright’s design philosophy and experimental techniques but also as a cultural and architectural landmark that continues to inspire architects, preservationists, and design enthusiasts around the world.