The Strathmore Apartments is a historic 8-unit multi-family complex located at 11005-11013 1/2 Strathmore Drive in the Westwood neighborhood of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Notable past residents, amongst others, include

John Entenza John Entenza (December 4, 1905 – April 27, 1984) was one of the pivotal figures in the growth of American modernism: in the fields of environmental, architectural, landscape, and product design; and fine arts, and artisan crafts; in post-wa ...

Charles Eames Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker. In professional partnership with his wife Ray-Bernice Kaiser Eames, he made groundbreaking contributions in the fields of architect ...

Ray Eames Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (née Kaiser; December 15, 1912 – August 21, 1988) was an American artist and designer who worked in a variety of media. In creative partnership with her husband, Charles Eames, and The Eames Office, she was ...

Luise Rainer Luise Rainer ( , ; 12 January 1910 – 30 December 2014) was a German-born film actress. She was the first thespian to win multiple Academy Awards, and the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her 105th birt ...

Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withd ...

, and

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

. The building is a part of a collection of homes designed by Los Angeles based

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

architect,

Richard Neutra Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; 8 April 1892 – 16 April 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for most of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. His most ...

, and built in North West Westwood Village, which includes the Landfair Apartments, Elkay Apartments, and Kelton Apartments.

History

The Strathmore Apartments were designed in 1937 in the

international style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

of architecture by Los Angeles architect

. He was commissioned by the landowner to design a 4-unit building and added another four units next to the building for himself when he realized the lot was available. The complex includes a

modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

bungalow court A bungalow court is a style of small housing development which features several small, usually detached houses arranged around a central garden or yard. The bungalow court was created in Pasadena, California, in 1909 and was the predominant form ...

. The early occupants, including Neutra's extended family members and actress

, has called the architectural style "cold" and "industrial."

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Oceanographic and Atmospheric scientists and a mathematician later converted four of the eight units into

condos A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

, believed to be the first and only condo conversions done unto a Neutra building. On April 8, 1988, the City of Los Angeles designated the complex a

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cul ...

References

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External links

Virtual Globetrotting: Interactive street view of the Stratford Apartments and surroundings

Strathmore Apartments on flickr

UCLA Math Dept. photos: Click on each thumbnail to see enlarge
Note: the slideshow feature does not work. *

Richard Neutra buildings Apartment buildings in Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Residential buildings completed in 1937 1937 establishments in California International style architecture in California Modernist architecture in California Westwood, Los Angeles National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles