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Purviance Residence
Applicant: Charles J. Fisher
 Purviance Residence, 944 N Maltman Avenue, Aug 1, 2005
(photo
by Sharon Ackerman)
Purviance
Residence, Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument
#84?
Declared June 21, 2006
This unusual house was designed by the
Viennese-born modernist architect Rudolf M. Schindler, who had recently come to
Los Angeles to complete work for Frank Lloyd Wright on the Hollyhock House and
the other Wright-designed buildings in what is now Barnsdall Park. Ever an
innovator, Schindler perfected a method of slab-cast concrete for building the
walls of a structure. Although several designs were made with the slab-cast
technique, only two were believed to have been executed, the Pueblo-Rivera
Courts in La Jolla (1923-24), and the How House in Silverlake (1925-26). The
Purviance Residence was discovered in 2005, and the garage portion at the rear
of the house, built in late 1922, pre-dates Pueblo-Rivera by almost a year, and
is Schindler's earliest-built example of the slab-cast technique. A dispute
between Schindler and his client, Willis E. Puriance, resulted in the house
having a pressed-brick facade in the front section. Purviance was the president
of the California State Chiropractic Society, an organization that had been
heavily responsible for having the chiropractic discipline officially recognized
in California through a ballot initiative in 1922. This house was one of
Schindler's very first solo commissions and was one of only a handful of
buildings that displays the craftsmanship of Clyde M. Chase, who had been the
contractor for Schindler's own home in West Hollywood, and later worked on
Pueblo Rivera before moving to Florida. Schindler's career continued until his
death in 1953 and gives Los Angeles a rich heritage in modern design through
both his own work and his influence on others that were to follow
him.
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