In 1940, Polish born physician Basia Gingold purchased a Spanish-style home at 514 N. Alta Drive to house relatives who were fleeing persecution in Europe. Gingold was of German-Jewish descent and had left Europe years prior; the climate was not friendly to the forward-thinking and female, Jewish doctor. Before to her move to Alta Drive, Gingold lived in the landmark apartment complex Manola Court, designed in 1926 by Rudolph Schindler, and became friendly with the Austrian architect. The two shared similar ideas about health, hygiene and philosophy and she later commissioned Schindler to design the interior of her new home. The two enjoyed the collaboration, and Gingold retained the architect for an expansion of her medical practice on Wilshire Boulevard and to design an office building on San Vincente. Little is known about why their relationship ended, but in 1946 a dispute over the medical offices culminated in a lawsuit. As a result, the medical building is not recognized by the Schindler Archive and little historical information remains about the Gingold commissions. However badly their friendship ended, Gingold continued to hold Schindler in high esteem. When she finally moved out of her Alta Drive home in 1983, she took all of his designs with her, and they remained in her collection until her death at the age of 103.
I consider myself the first and still one of the few architects who consciously abandoned stylistic sculptural architecture in order to develop space as a medium of art... I believe that outside of Frank Lloyd Wright I am the only architect in U.S. who has attained a distinct local and personal form language.
Rudolph M. Schindler
Rudolph M. Schindler 1887–1953
Rudolph Michael Schindler was an Austrian-born architect and designer who came to define the landscape of mid-century modernism in Southern California. His education began at the Imperial Technical Institute in Vienna from 1906 to 1911 before studying under Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1910 to 1913. Schindler eventually sought the mentorship of Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago. In 1920, he was hired by Wright to oversee the important Hollyhock House commission in Los Angeles. Schindler would remain in California for the rest of his life.
His iconic home and studio, the Schindler Chase House on Kings Road, set the stage for California Modernism. The construction featured a minimalist approach and linear form built in sleek concrete with sliding glass doors opening to gardens — all of which became staples of the Southern California style. The space was designed for communal living and Schindler shared the space with his wife Pauline among many other important figures, including Richard Neutra and John Cage. Between the years of 1920 and 1953, Schindler designed numerous residential commissions such as the Lovell Beach House (1922), Rodriguez House (1942), Kallis House (1946), and the Tischler House (1949). While Rudolph Schindler’s death was untimely, his legacy and philosophy continue to be celebrated in his iconic structures.
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