Samuel Freeman House

As an example of Wright's Mayan Revival or early Modernist architecture, the structure is noteworthy as one of the four textile block houses built by Wright in the Los Angeles area, the others being Storer House, Ennis House, and Millard House. It has the world's first glass-to-glass corner windows.{{r|LAT 2022-02-25}} The construction manager on site was Wright's son, Lloyd Wright.

The house was known as an avant-garde salon, and the list of individuals who spent significant periods of time there or lived in the house's two Rudolph Schindler-designed apartments includes John Bovingdon, Beniamino Bufano, Xavier Cugat, Rudi Gernreich, Martha Graham, Philip Johnson, Peter Krasnow, Bella Lewitzky, Jean Negulesco, Richard Neutra, Claude Rains, Herman Sachs, Galka Scheyer, Edward Weston, Olga Zacsek, and Fritz Zwicky.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lxp1rc2V-HkC&q=chusid+freeman+house+salon&pg=PA23 |title=The Freeman House: A Case for the Expansion of Significance – Judith Ruth Marks – Google Books |access-date=2014-02-15|isbn=9780542901249 |year=2006 }}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45hQAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Newell+Reynolds%22+%22freeman+house%22 |title=The furniture of R.M. Schindler – Rudolph M. Schindler, David Gebhard, Patricia Gebhard, Marla C. Berns – Google Books |date=1997 |access-date=2014-03-15|isbn=9780942006308 |last1=Schindler |first1=Rudolph M. |last2=Gebhard |first2=David |last3=Schindler |first3=R. M. |last4=Berns |first4=Marla C. |last5=Gebhard |first5=Patricia |last6=Berns |first6=Marla }} It also served as an intellectual sanctuary for individuals blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzh2MGebNtcC&q=%22freeman+house%22+blacklisted&pg=PA35 |title=On Frank Lloyd Wright's Concrete Adobe – Donald Leslie Johnson – Google Books |date=2013 |access-date=2014-03-15|isbn=9781409428176 |last1=Johnson |first1=Donald Leslie }}

The original owners lived in the house until Harriet Freeman's death in 1986, when she bequeathed it to the USC School of Architecture.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-architecture-gems-stolen-usc-mystery-20190203-htmlstory.html|title=Thieves stole architectural gems from USC in a heist that remained hidden for years|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|first1=Harriet|last1=Ryan|first2=Matt|last2=Hamilton|date=February 3, 2019|access-date=3 February 2019}} The house suffered severe damage during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. In 2005, the school completed a stabilization project using a $901,000 FEMA grant and $1.5 million in school funds.{{cite news|url=http://la.curbed.com/archives/2008/12/freeman_house_restoration_what_the_hell_is_taking_so_long.php|work=Curbed|title=Freeman House Restoration|date=December 3, 2008}}

In 2012, a pair of cast iron & brass floor lamps designed by Wright as well as a cushioned folding chair and a tea cart designed by Schindler were discovered stolen from a storage facility where they were placed after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The items were discovered missing in 2012 from a locked room in the storage facility managed by USC's School of Architecture. The theft remained unreported to the LAPD until 2019.{{cite news |last=Tuohy |first=Jennifer Pattison |date=March 13, 2019 |title=Thieves Stole $200k Worth of Pieces From Frank Lloyd Wright’s Freeman House |work=Dwell |url=https://www.dwell.com/article/freeman-house-frank-lloyd-wright-furniture-stolen-7e416ced}}

In 2022, USC sold the house to a real estate developer, Richard Weintraub, under the condition that it be preserved.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-02-25/usc-sells-frank-lloyd-wrights-freeman-house-to-private-buyer|title=USC sells Frank Lloyd Wright’s Freeman House to private buyer — with agreement that it be preserved|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|first=Carolina|last=Miranda|date=February 25, 2022|access-date=March 26, 2023}}

A 3,200-page, seven-volume set of books published in 2014 documented a five-year program of studying the history and condition of the house.{{cite web|url=http://www.grahamfoundation.org/grantees/3956-freeman-house-document-collection|website=Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts|title=Freeman House Archive Publication}}

• List of Frank Lloyd Wright works
• Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
• List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles
• Hollywood Heights, Los Angeles

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{{Cite news |last=Miranda |first=Carolina A. |date=2022-02-25 |title=USC sells Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House to private buyer — with agreement that it be preserved |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-02-25/usc-sells-frank-lloyd-wrights-freeman-house-to-private-buyer |access-date=2022-03-01 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

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• {{Cite Wright Companion}} (S.216)
• Chusid, Jeffrey M. 2011. Saving Wright, the Freeman House and the Preservation of Meaning, Materials, and Modernity. New York: W.W. Norton & Co (ISBN 978-0393733020).

{{commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160301154451/http://arch.usc.edu/freeman-house Freeman House, USC]
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/army_arch/2677528738/ Freeman House photos]

{{Registered Historic Places}}

{{LAHMC}}

{{Frank Lloyd Wright}}

Category:Frank Lloyd Wright buildings

Category:Modernist architecture in California

Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles

Category:University of Southern California buildings and structures

Category:Houses completed in 1923

Category:Hollywood Hills

Category:History of Los Angeles County, California

Category:1923 establishments in California