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Building History

Architect Raphael Soriano (1907-1988) designed this house for an attorney, Spencer Austrian (born 08/14/1908 in Chicago, IL-d. 06/14/1996 in Downey, CA), who wanted a rental property as well as a residence for himself. Austrian occupied the upper floor and rented out the first floor studio. Soriano designed the house to fit a hillside 50' x 150' lot. The cost was a minimal $5,000 which included built-in bookcases of mahogany, drawers and dressers.

Austrian married Jean M. Kunakova (aka "Jean Kunakow" or "Tanya Austrian,") on 09/23/1939 in Santa Ana, CA, and they resided in this house until either 1950 or 1951. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California Department of Public Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images, accessed 09/05/2019.) In 1952, Spencer Austrian's primary residence was listed as 2484 Ivanhoe Drive, Los Angeles. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Register of Voters, 1900-1968, accessed 09/05/2019.)

Building Notes

This house bore a strong resemblance to earlier work by Richard Neutra, for whom Soriano worked just previously. The bands of steel casement windows was particularly reminiscent of Neutra's contemporary houses, several of which can be found in this Silver Lake neighborhood.

PCAD id: 12877