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Arch Oboler worked in Hollywood, creating 3-D movies and writing novels and screenplays. Like many in the "industry," Oboler experienced sharply divergent periods of financial surplus and shortage. Flush with cash in 1940, Oboler had Frank Lloyd Wright design a house surrounded by a large compound--what he called Eaglefeather--composed of film-processing studios, stables, and a paddock. A gatehouse stood at the entrance of the complex. Due to lack of money, very little was actually built; the gatehouse, where the Obolers lived for a time, and a small retreat for Eleanor Oboler were finished by 1941. A Taliesin Associate, Kenn Lockhart, oversaw the construction of the early, 1940-1944 work.

In 1944, Oboler had the gatehouse enlarged. At this time, Oboler wanted to build a theatre, and, for that purpose, had a long uncoarsed ashlar retaining wall built to the west of the gatehouse. The theatre project was abandoned due to a shortage of funds, with only the long wall actually erected. Also part of this theatre project, a pond was also envisioned in 1944, although a pool was actually installed. In 1955, the couple had Wright design another small house on the 120-acre property, where the couple lived until the land was sold and sub-divided shortly after Arch Oboler's death in 1987.

PCAD id: 1679