Sturges House Preservation Dispute: Neglect now threatens Wright landmark; code violations fuel showdown

In 1939, Frank Lloyd Wright completed a small house on a steep Los Angeles hillside that seemed to float above the canyon below. Eighty-seven years later, the Sturges House is facing a very different kind of challenge: preservationists say years of deferred maintenance have left the landmark vulnerable to serious deterioration. The Los Angeles Conservancy, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and the nonprofit foundation that owns the property have all offered differing accounts of its condition and stewardship. The 1,200-square-foot Sturges House, in Brentwood Heights, was commissioned by engineer George Sturges and his wife, Selma, after they encountered Wright’s work in the January 1938 issue of Architectural Forum.They were particularly interested in his emerging Usonian approach, which sought to bring thoughtful, modern architecture to middle-class Americans at a lower cost. The couple bought their steep hillside lot for just $10 in September 1938. Wright designed the home and asked his apprentice John Lautner to oversee its construction. The house was completed the following year at a final cost of about $11,000, more than the original estimate, in part because steel b...