Richard Neutra’s Plywood Demonstration House Hits the Market at $4.9M

Richard Neutra’s Brice Residence, also known as the Plywood Demonstration House, was one of six homes built for the 1936 California House and Garden Exhibition in Los Angeles, which displayed the latest developments in residential construction along an entire block at 5900 Wilshire Boulevard.

Marketed to the public as the Moderne House, the residence was designed to be easily transported, as all of the houses were to be raffled off at the close of the exhibition. The winner was Stella Gramer, law partner of the father of John Entenza, who would later create the Case Study House Program as the editor of Arts & Architecture magazine. Stella asked architect Harwell Hamilton Harris to help transport and site the home at its current site in Brentwood Glen, Los Angeles.

The two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence bears Neutra’s signature geometry with an open floor plan, wide ribbons of windows, a galley kitchen, and a partially open staircase. The emphasis is on striking a relationship with the home’s surroundings with bands of glass and outdoor spaces.

In 1943, architect Maynard Lyndon purchased the home, and he later sold it to artist William Brice and his wife Shirley Bardeen in 1950; the couple hired Neutra to design an art studio in the garden.

The Brice Residence in Los Angeles, California, is currently listed for $4,975,000 by Crosby Doe Associates.

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