Elrod House by John Lautner. Complete overview and walkthrough.

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The Elrod House is one of the most famous houses by John Lautner. I made a reconstruction based on photos that I found on the internet. To preserve the legacy of John Lautner and to enjoy the beauty of his work!

[@PSPguy2]

I live in Palm Springs. About 8 years ago I attended a cocktail party with about 20 other guests at the Elrod house. (The guest of honor was noted mid-century modern architect Donald Wexler). The house was just as you see it and was amazing. The owner at the time collected famous homes like some people collect expensive cars so he didn't actually live in the house. It was rare he allowed anyone access to the house but he made an exception for this event. We were encouraged to explore the entire house as much as we wanted. I very much took advantage of this offer! I remember finding the steps that surprisingly led me down to the guest house & gym that no one else had discovered. It was wonderful being able to take in all the details and design of such an incredible house I'd only seen in books!

[@SuperJobbel]

Wonderfull story, sounds like a really great pary. Wish I was there back then!

[@donaldbarlow1108]

My Dad worked for him at the firm ..I many days at this home...Met Steve McQueen sort of!!! My brother and I was planting flowers out front with Mr.Elrod when Steve came over upset and asked us to stop looking down at him walking around in the nude in his house I was 12 had no idea who he was at the time and I wasn't watching him.... that house cost $500.000. to build in 1968

[@georgehenderson7783]

@@donaldbarlow1108 That's hilarious! That visit from Steve McQueen must have been a real surprise! Thanks for sharing that. To visit the Elrod House is on my bucket list of things I want to do before I die. First saw it in Diamonds Are Forever. Just amazing architecture. That is cool that your dad worked for Donald Wexler and you got to work with Mr. Elrod at that iconic house.

[@heathmcrigsby]

Shame he couldn't get the house Chris Martin had demolished.

[@MarioRossi-dc3nh]

Every time I watch John Lautner's futuristic homes my ❤️ starts pumping so fast and I fell a feeling of excitation, because I know so well that I've been lived in one of that homes in my previous life. Believe it or not. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@SuperJobbel]

Interesting story! My hearts also pumps faster when I see a Lautner Home, but I don't know if I've lived in one in my previous life......

[@MarioRossi-dc3nh]

@@SuperJobbel because your Akashic memory was erased, not in mine, so I remember some of my past lives. ❤️

[@SuperJobbel]

Okay interesting :) ! @@MarioRossi-dc3nh

[@franciscodanconia4324]

I've watched Bambi and Thumper toss 007 into that pool many times. Good to finally learn more about the actual house.

[@SuperJobbel]

yes, I the James Bond movie was also my first introduction to that house!

[@ikeeptime]

That was interesting. Spent the whole day caught up in PTs music along with architectural art houses by Lautner and Wright. Perfect accompaniment.

[@SuperJobbel]

Sounds like a really great day :) By the way: PTs is a Dutch band, i'm also Dutch.

[@jamespedder5171]

Such a futuristic structure. I’d be fascinated to see how they constructed it because the engineering must have been intense

[@SuperJobbel]

Yes, I'm planning to make a 2nd video about this house, providing more images and information, also everything about the construction. Stay tuned! :)

[@robs5688]

I like your drawings of the interior layouts.

[@SuperJobbel]

Thanks

[@kimballbenson8116]

I'd love to visit the Elrod, maybe someday, but I'll comment on another house with a round floorplan; the Hatherall in Sun Valley California. Sometime before 2003, I worked at a Los Angeles cabinet manufacturer where I designed kitchen and bath layouts and priced them. Not really a salesman, sometimes I'd get clients over the phone anyway. One day a lady called asking the usual questions, wanted someone to come and measure and began saying her house was a little difficult to get to. She started describing directions to her place, and I started to realize she was describing how to get to the Hatherall house: The year before it had been one of the Lautner homes I had tracked down in order to see them up close. When the lady got about halfway through I said to her "Wait a second, I think I know how to get to your place" and finished giving the directions myself. I really wanted to have some fun with this conversation and looked forward at getting a chance to see the house in the bargain. The lady fell speechless, stunned. She had no idea how in the world I could tell her how to get to her own house. Long story short, I went there, her husband was a county commissioner that had about a dozen beagle dogs that all met me at the door enmasse, and their plans were to build an addition to the house in the northwestern corner for a master bath and walk-in closet. We got the job, made the cabinets and it was a blast to see the house inside especially since houses that sit atop hills are not easily seen very well except from a great distance. It was a fun experience. Some of the current available photos of this area of the house don't quite match up with my memory of it but they may have been changed somewhat since then.

[@SuperJobbel]

Interesting story, thanks for sharing it! Yes I know the Hatherall House, it's a John Lautner design. The Haterall house was not original designed as a round house, I had a half circular livingroom with a large terrace that was enclosed later into a circle. I'm gonna make a video about the Hatherall hosue someday..

[@dcrump]

Thank you for creating this page… I am just learning about the wonderful works of John Lautner… if it wasn’t for this page I would not know of these achievements 🥂❤️

[@SuperJobbel]

You're welcome, I love making these videos and I want to show people the quality of John Lautner brilliant designs. My aim is to make videos about each home by John Lautner.

[@williamdrijver4141]

Fifty years ago such a large home gym must have been very exceptional! Today every villa or mansion has it, which shows how far ahead of time the Elrod House was. Remarkable to have a sauna when you live in a desert, although it can become cold at night in desert climates.

[@SuperJobbel]

Well, I dont know if the Gym was already present when the house was built 50 years ago. While the main house was built in 1968, the guest wing was in the 1970's. I guess the Gym was placed later in a place that was first a guest bedroom...... A sauna is used during cold nights in the desert for sure.

[@trout211]

Well done! Thank you for another eye-opening & educational Lautner video. I don't think I've seen inside the guest wing before. Keep up the great work!

[@SuperJobbel]

Thank you, I like to give as complete information as possible. The coming months I will upload 6 new videos about new houses by John Lautner, including the Carling House, Harvey House and the Harpel 2 house. Next week I upload a re-editing of the Bob Hope house and the Sheats Goldstein residence.

[@kimballbenson8116]

I had Diamonds are Forever on tape, had seen it several times, but was watching it back around late eighties or so and then all of a sudden felt immensely interested in the 'house' featured in it: I always assumed it was a fake movie set, but this time I realized, ' wait a second...no, that's a real house!' I loved it but knew nothing about it or especially who was the architect and where is this place? I'd like to see it. But there was no way to know, there was no information about it. I loved it so much I paused the video over and over again so I could sketch it out on paper in order to figure out it's complete design. I wanted to know more but I didn't understand it, exactly. Years went by, then I picked up a book about Los Angeles points of interest for tourists that mentioned both the Garcia residence and the 'Elrod residence designed by John Lautner.' Finally here was a name. But who was he? Never heard of him. Where could I go to read up on who he was and what 'kind' of architecture was he doing? This set me on my determination to find out all I could and it's been a pleasure to learn. Mr. Lautner was truly talented, gifted even and left a lucky few with his creations. It's great to see these videos because otherwise, private residences that they are, we wouldn't get to see them especially from the inside. I think they should all be registered as historic buildings and protected forever.

[@SuperJobbel]

Great story, it sounds a bit like my story! I also became slowly involved in the work by Lautner exploring his designs step by step. Puzzling all the photos and drawings together. Yes, his hosues should be preserved like monuments. I also made a video telling about seeing ''Diamonds Are Forever'' for the first time and get hooked by the design. From there on a starte to discover all his house. More or less like your story: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJKyl3WiiNBmd7s

[@crankyoldperson6871]

Absolutely incredible.

[@Sherman62]

Great house and video! It reminds me of "Top o Rock" built by Henry Elden in 1966. Elden's modern home/office was somewhat less extravagant but still QUITE nice and had a similar integration of nature into the structure. Elden was kind enough to let local college architecture classes tour the home. Sadly, it was vandalized and eventually demolished a few years ago.

[@SuperJobbel]

Okay interesting! I never heard of the Top of Rock house by Elden. I will check it out

[@carolinawren3594]

one vote for Chihuly's glass being totally appropriate for Lautner's master work. For better or for worse the greatest architectural talent in the world is subordinate one way or another to the will and the vision of the client. Masters from Chihuly to Rembrandt succeeded despite not because of their patrons

[@SuperJobbel]

Chihuly fits the designs by Lautner very well. And Elrod was a brilliant client for Lautner because he gave him full creative freedom. Other clients not so much.

[@DESCENDINGDR]

Excellent review! Thanks!

[@jwrarmstrong]

Forget the gated community and hike up the Araby trail which pretty much runs parallel to the street. From there you can see the Hope house. Maybe Elrod too. I didn't get too far. Terrible hiker actually.

[@SuperJobbel]

Yes you can see the houses from a distance but still you can't come close.. :( but even from a distance the houses are truly spectacular!

[@erikiversen408]

First, your videos are very well done. Thank you for doing these so the rest of us can experience these works of art. Second, are you aware of any current architects who are kinda carrying on Lautner's vision and design?

[@SuperJobbel]

Thank you, yes I'm aware of new architects who work in the spirit of John Lautner. I like Kendrick Bangs Kellof just to name an example. Also Conner& Perry are great architects.

[@Brian-nt1hh]

Great stuff

[@SteffiReitsch]

It would be interesting to see the cooling and heating systems for this big concrete house.

[@SuperJobbel]

Indeed I don't actually know how that works: the thick concrete roof cools the tempetatures a lot, but I don't know if there's airconditioning. The house is heated by the fireplace and an underfloor heating system.

[@SteffiReitsch]

@@SuperJobbel It would have been interesting to have this explained in the video. I do believe there's an air conditioning system for that big house, and it must be huge and expensive. There's got to be more than just the thick concrete roof keeping that place cool as hot as it gets in Palm Springs, but I guess we'll never know for sure.

[@SuperJobbel]

@@SteffiReitsch I currently busy with remaking some of my older videos (I just uploaded a remake of the Schaffer House video), so the Elrod house will be remade someday: than I can include the aircondition system in this video, but it will take som time to research. There also some other things that I didn't knew at the time when I was making the video and that are not mentioned: in the beginning the house wasn't open and had glass windows in front of the stair that leads to the pool.

[@SteffiReitsch]

@@SuperJobbel Architects also have to consider the mechanical systems as well, it's not just about looks and layout.

[@kimballbenson8116]

Bond: "I'm looking for Mr. Jop."......."Oh, Joppy, ....well, he's right out there....."

[@SuperJobbel]

Hahaha LOL :) This is an older video, I'm busy preparing a better quality video with more photos, more info and better drawings.

[@bilalrashad6636]

Every time I see this house I think of Bambi and Thumper

[@SuperJobbel]

I saw this house for the first time in "Diamonds Are Forever'' , so for me it's remains alway a bit the ''Bambi and Thumber House'' as well! :)

[@user-pm4ef8yu7w]

Such luxury. 💜 Imagine how exhausted the men where,building this house….in the desert heat.

[@SuperJobbel]

Yes, that's a point which many people forget.

[@heathmcrigsby]

Another JLAV banger

[@SuperJobbel]

Thanks! :) More Bangers will come up.

[@swoondrones]

Links to the houses you mentioned in the beginning?

[@SuperJobbel]

Here are the links to the other houses: Arango House : kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6K4dKFrgthrmq8 Sheats : kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3mwfaeMo8ZmbbM Chemosphere: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqWUmqGGZ8esi8U Enjoy!

[@MatthewSuffidy]

Quite Something. Really though steel for a 2 storey structure or so it quite plastic in that it is pretty strong. So when you have a steel ring you can certainly have windows under it with or without rocks, but you have to bring the loads down in at least 3 places.

[@SuperJobbel]

No the entire house is made of concrete, not steel.

[@MatthewSuffidy]

@@SuperJobbel I am guessing there is steel inside the concrete.

[@SuperJobbel]

@@MatthewSuffidy Yes that's ture off course, its made of forced concrete

[@Toodle.Pipp001]

Stunning, shall we book for next winter? Just need to turn half of the gym into an art studio. 😎

[@SuperJobbel]

Right on, I would love to spend some time there. I also make painting so yes, to turn the art studio into a gym is a great idea!!!!

[@eltonlouiewolf-wilson8345]

Is this home full of Chihuly glass?

[@SuperJobbel]

I don't for sure weather it was done by Chihully or not, but indeed some of the owners had the house decorated with glass artworks that look like flowers.

[@carleeroseterangi6923]

Palm Springs.

[@TheAnimeist]

The rock/glass interface. Has the house ever endured an earthquake?

[@SuperJobbel]

No the house has endured an earthquake. I don't know how suitable it is for earthquakes. As so far it has always been a very durable house.

[@Samana009]

I would never live in a desert, not even in this house.

[@TantricViper]

Somebody missed something! That plain common curbside mailbox in front of the "pleasure dome" street view catches one's eye!

[@swoondrones]

His smaller houses are much better.

[@SuperJobbel]

That's an opinion shared by many other people. Check out his Salkin House.

[@nondescript2892]

A " flamboyant bachelor" .....really...? Do we still use those words in 2022? I think gay liberation has moved on just a little further than that...please

[@SuperJobbel]

No! No! ... With flamboyant bachelor I ment someone who gives a lot of parties and invites a lot of people in his house. That has nothing to do with the orientation of a person, so wether someone is straight or gay he can always be a ''flamboyant bachelor'' If I offended someone by saying this, my apologies, but it was never my intention to hide the fact that he was gay.

[@nondescript2892]

@@SuperJobbel no offence taken 😊...the problem is that I remember the days when this kind of word choice was used again and again in newspapers and more often in obituaries of men who had been in relationships with other men for decades yet.."left no relatives" and had been "confirmed" or, when they felt like chuckling a bit at the innuendo "flamboyant" bachelors... I'm sure that was not your intention..but it did take me back to the good old bad old days.....

[@SuperJobbel]

@@nondescript2892 okay interesting to read. I am born in 1985 and grew up in the Netherlands. As far a I remember homosexuality is always accepted in my culture. And the term "flamboyant" is used in the Netherlands to describe a person who likes parties, luxury and style. So I wasn't aware that the phrase was used to hide a persons sexual orientation, neither that it could have negative connotation. I will not use it anymore.

[@styleden22]

@@SuperJobbel No problem with the word flamboyant. Liberace was flamboyant but so is Lady Gaga. It means exuberant in personality. Your other viewer is correct that words do change meaning. Gay means light hearted and queer means odd or unusual. For better or worse these became euphemisms for homosexual and now it would be considered awkward to use them in their original meaning. "Gay" is still used when singing "Deck the Halls" at Christmas. " don we now our gay apparel." (Now we put on our holiday clothes.) and "queer" might show up in a Sherlock Holmes novel as in "That's queer" (unusual). Oh...great video!

[@SuperJobbel]

@@styleden22 Okay thanks for your comment. Interesting to read that words can have so many different meaning. In the videos i want to focus on the architecture not really language and English is not my first language (Dutch is my mother tongue) so sometimes I can make mistakes or words with different meanings.