Schindler ‘Masterpiece’ on the Market

Preservationists are looking for a buyer for what they describe as “an architectural masterpiece,” the Laurelwood Apartments in Studio City, designed by the world-renowned architect Rudolf Schindler.

Schindler was active professionally in Los Angeles from 1920 to 1953, when he died at age 66. He was an early associate of Frank Lloyd Wright but had his own distinctive style.

Designing the Laurelwood in 1948, Schindler combined a number of features that later became marks of California modern architecture: patios, accessible through sliding glass windows; clerestory windows, wide overhangs from a flat roof, L-shaped living/dining areas, and placement of garages to serve as a buffer between living quarters and the street.

The 29-unit complex was Schindler’s “largest and most important multi-family construction,” according to Ruthann Lehrer, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy. He designed and built about 50 residences but only four apartment complexes.

The Conservancy’s role in the sale is as a marriage broker between the seller, Steve Hartunian, and the buyer, Lehrer explained. The complex is available along with an adjacent lot, which could be developed into condominiums or apartments, she added. Asking price for the two parcels: $2.5 million.

The Screen Actors Guild-Producers Pension and Health Plans group held an open house Wednesday for its new headquarters at the recently completed Business Arts Plaza at 3601 W. Olive, Burbank. The SAG-Producers group had been in North Hollywood.

Designed by Walker Associates, the new offices feature a 7.5-by-15.5-foot stained glass wall appropriately titled “Reels,” created by Narcissus Quagliata, an internationally known glass artist with a studio in San Francisco.

The eight-story building also has a four-level underground parking structure that extends under the full width of Riversive Drive. Jones Bros. of Beverly Hills was the general contractor.

Don’t get the SAG-Producers group mixed up with SAG, by the way. They are related but must remain “somewhat separate,” as Mark Locher of SAG explained it. “So that gives us a good reason to stay in Hollywood, where we belong.”

Although SAG expected to move into its new headquarters in a renovated church on Hollywood Boulevard this month, the Guild is waiting for city approval on a parking structure, he added. Target date for occupancy is now Aug. 9. The Guild has been situated on Sunset Strip since the ‘50s.

The entertainment industry has found a new pocket for offices in Los Angeles. It’s along the so-called Sepulveda Corridor, from Wilshire to Olympic boulevards.

New World Pictures Inc., anchor tenant for the 101,500-square-foot Westwood Atrium Building at Ohio Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard, signed an expansion lease for 8,600 square feet, bringing combined office space for the motion picture production and distribution company in the building to 81,000 square feet. Total lease value was estimated at $25 million.

The expansion brings the percentage of new construction along the corridor taken by entertainment industry tenants to 29%, said Kim Macy of Tishman West Management Corp., developer of the Westwood Atrium. The corridor has about 551,500 square feet of new construction.

Besides New World, entertainment-related businesses occupying new offices along the corridor include the Los Angeles Radio and Television Division of John Blair & Co., United Artists, Gannett Satellite Network, the Entertainment Network, the Movie Store and Wometco, a television station holding company.

A sneak preview of Metropolitan Tower, being called the tallest residential building in New York, was held the other day.

Its developer, Harry Macklowe, rubbed shoulders with former New York Mayor John Lindsay and others at a cocktail party in the penthouse, although the building isn’t due to officially open until the end of the summer.

The 78-story tower is an eyeful! It’s triangular in shape with gray-glass sides.

Interested in buying a ranch near Solvang? William Bone is selling his 2,600-acre property with 14,000-square-foot main house for a tidy $32.5 million.

Bone, real estate developer/owner of Sunrise Corp., lives in Malibu Colony and doesn’t use his ranch much, W. T. Hayer (known as “T”) of Coldwell Banker in Solvang, which will service the transaction, said. The property--with sunken tennis courts, pools and guest houses at the base of the San Rafael Mountains--just came on the market.