Lofty Ambitions

Art dealer Jean Milant has called downtown Los Angeles home since 1979, when he relocated his Cirrus Gallery and Cirrus Editions Limited Publishing and Printing to South Alameda Street, marking the arrival of the first major gallery to the downtown area. One of the earliest to combine a gallery space with print publishing, Milant was also known for creating an awareness of Southern California artists such as Charles Hill, Joe Goode, Ed Ruscha and Bruce Nauman in Europe. As one of the founders of LAVA (Los Angeles Visual Arts)--a group of gallery owners, museum directors and nonprofit organizations that has since disbanded--Milant sought to draw people to the heart of the city to view art. “I love L.A.,” he says. “To me, it’s like 1920s New York, when it was coming into its own as a major city of the world. There’s so much creativity here.”

For 15 years Milant lived in the loft space above his gallery before he built a home in the hills of Echo Park that overlooks the city. “It’s eight minutes to the gallery--five on Sundays,” he boasts. Milant found the site for his home while walking his great Dane Bauhaus in Elysian Park. “I looked at the same vacant lot for over a decade,” he recalls. “The day the ‘For Sale’ sign went up, I called and bought it.”

To capture the 360-degree vistas the lot offered, Milant hired architect John Chase, who recalls how they rented a cherry picker so that they could get high enough to take pictures in all directions of the city, ocean and mountains. “Jean wanted windows in the house to frame specific views,” says Chase. A book of artists’ ateliers purchased by Milant in Paris sparked the design for his 31/2-story industrial loft-like home of glass and stucco. The floor-to-ceiling master bedroom window frames the park and the L.A. skyline beyond. “It’s wonderful to be so close to the city but feel as if you’re in the country,” he says. Another priority for the gallery owner was enough white wall space in every room to display his art collection. Chase designed ceilings that soar to 11 feet in the master bedroom and 20 feet in the living/dining area. “The expanse of walls in the house allows each piece of art to have its own individual presence,” says Milant. “There’s plenty of breathing room.” A large interior staircase made of punched galvanized steel adds to the industrial ambience. The house feels like an exhibition space, but Milant insists that it’s a home, not a gallery. “I don’t put spotlights on the art,” he says. “I just like living with it: It’s part of my life.’

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Jean Milant’s Favorite Downtown Public Artworks:

* Andrew Leicester, “Zanja Madre,” 801 Tower, 8th and Figueroa streets

* Robert Graham, “Source,” Library Tower, 633 W. 5th St.

* Frank Stella mural “Dusk,” Southern California Gas Co. Tower, 555 W. 5th St.

* Jonathan Borofsky, “I Dreamed I Could Fly,” Civic Center Metro Rail Station, 1st and Hill streets

* Eric Orr, “L.A. Prime Matter,” Sanwa Bank Plaza, 601 S. Figueroa St.

* Alexander Calder, “The Four Arches,” Arco Center, 333 S. Hope St.