The United Nations has recognized Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House in East Hollywood for its “outstanding universal value” to humanity.
UNESCO, the international body’s science and culture agency, named the 1921 home a World Heritage site at a meeting in Azerbaijan on Sunday, according to the Los Feliz Ledger. The designation is one of the highest honors for a human-built site.
The Hollyhock House, now the center of Barnsdall Art Park, was one of eight works by the revered architect that UNESCO recognized together on Sunday. Others include the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Robie House in Chicago.
Wright designed the Hollyhock House for an oil heiress, Aline Barnsdall, for a property near the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and North Vermont Avenue. She gifted the 11-acre property to the city of L.A. just five years after the main house was completed.
Wright left an extensive legacy in the L.A. area, and many of his homes are protected landmarks on the municipal or state level. Most are privately owned and command high prices when they hit the market.
Financier Ron Burkle listed the 5,500-square-foot Ennis House in Los Feliz, not far from the Hollyhock House, for $23 million last summer.
Wright’s son Lloyd Wright was also active in Southern California, where, like his father, his homes command high prices. The 2,700-square-foot Samuel-Navarro House, also in Los Feliz, is on the market for $4.3 million. [Los Feliz Ledger] — Dennis Lynch