11833 Laurelwood Dr
Studio City, CA 91604, USA

Laurelwood Apartments

The Laurelwood Apartments in Studio City are fairly unprepossessing from the street, marked only by the plain stucco walls of enclosed garage courts with low-key landscaping. But a peek up the central walkway reveals a sophisticated apartment complex of two terraced structures facing each other as they step up the gentle slope behind them.

Completed in 1949, the Laurelwood Apartments were the last apartments designed by master architect R. M. Schindler, and are one of the finest expressions of his ingenuity.

The International Style complex contains twenty two-bedroom units on a narrow lot, but thanks to Schindler's design each one feels like a private house, with its own entrance, unique views, and private outdoor space. First-floor units have private patios, while each second-floor unit has a terrace on the roof of the next unit down. The apartments are rather small, but they seem larger than they are because of their interior layout, which includes glass partitions between rooms.

The Laurelwood is one of the finest Modern expressions of the ubiquitous courtyard apartment complex to be found anywhere in Southern California. It is a fitting tribute to Schindler's talent for multi-family residential designs and is in a class with similarly-innovative designs like Gregory Ain's Dunsmuir Flats."

Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Historic Studio City apartment complex by noted architect Rudolph Schindler hits market at $10 million

Historic Studio City apartment complex by noted architect Rudolph Schindler hits market at $10 million
By MARILYN KALFUS | mkalfus@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: September 11, 2018 at 9:53 a.m. | UPDATED: September 12, 2018 at 8:57 p.m.

A Studio City apartment complex designated a historical landmark is for sale at just under $10 million.

The designer was Rudolph Schindler, an acclaimed architect who once worked for Frank Lloyd Wright. Schindler’s buildings are cited as significant examples of early modern American architecture, and his most important work is set in the Los Angeles area. That extends to his Lovell Beach House, built in Newport Beach in 1926.

The Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit with an emphasis on preservation, has called the Laurelwood “one of the finest modern expressions of the ubiquitous courtyard apartment complex to be found anywhere in Southern California.”

Located at 11833-37 Laurelwood Drive, the 20-unit complex was built in 1949, and was said to be the late architect’s last and largest multi-family design.

It consists of two terraced structures on a narrow lot, separated by a central walking path. Apartments boast individually designed interiors, built-ins, glass partitions and separate patios and yards, according to the listing.

Each unit feels “like a private house, with its own entrance, unique views, and private outdoor space,” the conservancy says on its website.

Kristy Elaine and Lawrence Cannizzaro of KW Commercial in Santa Monica represent the property. Records show it is owned by Silver Swan Properties LLC, based in Santa Monica.

The complex, encompassing 19,143 square feet of living space on nearly an acre, has been “carefully stewarded in recent years” and has a waiting list, the agents say.

A financial analysis provided by the real estate firm shows the $9.995 million asking price works out to $499,750 a unit, or $522.12 a square foot. The current capitalization rate is 3.89 percent. A cap rate is a return on a property based on the income it is expected to generate.

A buyer also could see a significant property tax savings under the Mills Act, which gives owners of historic buildings a break so they can pay for maintenance or restoration.

The property sold in 2012 for $4.7 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service. The “aggressive” asking price – more than double that amount – reflects both rising values in the commercial real estate market and the complex’s pedigree as “a very unique property that cannot be replicated,” Cannizzaro said.

In the past, the property had fallen on hard times, at one point losing its Mills Act designation, according to a 2010 story in Curbed L.A., a real estate website. The buildings even were threatened with demolition when an investor wanted to build condos there, said a story in the Los Angeles Times in 1988. But the complex survived and since has undergone renovations and repairs.

Schindler designed about 500 projects, but only 150 were built, says the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House in West Hollywood. Most were single-family houses, but some were apartment and commercial buildings.

“Few clients were quite as radical in their tastes as Schindler was himself, but they were largely progressive middle-class intellectuals, with more taste than money,” the Mak center’s website states.

Schindler's Long-Threatened Laurelwood Apartments Getting Fixed Up

Schindler's Long-Threatened Laurelwood Apartments Getting Fixed Up
By Adrian Glick Kudler
Nov 3, 2010

Over the years, architect Rudolph Schindler's 1949 Laurelwood Apartments in Studio City has been threatened by demolition twice, lost its Mills Act tax breaks, fallen into general disrepair, and suffered haunting rumors. It's one of just a few Schindler apartment complexes and according to architect Martin Fenlon, it's the biggest "Schindler Frame" ever built. Laurelwood has twenty two-bedroom units in two buildings that step upward on either side of a central walkway, with an entry for every step and an outdoor space (either roof deck or patio) for every unit. Fenlon is the architect for a now-underway exterior restoration of the complex that's starting with the left of the two buildings.

Laurelwood's current owner, Vincent Jameson, inherited the complex from his sister Helen, who bought it in 1987 for $1.6 million, according to Big Orange Landmarks. The complex became a historic-cultural monument in 1980 after one teardown threat, and in 2007 the Cultural Heritage Commission toured the site and "found the monument lacked even the basic maintenance and rehabilitation work required as part of the Mills Act contract." The site lost the preservation-based tax incentive.

Jameson has hired Howard Management Group to run the building, and they brought in Fenlon and JS Building Construction to fix the place up. The left building, 11837 Laurelwood Drive, was in the worst condition, so that's where the work is focused now. The roof has been replaced, all the rotten wood is being taken out, and lots of unoriginal details are being made right. Fenlon worked from Schindler's plans, but since Schindler was also the contractor on the project, he didn't make very detailed drawings. Historical photos fill in some of the gaps. The whole process started up about a year ago, and construction is about two months in.

Photo by Downtown Gal, Wikipedia

Laurelwood Penthouses

From Historic Places LA:

The property meets the criteria for HCM designation because it embodies the "distinguishing characteristics of an architectural-type specimen, inherently valuable for a study of a period style or method of construction," as an excellent example of Modern, ubiquitous courtyard housing. It is also associated with the "notable work of a master builder, designer, or architect," as a work by master architect Rudolph M. Schindler. The property was his last and largest courtyard housing design.