As an example of Wright's Mayan Revival or early Modernist architecture, the structure is noteworthy as one of the four textile block houses built by Wright in the Los Angeles area, the others being Storer House, Ennis House, and Millard House. It has the world's first glass-to-glass corner windows.[3] The construction manager on site was Wright's son, Lloyd Wright.
The original owners lived in the house until Harriet Freeman's death in 1986, when she bequeathed it to the USC School of Architecture.[7] The house suffered severe damage during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. In 2005, the school completed a stabilization project using a $901,000 FEMA grant and $1.5 million in school funds.[8]
In 2012, a pair of cast iron & brass floor lamps designed by Wright as well as a cushioned folding chair and a tea cart designed by Schindler were discovered stolen from a storage facility where they were placed after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.[7] The items were discovered missing in 2012 from a locked room in the storage facility managed by USC's School of Architecture. The theft remained unreported to the LAPD until 2019.[9]
In 2022, USC sold the house to a real estate developer, Richard Weintraub, under the condition that it be preserved.[10]
Studies
A 3,200-page, seven-volume set of books published in 2014 documented a five-year program of studying the history and condition of the house.[11]
Storrer, William Allin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN0-226-77621-2 (S.216)
Chusid, Jeffrey M. 2011. Saving Wright, the Freeman House and the Preservation of Meaning, Materials, and Modernity. New York: W.W. Norton & Co (ISBN 978-0393733020).
