International Style

Leon Whiteson’s excellent article “ ‘House Machine’ at Home on Southland Hillsides” (May 20) was a pleasure to read. As a private building inspector, it has been my good fortune to examine numerous residences designed by the architects cited in the piece.

To me, these structures are museums unto themselves, for the most part standing distinct from the more mundane homes that surround them.

One can find “clusters” of architecturally significant homes; there are several Case Study houses that survive on Moore Street in Mar Vista (one I inspected still has several original “moveable” walls, permitting the home to be reconfigured instantly) and a group of Quincy Jones designs in Kenter Canyon, I believe, on Deerbrook.

Other areas where these homes can be found are Whitley Heights and Mt. Washington. For the most part, the owners of these homes have had the good sense to “leave them alone,” or remodel them coherently.

I think Los Angeles is blessed to have such a trove of wonderful residential architecture; a proper reminder that architecture means more than tall buildings made solely of concrete, glass and steel.

R. RYLAND HOLMES

Los Angeles