The Wright stuff

I just about fell out of my chair when these two listings showed up one right after the other on Tuesday evening in my daily email blast of new listings from Coldwell Banker.*

The top listing is for Frank Lloyd Wright's La Miniatura in Pasadena, which is on the market again. Below it, in proper genealogical-chart order, is son Lloyd Wright's neo-Mayan masterpiece on Franklin Avenue in Los Feliz. Alas, I missed the Tuesday open house at the latter. Did anyone go?

The listings are here and here, respectively.

*Your results may vary, since I have my Coldwell Banker search geared to very specific parameters that include pricy looky-loos and more modest dwellings in a limited number of Los Angeles communities.

A big hole in Pasadena

Next year, repertory theater troupe A Noise Within (the name is from a stage direction in Hamlet) will be moving out of the old Masonic temple on Glendale's Brand Boulevard that has served as its home for the past 19 seasons.

Construction site for A Noise Within's new theater in East Pasadena.

Their new state-of-the-art theater is under construction now at 3360 East Foothill Boulevard in East Pasadena, on the site of the Stuart Company Building, the erstwhile live-work-play campus of a major pharmaceutical firm designed in 1956 by Edward Durell Stone, architect of Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Façade of Edward Durell Stone's 1956 Stuart Company Building.

The original building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was converted into Mad Men–worth mid-century apartments, The Stuart at Sierra Madre Villa, a couple of years ago, with additional new units added behind the original building.

Rendering of the new theater exterior.

While the current Glendale theater has a certain decrepit charm, the new space, designed by Los Angeles–based John Berry Architects, will use Stone's original concrete screen but will rise three stories, with new parts being fabricated to match the building's existing façade. The theater will also provide more backstage space, education facilities and a library.

Construction is in the hands of Matt Construction, who have worked on projects such as the Skirball Cultural Center and the most recent renovation of the Hollywood Bowl.

Rendering of the new theater interior.

I recently attended A Noise Within's season opening in Glendale, a stunning production of Shakespeare's "problem play" Measure for Measure, and was blown away. I can only imagine what the new facility will do to enhance their talent and vision.

A little remodel in Pasadena

This two-bedroom on Madia Street in Pasadena's Linda Vista neighborhood has just hit the listings at an optimistic $829,000.

1204 Madia Street, Pasadena

This little charmer is nothing if not cute and seems to be well laid-out in its plan, but I couldn't resist making it a bit . . . well, less ordinary.

1204 Madia Street, Pasadena (concept)

Funny how a remodel can make the spirit—and the sky—more rosy.