Los Feliz historic homes for sale rarely include a Schindler. The Elliot House at 4237 Newdale Drive is one: a two-story 1930 house R.M. Schindler designed for Robert F. Elliot, designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #690 in 2001 and restored by Marmol Radziner. It sits a short walk from the Shakespeare Bridge.
HCM #690. R.M. Schindler's 1930 house on Newdale Drive, published within two years of its completion and landmarked seven decades later.
What is the Elliot House in Los Feliz?
Los Feliz has two famous modernist houses on Dundee Drive and a long list of period revivals in the hills. It also has a Schindler, and almost nobody walking past it on Newdale Drive knows. The Elliot House is a two-story house that R.M. Schindler designed in 1930 for Robert F. Elliot, and the city named it Historic-Cultural Monument #690 on February 6, 2001.
Schindler matters to this neighborhood for a reason most people miss. Philip Lovell hired him first, for the Lovell Beach House in Newport Beach, and then hired Richard Neutra for the Lovell Health House on Dundee Drive, the commission that ended the friendship between the two architects. The Elliot House is what Schindler built in Los Feliz anyway, a year after Neutra's steel house went up a mile away.
Newdale Drive sits on the eastern edge of Los Feliz, where the hills run down toward the Shakespeare Bridge and John Lautner's Midtown School on Russell Avenue. Three monuments by three very different hands, all within a few minutes' walk. Silver Lake starts a few blocks east, and Debbie Pisaro's Silver Lake architecture guide picks up where this side of Los Feliz leaves off. The full roster lives in the Los Feliz HCM guide, and the series continues at Los Feliz historic homes.
Schindler on Newdale, in 1930
Schindler drew the Elliot House in the first year of the Depression, and the house shows the discipline of the moment in the best way. It is compact, about 2,100 square feet on two stories, and it was published almost immediately. The magazine Creative Art carried it in 1932, which tells you how quickly the people watching California modernism noticed it.
David Gebhard, the historian who wrote the standard book on Schindler, counted the Elliot House among his most successful combinations of form and function. That is high praise for an architect whose houses were often more brilliant than practical. Schindler's story begins at his own Kings Road House of 1922 in West Hollywood and runs through the How House of 1925 in Silver Lake, and Debbie Pisaro's profile of R.M. Schindler maps the rest of it.
Schindler's houses, from Kings Road to the beach at Newport, are one of the defining bodies of modernist work in California. Buyers who want one shop the architect first and the neighborhood second, and they come from well beyond Los Angeles to do it.
"In the living room, the window angles in just above the sofa line, and at sunset the light drops right into it and lays a gold rectangle across everything in the room," Debbie Pisaro says. "That is who Schindler was. He mixed the inside with the outside. It was his magic."
What the restoration kept
The Elliot House came through the century the way few Schindlers do, with a restoration rather than a remodel. Marmol Radziner, the Los Angeles firm best known for its work on Neutra's Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, returned the house to its original condition around 2001, adding contemporary amenities and structural upgrades without changing what Schindler drew. The project was published in The New York Times Magazine and Elle Decor.
That sequence matters to anyone who owns or wants to own a house like this. Designation and restoration arrived together here, and it is the order that protects value: the city recognizes the house as it stands, and the house stands as it was designed. The same logic runs through every page in this series, from Neutra's Wirin House on Glendower to the Spanish revivals on Cromwell.
Can you change a Schindler that is a monument?
Yes, with review. Once a house is a Historic-Cultural Monument, the City of Los Angeles reviews proposed changes to it before permits issue, and demolition faces a long delay and public hearing. Interiors of a private house are generally outside that review, and repairs that match the original usually move quickly. The work that draws scrutiny is the work that changes what you see from the street.
Designation also opens the door to a Mills Act contract, which can reduce property taxes in exchange for a commitment to maintain the house. How that plays out in a sale is laid out in selling a Mills Act home in Los Feliz, and what the plaque does to value is in does historic designation hurt home value in Los Feliz.
Ask for the restoration file. On a designated house, the drawings, permits and approvals from the last major campaign are worth as much as the inspection report, because they show what the city has already signed off on.
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across Los Feliz and the surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. She works this category as an architectural homes specialist, and her guide to the best historic and architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles explains how she approaches houses like this one.
A closing word on the name on the plaque. Robert F. Elliot commissioned a modest house from the most inventive architect in Los Angeles at the start of the Depression, and the house outlasted every assumption about how long a Schindler would stand. Houses like this trade rarely and quietly, which is the world covered in off-market homes in Los Feliz. The standing argument for the best real estate agent in Los Feliz runs through houses exactly like this one.
Elliot House questions, answered
Where is the Elliot House?
The Elliot House stands at 4237 Newdale Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027, on the eastern edge of Los Feliz, a short walk from the Shakespeare Bridge and John Lautner's Midtown School on Russell Avenue. It is a private home and is not open to the public, so please view it only from the street.
Who designed the Elliot House?
R.M. Schindler designed the Elliot House in 1930 for Robert F. Elliot. Schindler, the Vienna-trained architect behind the Kings Road House in West Hollywood, built one of the most important bodies of modernist residential work in California. Some sources spell the client's name Elliott, with two t's.
Is the Elliot House in Los Feliz or Silver Lake?
Los Feliz. The City of Los Angeles, the Los Feliz Improvement Association and the Pacific Coast Architecture Database all place it in Los Feliz, ZIP code 90027. Some design press, including the architects who restored it, call it Silver Lake, because Newdale Drive sits close to where the two neighborhoods meet, near the Shakespeare Bridge.
Is the Elliot House a Historic-Cultural Monument?
Yes. The City of Los Angeles designated the Elliot House Historic-Cultural Monument #690 on February 6, 2001. That is the city's highest level of local landmark protection, and it means exterior changes are reviewed by the city before permits issue.
Can you remodel a Historic-Cultural Monument in Los Angeles?
Yes, with review. The City of Los Angeles reviews proposed changes to a designated monument before permits issue, with the closest attention on exterior work visible from the street. Repairs that match original materials usually move quickly. Demolition of a monument faces a long delay and a public hearing.
How does the Mills Act affect a historic home's value?
A Mills Act contract can lower property taxes on a designated house in exchange for a commitment to maintain and restore it, and the contract transfers to the next owner. For buyers that lower carrying cost is part of the value. The details of how it plays out in a sale are on Los Feliz Living's Mills Act page.
Are there Schindler houses for sale in Los Feliz?
Rarely. The Elliot House is the only Schindler on the city's monument list in Los Feliz, and architect-designed houses in these hills tend to change hands quietly, often before they reach the open market. Buyers looking for a Schindler usually watch several neighborhoods at once, from Silver Lake to West Hollywood.
Who is a good real estate agent for a Los Feliz historic home?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader who represents buyers and sellers of historic and architectural homes across Los Feliz and California. She is a California real estate salesperson with Coastline 840, a DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, and many of the homes she sells never reach the open market.
The Elliot House is the Schindler most of Los Feliz has never noticed, which makes it one of the most rewarding plaques in the neighborhood. Explore the rest of the record at Los Feliz Living, and when you want a Los Feliz real estate agent who knows which architect drew the house next door, you know where to find her.
About Los Feliz LivingTalk to Debbie
Designation, restoration, Mills Act, and the sale itself. Twenty-four years of architectural and monument experience on every one.
debbie@coastline840.com
DRE #01369110 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, a boutique California practice, and an Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. Coastline 840 is a DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, responsible broker. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com, and coastline840.com. Published October 2026.
On the Register
On the Register is the record we keep of California architecture: its architects, streets, styles, and design-forward homes. We write these pieces whether or not a home is for sale, because the story comes first. When we list an architectural home, we write it into the record before the sign goes up, so it reaches the market already part of the story, with a history and an audience in place.
© 2026 Debbie Pisaro, Coastline 840 · ontheregister.com