What is the Ennis House and why does it matter to Los Feliz?
The Ennis House at 2607 Glendower Avenue is Frank Lloyd Wright's largest textile-block house, completed in 1924 in the Mayan Revival style. Designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #149 in 1976, it sits on a Los Feliz hilltop overlooking the city and has appeared in more than eighty films and television productions, including Blade Runner, Mulholland Drive, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is one of the defining landmarks of Los Feliz architectural homes and a touchstone for buyers seeking historic, design-forward properties in Los Angeles.
By Debbie Pisaro | May 14, 2026
Drive up Glendower Avenue on a clear morning and at some point the road turns just so, and there it is. A temple. That's the first word most people reach for. The Ennis House doesn't sit on its hilltop so much as crown it, stacked block by block in a way that feels both ancient and weirdly futuristic at the same time. You understand immediately why Ridley Scott chose it for Blade Runner. You also understand why the people who live nearby quietly consider it the most consequential house in the neighborhood.
Here's what I tell clients who ask about it: the Ennis House is the kind of building that changes how you think about Los Feliz. Once you've seen it, every other architectural home in the hills exists in conversation with it. For buyers searching for architectural homes in Los Feliz, this house is often the moment the search becomes serious.
The Wright family commission that almost didn't survive
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house in 1923 for Charles and Mabel Ennis, a couple who'd moved west from the Midwest and made their money in men's retail clothing. They wanted something in the Mayan style. Wright, who had been experimenting with what he called the textile-block system in his earlier Los Angeles commissions (La Miniatura in Pasadena, the Storer House in Hollywood Hills, the Freeman House in Hollywood), gave them the largest and most ambitious version of the idea he ever attempted.
The construction was supervised by his son, Lloyd Wright, the architect behind the Sowden House and the Samuel-Novarro House and the Derby House in nearby Glendale. So the Ennis House is technically a Wright family collaboration. Father designing, son building. That father-son dynamic shows up across Los Feliz architecture in ways most people don't realize, and the Ennis House is the most dramatic example of it.
The blocks themselves are the story. Approximately 27,000 of them, each measuring 16 inches square by 3.5 inches thick, hand-cast on site in aluminum molds using gravel, granite, and sand pulled directly from the hill. Each block took ten days to dry and cure before it could be used. Wright wove vertical and horizontal steel rods through channels in the blocks to lock them together, which is where the term textile-block came from. The patterned face of each block carries a Greek key design that some scholars believe was a quiet nod to the Masonic symbol Charles Ennis would have recognized.
When Wright finished the design, he told the Ennises the house would stand on that hill for a hundred years or more.
A house that nearly fell off the hill
Charles Ennis died in 1928, just a few years after moving in. Mabel sold in 1936. The house then passed through a string of owners, including radio personality John Nesbitt, who in 1940 hired Wright to return and add a billiard room in the basement and a swimming pool on the north terrace. Lloyd Wright handled that work, too.
By the 1990s the house was struggling. The 1994 Northridge earthquake caused serious structural damage. Eleven years later, in 2005, torrential winter rains pushed it to the edge. That same year the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Ennis House to its list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places. Foundations and walls were failing. The retaining wall holding the whole structure to the hillside was bulging outward.
This is the moment the house almost became a ruin. What saved it was a combination of nonprofit stewardship (the Ennis House Foundation, formerly the Trust for Preservation of Cultural Heritage), preservation grants, and eventually a private buyer with the resources to finish the job.
The restoration that brought it back
In 2011, billionaire Ron Burkle purchased the house from the Ennis House Foundation for approximately $4.5 million. Over the next eight years he spent nearly $17 million on a full restoration. New foundations. Replaced and re-cast blocks. Stabilized retaining walls. Restored leaded-glass windows. By the time he listed it for $23 million in 2018, the house was in better condition than it had been in decades.
Burkle eventually sold the property in 2019 to Robert Rosenheck and Cindy Capobianco, founders in the cannabis industry, for $18 million. They remain the current owners.
One detail from the 2011 sale matters for anyone curious about visiting: the transaction included a binding stipulation requiring public access for at least twelve days per year. That condition runs with the property in perpetuity, regardless of who owns it. So while the Ennis House is a private residence, limited interior tours do happen on designated days through ennishouse.com.
Why the Ennis House matters for Los Feliz architectural homes
Here's where I want to be honest about what this house means for the neighborhood, and what it doesn't.
The Ennis House is one of the reasons Los Feliz has the architectural reputation it does. The same hills that hold the Ennis House also hold Richard Neutra's Lovell Health House, the Wirin House, the Hlaffer-Courcier Residence, and a quietly remarkable concentration of designated historic homes. Buyers searching for architectural homes in Los Feliz end up here in part because of this density. There is no other neighborhood in Los Angeles where you can walk a few blocks and pass three or four buildings of national architectural significance.
That has a price effect, and it's not the one most people assume. The Ennis House itself sets a ceiling that's almost ceremonial. It trades at numbers no comparable home achieves. But the halo around it is real. Properties on Glendower Avenue, in The Oaks, and along the ridgelines that share sightlines with the Ennis House carry a premium tied directly to the architectural ecosystem they belong to. Buyers from out of state often don't understand this premium until they spend a day driving the hills. Then they do.
When clients ask me what makes Los Feliz different from Silver Lake or Hancock Park or the Hollywood Hills, this is the answer. The architectural density. The fact that you can buy a 1920s Spanish Revival, a 1960s post-and-beam, and a Lloyd Wright commission all within the same few blocks. The Ennis House is the most famous example, but it is far from the only one. For a working list of every Los Feliz Historic-Cultural Monument and the homes you can actually buy nearby, the Los Feliz HCM guide is the place to start.
Living near it
I get asked sometimes what it's like to live near the Ennis House. The honest answer is that on a Saturday afternoon in good weather, there's a steady, gentle flow of architecture pilgrims. People driving slowly. People standing across the street with cameras. People walking up Glendower to see it from the closest legal vantage point.
For some homeowners on that stretch, the foot traffic and tour buses are part of the deal you accept. For others, it's a feature. The Ennis House is what draws the kind of people who eventually want to live nearby, who appreciate that they're sharing a hillside with one of the most important houses in American residential architecture.
If you're considering a purchase anywhere in The Oaks, on Glendower, on Live Oak, on Black Oak, or in the streets that thread through the hills around the Ennis House, you're buying into that ecosystem. It's worth understanding before you make an offer, and it's one of the reasons working with a Los Feliz real estate agent who knows the architectural homes market block by block matters more here than in most neighborhoods.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Ennis House located?
The Ennis House is at 2607 Glendower Avenue in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, 90027. It sits on a hilltop with views east toward Downtown Los Angeles and Griffith Park and west toward the Pacific Ocean.
Can you tour the Ennis House?
Yes, in a limited way. The 2011 sale included a stipulation requiring at least twelve days of public access per year, which runs with the property regardless of ownership. Inquire about scheduled tour dates at ennishouse.com.
Who owns the Ennis House now?
Robert Rosenheck and Cindy Capobianco purchased the Ennis House from Ron Burkle in 2019 for $18 million. They are the current owners.
How much did the Ennis House restoration cost?
Ron Burkle spent approximately $17 million restoring the Ennis House between 2011 and 2018, after purchasing it from the Ennis House Foundation for approximately $4.5 million.
What other Frank Lloyd Wright houses are in Los Angeles?
Wright designed four textile-block houses in greater Los Angeles in the 1920s. The Ennis House is the largest. The other three are La Miniatura (also known as the Millard House) in Pasadena, the Storer House in Hollywood Hills, and the Freeman House in Hollywood. Wright also designed Hollyhock House in nearby Barnsdall Park, which is a Los Angeles HCM and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Is the Ennis House a Historic-Cultural Monument?
Yes. The Ennis House was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #149 on March 3, 1976. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places (added October 14, 1971) and designated California Historical Landmark #1011.
If you're drawn to the architectural heritage of Los Feliz and thinking about buying or selling an architectural home in the neighborhood, I'd love to walk these streets with you. Twenty-four years selling California real estate, with deep roots in Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and the historic homes that define this part of the city, means I know which blocks are quietly trading at premiums, which architectural homes are coming to market before they list, and how to value a property that doesn't fit a standard comp set. As a Los Feliz architectural homes specialist, Debbie Pisaro can help you navigate this market with the kind of street-by-street insight that the Ennis House neighborhood requires. Reach out anytime at coastline840.com.
About Debbie Pisaro
Debbie Pisaro is the founder of Coastline 840, an independent California real estate brokerage built on the Side platform, and a 24-year veteran of the California market with deep roots in Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and the architectural homes that define the Los Angeles eastside. She specializes in historic, architectural, and design-forward properties across Los Angeles and statewide California, including Ojai, Palm Springs, and Napa. She lives in a 1907 Craftsman in Silver Lake with her Doberman, Lennon.
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The Los Feliz Historic-Cultural Monument Series
An ongoing series documenting every Historic-Cultural Monument in Los Feliz — the architects, the homes, the stories, and what it means to own a designated landmark. Written by Debbie Pisaro, 24-year Los Feliz real estate specialist.
Browse every post in the series ↓
- Ennis House — Frank Lloyd Wright's Mayan Revival Masterpiece HCM #149
- Lovell Health House — Richard Neutra's 1929 Masterpiece HCM #123
- Derby House — Lloyd Wright's Mayan Revival
- Midtown School — John Lautner's Organic Architecture HCM #553
- The Jacobson House — Edward Fickett Mid-Century Modern HCM #674
- Sherwood House — Mid-Century Modern in The Oaks HCM #1026
- The Shakespeare Bridge — Glendower Place HCM #111
- Blackburn Residence — Paul R. Williams Spanish Colonial Revival HCM #913
- Abraham Gore Residence — Spanish Colonial Revival HCM #1061
- Durex Model Home — Spanish Revival in The Oaks HCM #1025
- Paul Lauritz House — California's Plein Air Master HCM #784
- Hidden Steps of Los Feliz Heights HCM #657
- Avocado Trees — Los Feliz's Natural Monument HCM #343