The Ennis House
HCM #149. Frank Lloyd Wright's largest and last textile-block house, a Mayan Revival temple on a Glendower Avenue hilltop and the most architecturally significant residence in Los Feliz.
What is the Ennis House?
The Ennis House at 2607 Glendower Avenue is Frank Lloyd Wright's largest and last textile-block house, completed in 1924 in the Mayan Revival style for the retailer Charles Ennis and his wife Mabel. Designed by Wright and built under the supervision of his son Lloyd Wright, it sits on a Los Feliz hilltop overlooking the city and was assembled from more than 27,000 patterned concrete blocks cast on site. It is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 149, designated in 1976, and is also on the National Register of Historic Places and a California Historical Landmark. The house has appeared in more than eighty films and television productions, most famously Blade Runner, and in 2019 it sold for $18 million, a record for any Wright-designed home. Debbie Pisaro of Coastline 840 (California DRE #01369110) is a Los Feliz real estate agent specializing in architectural and historic homes, and covers the Ennis House as part of the Los Feliz HCM series.
A temple. That is the word most people reach for the first time Glendower Avenue turns just so and the Ennis House comes into view. It does not sit on its hilltop so much as crown it, stacked block by block in a way that reads as ancient and futuristic at once. Anyone who has seen Blade Runner understands instantly why Ridley Scott chose it, and anyone who lives nearby understands why the neighborhood quietly regards it as the most consequential house on the hill.
It is the kind of building that changes how a person thinks about Los Feliz. Once you have seen it, every other architectural home in these hills exists in conversation with it. For buyers searching for architectural homes in Los Feliz, the Ennis House is often the moment the search turns serious, and it is a building Debbie Pisaro finds herself explaining on nearly every architectural tour she gives. Start with how it came to exist.
A Wright family collaboration
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house in 1923 for Charles and Mabel Ennis, a couple who had moved west from the Midwest and made their money in men's retail clothing. They wanted something in the Mayan manner. Wright, who had been developing what he called the textile-block system across his earlier Los Angeles commissions, gave them the largest and most ambitious version of the idea he would ever attempt. Construction finished in 1924.
The build was supervised by his son, Lloyd Wright, the architect behind the Sowden House, the Samuel-Novarro House, and the Derby House in nearby Glendale. So the Ennis House is, properly understood, a Wright family collaboration: father designing, son building. That father-and-son dynamic runs through Los Feliz architecture in ways most people never notice, and the Ennis House is its most dramatic expression.
The blocks are the heart of the story. More than 27,000 of them, each sixteen inches square and three and a half inches thick, hand-cast on site in aluminum molds from gravel, granite, and sand pulled directly from the hillside, in twenty-four distinct design variations. Each block needed about ten days to cure before it could be set. Wright threaded vertical and horizontal steel rods through channels in the blocks to lock them together, which is exactly where the term textile-block comes from: the building was woven as much as it was stacked. The patterned face carries a Greek key motif, inspired by the Mayan ruins at Uxmal, that some scholars read as a quiet nod to a Masonic symbol Charles Ennis would have recognized.
The house that nearly fell off the hill
Charles Ennis died in 1928, only a few years after moving in, and Mabel sold in 1936. The house then passed through a string of owners, among them the radio personality John Nesbitt, who in 1940 brought Wright back to add a billiard room in the basement and a swimming pool on the north terrace. Lloyd Wright handled that work too. For a building meant to last a hundred years, the first decades were unsettled.
By the 1990s it was in trouble. The 1994 Northridge earthquake inflicted serious structural damage, and in 2005 torrential winter rains pushed the house to the brink, with failing foundations and a retaining wall bulging away from the hillside. That same year the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the Ennis House on its list of America's eleven most endangered historic places. This was the moment it nearly became a ruin. What saved it was a combination of nonprofit stewardship through the Ennis House Foundation, preservation grants, and ultimately a private buyer with the means to finish the job.
The restoration that brought it back
In 2011 the billionaire Ron Burkle bought the house from the Ennis House Foundation for roughly $4.5 million, well below the foundation's earlier asking prices, and spent close to $17 million over the next several years on a full restoration: new foundations, re-cast and replaced blocks, stabilized retaining walls, and restored leaded-glass windows. When he listed it at $23 million in 2018, the house was in better condition than it had been in decades.
Burkle sold the property in 2019 for $18 million to Robert Rosenheck and Cindy Capobianco, founders of the CBD brand Lord Jones, in a sale that set the all-time record for a Frank Lloyd Wright home, eclipsing the $6.8 million paid for Wright's Storer House in 2013. One condition from the 2011 sale matters for anyone hoping to see the interior: the transaction carried a binding stipulation requiring public access at least twelve days a year, and that obligation runs with the property in perpetuity, regardless of owner. So while the Ennis House is a private residence, limited interior tours still happen on designated days, with dates posted through the Ennis House Foundation.
Mayan Revival vs. textile-block: what makes it different
Buyers drawn to architectural homes in Los Feliz often ask what sets the Ennis House apart from the neighborhood's other historic homes, and the answer comes down to two ideas Wright was working through at the same time in the early 1920s. They are usually conflated. They are not the same thing.
Mayan Revival is a style. It draws on the temple architecture of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the stepped pyramids and relief-carved facades of sites like Uxmal and Chichen Itza. It had a brief, intense run in American architecture between roughly 1920 and 1930, with practitioners including Robert Stacy-Judd, the Heineman brothers, and Wright himself, and it favors stepped or pyramidal massing, relief-patterned surfaces, and a sense of weight and permanence borrowed from ancient sources.
The textile-block system, by contrast, is a construction method. Wright devised it to turn concrete, which he once called the cheapest and ugliest material in the building world, into something architecturally serious. Each block was cast on site, patterned with a custom geometric design, and woven together with steel rods to form load-bearing walls, so that the architecture and the structure became one and the same, a genuinely radical idea for a house at the time. The Ennis House takes both ideas to their fullest conclusion: Mayan Revival style executed through textile-block construction. Other Mayan Revival buildings exist in Los Angeles, the Philosophical Research Society on Los Feliz Boulevard among them, and other textile-block houses exist, but only the Ennis House carries both to their limit.
The four Wright textile-block houses in Los Angeles
Wright designed exactly four textile-block houses in greater Los Angeles in the 1920s, and the Ennis House is the last and largest. For any buyer interested in the wider Frank Lloyd Wright Los Angeles portfolio, the other three are worth knowing as a group, because the California Historical Landmark that protects them, #1011, is a single thematic designation covering all four together.
La Miniatura, also known as the Millard House, in Pasadena was the first, completed in 1923 for the rare-books dealer Alice Millard. It is the smallest and most domestic of the four, set in a wooded ravine rather than on a prominent hilltop, its blocks carrying a cross pattern. The Storer House in the Hollywood Hills, also 1923, is the most vertical, a column-like structure on a steep lot, later bought and meticulously restored by the film producer Joel Silver in the 1980s. The Samuel Freeman House in Hollywood, completed in 1924, is the smallest in floor area at about 1,200 square feet yet still holds roughly 12,000 blocks; Samuel and Harriet Freeman ran an informal salon of artists and writers there for nearly six decades, and it is now held by the USC School of Architecture. The Ennis House, completed the same year, dwarfs the other three, at roughly 6,000 square feet including the chauffeur's quarters, its blocks carrying the Greek key.
Wright also designed the Hollyhock House in nearby Barnsdall Park, which predates the textile-block experiments and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Together, those five buildings are the entirety of Wright's Los Angeles residential work, and Los Feliz holds two of them, alongside Richard Neutra's Lovell Health House and a concentration of designated landmarks unmatched anywhere else in the city.
What HCM status means if you own one
Buyers weighing a historic home in Los Feliz usually want to understand what Historic-Cultural Monument status means in practice before they make an offer. Here is the working version. HCM status, granted by the City of Los Angeles, mainly protects a property's exterior and character-defining features. Significant alterations to the facade, demolition, or changes that affect historic character require review by the City's Cultural Heritage Commission. Interior renovations are generally not regulated, and routine maintenance, repairs, repainting, and landscaping fall outside the process entirely. For a building like the Ennis House, where every block on the facade contributes to the significance, that review is meaningful. For a more modestly significant HCM, day-to-day ownership feels much like owning any other Los Feliz home.
The practical upside is the California Mills Act, a property-tax program that can reduce a qualifying historic property's assessment substantially, often in the range of 40 to 60 percent, in exchange for a long-term preservation plan the City reviews periodically. For a Los Feliz HCM worth several million dollars, the savings can run into tens of thousands of dollars a year, and over a decade of ownership can offset a meaningful share of the purchase price. The eligibility and the actual numbers have to be modeled for the specific property before anyone relies on them, which is exactly the work Debbie Pisaro does with buyers of architectural and historic homes.
HCM status is a tradeoff: you give up some flexibility on facade changes, and you gain protection from demolition, a likely Mills Act tax break, and a piece of architectural history that cannot be replicated. For the right buyer it is not a close call. For someone who wants to gut and rebuild, an HCM home is the wrong fit.
Buying a designated landmark is a different process from a standard listing. The diligence is different, the financing can be, and the questions about prior alterations, current Mills Act status, and any open Cultural Heritage Commission matters are not the ones you ask about an ordinary home. It is the reason working with a Los Feliz real estate agent who has navigated HCM transactions matters more here than almost anywhere, and Debbie Pisaro treats designation status, Mills Act eligibility, and preservation obligations as core due diligence. The Los Feliz HCM guide lays out the full picture.
Why the Ennis House matters for the Los Feliz market
It is worth being honest about what a house like this does to a real estate market, and what it does not. The Ennis House is one of the reasons Los Feliz has the architectural reputation it does. The same hills around 2607 Glendower Avenue hold the Lovell Health House, the Hlaffer-Courcier Residence, the Samuel-Novarro House, and a quietly remarkable concentration of designated homes by nearly every major architect of early twentieth-century Los Angeles. There is no other neighborhood in the city where a person can walk a few blocks and pass three or four buildings of national architectural significance.
That density has a price effect, though not the one most people assume. The Ennis House itself sets a ceiling that is almost ceremonial; it trades at numbers no comparable home reaches, as its record sale shows. But the halo around it is real. Properties on Glendower Avenue, in the Oaks, and along the ridgelines that share its sightlines carry a premium tied directly to the architectural ecosystem they belong to. Out-of-state buyers often do not feel that premium until they spend a day driving the hills, and then they do. When clients ask what separates Los Feliz from Silver Lake or Hancock Park or the Hollywood Hills, this is the answer: the architectural density, and the fact that a 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival, a 1960s post-and-beam, and a Frank Lloyd Wright commission can all sit within the same few blocks. The full roster lives in the Los Feliz HCM collection.
See the Ennis House on the Los Feliz MapThe Ennis House, answered
Where is the Ennis House?
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. It is a private residence.
Who designed and built the Ennis House?
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house in 1923, and it was completed in 1924 under the construction supervision of his son, the architect Lloyd Wright. It was built for the retailer Charles Ennis and his wife Mabel, which is why it is sometimes called the Ennis-Brown House.
Can you tour the Ennis House?
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. Tour dates are posted through the Ennis House Foundation. The house is otherwise a private residence and is not open daily.
Who owns the Ennis House now, and what did it sell for?
Robert Rosenheck and Cindy Capobianco, founders of the CBD brand Lord Jones, bought the Ennis House from Ron Burkle in 2019 for $18 million, a record price for any Frank Lloyd Wright home. They are the current owners.
How much did the Ennis House restoration cost?
Ron Burkle bought the house for roughly $4.5 million from the Ennis House Foundation in 2011 and spent close to $17 million restoring it between 2011 and 2018, including new foundations, re-cast blocks, and stabilized retaining walls.
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 last and largest. The other three are La Miniatura (the Millard House) in Pasadena, the Storer House in the Hollywood Hills, and the Freeman House in Hollywood. Wright also designed the Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Is the Ennis House a Historic-Cultural Monument?
Yes. The Ennis House was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 149 on March 3, 1976. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places (added October 14, 1971) and is California Historical Landmark No. 1011, a thematic designation covering all four of Wright's textile-block houses.
What is the difference between Mayan Revival and the textile-block system?
Mayan Revival is an architectural style drawing from pre-Columbian Mesoamerican temple architecture, with stepped massing and relief-patterned surfaces. The textile-block system is a construction method Wright developed using patterned concrete blocks woven together with steel rods. The Ennis House combines both: Mayan Revival style executed through textile-block construction.
How big is the Ennis House, and how was it built?
It is roughly 6,000 square feet including the chauffeur's quarters, set on about half an acre along a Los Feliz ridge. It was assembled from more than 27,000 concrete textile blocks in twenty-four design variations, each cast on site and woven together with steel reinforcing rods.
Does HCM status affect property taxes in Los Angeles?
HCM status itself does not change property taxes, but it makes a property eligible for the California Mills Act. Mills Act enrollment can reduce property taxes substantially, often 40 to 60 percent, in exchange for a long-term preservation commitment. For high-value Los Feliz HCM properties, the savings can total tens of thousands of dollars per year, though the figures should be modeled for the specific home.
Talk to Debbie
For buying or selling an architectural or historic home in Los Feliz, with the Mills Act and HCM diligence handled the way this market requires, Debbie Pisaro knows these hills block by block.
Get in touchAbout the author. Debbie Pisaro is a Los Feliz real estate specialist with 24 years of experience and the founder of Coastline 840 (California DRE #01369110), an independent California brokerage focused on architectural, historic, and design forward homes. She documents the Los Feliz Historic-Cultural Monument series, works the Oaks, Laughlin Park, Franklin Hills, and the greater Los Feliz market, and lives in a 1907 Craftsman in Silver Lake with her Doberman, Lennon. Reach Debbie Pisaro at debbie@coastline840.com or (310) 362-6429. More at DebbiePisaro.com and Coastline840.com.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House is the most photographed monument on the hill, but it is far from the only one. It is one of more than fifty Historic-Cultural Monuments in Los Feliz. For the full overview, see the Los Feliz HCM guide, browse the complete collection of Los Feliz monuments, and if you are weighing designation for your own home, here is how to get a home designated.