The Bubeshko Apartments

Architect: Rudolph M. Schindler Much of the privacy and charm of the single house has been maintained in a medium density apartment complex.

ALL CONTENT/PAGES/IMAGES REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION ONLY
Copyright 2011 by Joe DeMarie - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Built on a hillside in the (Silver Lake) district of Los Angeles, this is one of the few apartment buildings designed by an architect better known for his single-family houses. These terraced dwellings, arranged in two parallel rows with common stairs between, appear to be two lar

ge houses, each with a garage at street level. In fact, there are 7 apartments and, while there is a generic schema of dwellings opening to terraces, each apartment is different. Schindler applied the terraced concept frequently in his early houses including the Wolfe house on Catalina (1928), the Elliot and Oliver houses (1930 & 1931), and the Van Patten house (1934). Common to all of these examples is a formal strategy of creating cantilevered terraces that appear to be drawn out--like the drawers of a chest-- in two directions from the virtual volume of the building. Bubeshko is literally an enclave of little terraced houses, individually different, collectively unified in an overall terraced form of overlapping and interpenetrating spaces and elements and connected by a common stair. Schindler's unique use of wood frame and stucco construction with ample use of glass and a formal preoccupation with corner articulation results in an architecture with definite Neo-Plastic stylistic overtones, but as well, incorporating ideas from Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra. Schindler's use of economical wood frame construction to achieve a modern style with expansive glass, cantilevers, and flat roofs often resulted in leaky buildings, and other problems so that maintenance was always a continuing and often expensive proposition. In spite of this, Bubeshko is in good condition today, a testament not only to a succession of dedicated residents, but also to the fact that the apartments, though small and unconventional, are spatially interesting and highly desirable. David Gebhard, Schindler, Viking Press, New York, 1972, pp. 164-65.

Bubeshko Apartments | Los Angeles Conservancy

10/04/2016

https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/bubeshko-apartments

Bubeshko Apartments | Los Angeles Conservancy In the late 1930s, modernist master R. M. Schindler designed two apartment buildings in Silver Lake for Anastasia Bubeshko and her daughter Luby. The clients wanted a home that would also provide rental income, as well as living spaces that were flexible enough to be re-arranged as needed in the fut...

09/26/2016

Nice mention in this issue of NYT's T Magazine. 9.25.2016
http://www.nytimes.com/issue/t-magazine/2016/09/25/design-luxury

02/03/2014

Madeleine Brand on Bubeshko, Modernism, and More Madeleine Brand returns to the airwaves with a new show on KCRW, "Press Play." Get to know the host and fellow modernism lover during Modernism Week!

09/13/2013

http://www.buzzfeed.com/leonoraepstein/silver-lake-then-vs-now?s=mobile

Canada - Keep Exploring • We ♥ this poster for Coast Modern, an upcoming...

01/27/2012

http://canadakeepexploring.tumblr.com/post/16530541089/we-this-poster-for-coast-modern-an-upcoming

The Bubeshko Apartments are featured in this upcoming documentary.

Canada - Keep Exploring • We ♥ this poster for Coast Modern, an upcoming... We ♥ this poster for Coast Modern, an upcoming film about modernist architecture on the West Coast. Many classic works of modernist design from British Columbia are featured prominently. Watch the...

California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" | LACMA

01/26/2012

http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/californiadesign

California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" | LACMA This exhibition is the first major study of California midcentury modern design. With more than 300 objects—furniture, ceramics, metalwork, fashion and textiles, and industrial and graphic design—the exhibition examines the state’s role in shaping the material culture of the entire country. Organize...

01/25/2012

http://www.dwell.com/articles/self-preservation.html

Self Preservation - Homes - Dwell With the help of DSH Architects, a pair of intrepid Angelenos restored (and gently updated) Rudolph Schindler’s iconic Bubeshko Apartments.