BAILEY HOUSE/CSH #21 Los Angeles CA Pierre Koenig 1958
Sculptures by Picasso and Calder have been known to fetch hundreds of millions of dollars. So it may have seemed like a bargain when this sculpture by Pierre Koenig sold at auction, sight-unseen, for a mere $3.2 million to a prominent South Korean art collector. Especially when you consider that this sculpture is one that comes with the added functionality of two bedrooms, two baths and a kitchen in 1,300 square feet of living space.
The difference is that Pierre Koenig was an architect, not a sculptor. And to the un-enlightened plebian, this is just a house, not a work of art. But in what some consider a gimmick, others consider a brilliant marketing move, this sale, masterminded by Beverly Hills real estate wunderkind, Aaron Kirman of Hilton & Hyland (Hilton as in Paris’ dad), was included in a December 2006 auction of midcentury modern art and furnishings by Wright Auctions of Chicago. The price amounted to a staggering $2,500 per square foot in a market where first-class homes in Los Angeles were lucky to get $800 to $1,000 per square foot at the time.
The Bailey House was commissioned in 1957 by psychologist and patron of the arts Walter Bailey and selected for inclusion in John Entenza’s groundbreaking Case Study program, chronicled in Entenza’s Arts & Architecture Magazine. It was built at a cost of $20,000, an unimaginable $15 per square foot compared to $300-400 per square foot it would cost to build today. The Case Study program ran from 1945 to 1966 and was an experiment in the use of new materials and industrial building methods to mass-produce affordable homes for the burgeoning middle class during the housing boom that followed World War II. Entenza selected homes throughout Southern California and Arizona by the most notable modernist architects of the time including Richard Neutra, Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen and Raphael Soriano, publishing the results in his magazine. Materials were donated by sponsors and homeowners had to agree to open their homes to the public. Striking photographs by Julius Shulman captured the world’s attention making Southern California the epicenter of the booming "mid-century modern" movement and what came to be known as “California Modernism”. All but 10 of the 36 designs were built, 22 of which survive today. Ironically, what were intended to be affordable houses for the masses quickly became highly sought after by wealthy art afficionados, driving the prices sky high. Today, original Case Study Houses continue to command a premium with a few, like CSH #22, the world-famous Stahl House, considered priceless (see separate posting).
The Baileys occupied the house until 1969, after which it changed hands several times over the next 30 years, with each owner adding their own alterations with no regard to the home’s pedigree. In 1997, the house was purchased for $1.5 million by film producer Dan Cracchiolo who was the first since the Baileys to appreciate the historical value of the house and he engaged Koenig himself to oversee a complete restoration. Cracchiolo went as far as to commission replicas of the original furnishings featured in Shulman’s photographs from the original manufacturers, including the Formica-clad cabinet in the entry area and the black naugahyde sofa in the living room. The result of Cracchiolo’s restoration was published in the July 1999 issue of Architectural Digest and in 2001, Koenig was honored with the Preservation 2000 award from the City of Los Angeles for the Bailey House restoration.
In 2000, the house sold to film producer and famous-house collector Michael LaFetra who faithfully maintained the house under Koenig’s watchful eye. LaFetra even commissioned a Malibu beach house from Koenig which would become his last project. LaFetra made sure he got the Bailey House listed as a Historic-Cultural Monument before selling it in 2002. Pierre Koenig passed away from leukemia in April 2004 at the age of 78 knowing that his work was appreciated by a new generation of architecture lovers.
Curiously, the buyer in 2002 was vintage couture retailer and famous-house collector Mark Haddawy, who paid a reported $1.5 million - the same price Cracchiolo had paid 5 years prior, before investing in what had to be a pricey restoration. Between Cracchiolo and LaFetra, someone took a serious loss along the way.
According to Haddawy, the house is an architectural marvel and a spectacular work of art, but as a home to live in, it was not without its challenges. Essentially a pavilion of steel and glass with neighboring houses looming all around it, Haddawy says it was like living in a fishbowl. Furthermore, having been to the house many times, I can attest to the fact that the bathrooms are about as roomy as an airplane lavatory. Haddawy describes living in the Bailey House as “camping out”. It was he who engaged realtor Kirman who thought to capitalize on the recent first-ever auction of a modern “house-as-art” with the $8 million sale of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House. Julius Shulman was hired to re-shoot the house he had made famous 40 years before for the new auction catalog, and the auction was an enormous success, creating a sensation in both the modern art world and the real estate market during the run-up to the bust that would happen two years later. Haddawy used the proceeds to acquire and restore John Lautner’s Harpel House, but more on that in a separate posting.
Regardless of its commercial history, the Bailey House is a sublime space in what was an ideal setting before being crowded by the neighbors. A simple steel-framed pavilion with floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall glass window-walls that blur the distinction between outdoors and in, the open floor-plan and exposure to nature defy its compact size. Five reflecting pools that completely surround the house like a moat fill the house with dappled sunlight throughout the day. The current owner does not occupy the house, never intends to, and - rumor has it - has still never seen it in person at the time of this writing. But it’s in nearly constant use for private tours, photoshoots, film production, and as a “pop-up gallery” for art exhibitions attended by the city’s culturati.
Koenig’s masterpiece was only surpassed by his own next project, Case Study House #22 for the Stahl family. Koenig is best remembered today for the Stahl House which was also made famous by Julius Shulman’s photographs. But Shulman's original photos of the Bailey House remain so iconic as to have been replicated by photographer Steven Klein for a 2005 fashion spread in W Magazine with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
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