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Frank Lloyd Wright is the one architect most Americans know by name. His likeness has appeared on a postage stamp; every season brings a fresh crop of books about his work, and attendance is booming at even the most remote of his buildings. His name and achievement are revered around the world. Yet in Los Angeles, where he designed important work, his legacy is sadly neglected. Two houses were destroyed by fire; three others are privately owned. Of the three available to the public, the Ennis house in Griffith Park is about to be restored; the Freeman house in Hollywood, owned by USC, is in ruinous condition and can no longer be visited, and the Hollyhock house in Barnsdall Art Park, owned by the city, is open six days a week, but is disfigured by cracks and water damage, its entrance canopy propped up by steel beams.
The Northridge earthquake exacerbated problems evident for many years. The Freeman and Hollyhock houses were in urgent need of repair before January 1994, and are in far worse condition now. The USC School of Architecture estimates that $500,000 has been spent on research studies and repairs to the Freeman house; a detailed technical report has been developed over 12 years, but little actual work has been done. Meanwhile, the last major restoration of Hollyhock was in 1974, but much remained to be accomplished.
At the start of what may be the stormiest winter in a half-century, both houses await essential structural repairs, and neither has yet received disaster-relief funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Custodians of other seismically battered historic buildings moved swiftly, secured money and completed repairs. UCLA's Royce Hall has been restored and will reopen next April. Prevarication and neglect have damaged the Wright houses almost as much as the quake itself.
The Freeman house is as vulnerable as a dinghy in a storm. Constructed...