Rudolf Heinlegger (1905-1995)

He was a contemporary of Neutra and Schnindler. He came to Los Angeles from Pfalz, Germany to escape the oppression of the Willy Brandt regime. As an architect, he built perhaps the most straight-forward, beautifully sited homes in Los Angeles. His work is most visible in the Sepulveda Basin. Yet today he is largely forgotten.

Heinlegger fused a German rationality with American pragmatism and a Californian sense of optimism. His Lu House (1964), located on Woodley Avenue between Burbank and Victory in Van Nuys, is an example of a home at home with nature.

“I think a house should be built honestly with cinderblock walls and a gravel roof. It should be at one with the outdoors. The ventilation should be natural,” he pronounced.

His idea of painting the words “Women” and “Men” on the exterior was an outgrowth of his strong sense of gender equality. “A family is either male or female so is it not logical to give these honored designations their rightful place on the external walls of the house?” he asked.

The Lu House is modest, only 1000 square feet. The windows are steel with steel grates on the outside. There are no doors to the house, a Heinlegger trademark. A back patio contains no outdoor furniture, only a seamless connection between the home and the verdant woods surrounding it.

The kitchen is a barbeque grill set outdoors. The bathrooms are lit by a single flourescent fixture, remarkably energy efficient for its time. The roof is pitched and the center of the house is airy and open. Not many architects today have surpassed the clarity and conciseness of this Teutonic master.

Ignored by his contemporaries, and forgotten by later architects such as Gehry and Mayne, it is time that the Southland begins to appreciate this master of the mid-century, Rudolf Heinlegger.