The Kronish House features a formal, pinwheel design. Not visible from the street, the one-story house sits at the end of a 250-foot-long driveway on a 2-acre lot. With 6,891 square feet of living space, six bedrooms and 51/2 bathrooms, the contemporary home is the Neutra's largest in Southern California. The glass-enclosed garden area is visible from several rooms. The original pool was also designed by Neutra.
History
The house is one of only three Neutra designs ever built in Beverly Hills, and the only one that remains intact. It was originally built for real estate developer Herbert Kronish and his wife Hazel, who had bought the property from actress Shirley Temple In an October 1953 letter, the couple stated they did not want a design that looked like a wooden box or had a flat roof, radiant heating or sliding doors — Neutra trademarks. The house was owned briefly by Norton Simon and Jennifer Jones, before it was sold in 1999. Neighboring estates include Madonna's former Beverly Hills home.
In January 2011, the house was sold in a foreclosure auction for $5.8 million. During that summer, the new owners applied for a permit to cap the house's sewer line, which is often a sign of preparing a building for demolition. The home was in such poor condition that broker firm Hilton & Hyland was trying to sell it for its land value alone. Upon the news, the Los Angeles Conservancy, and other advocacy groups, lobbied the city of Beverly Hills to delay the demolition. Richard Neutra's son, Dion Neutra helped to lobby assistance to save the house. Among the alternatives to demolition being considered was relocating the house off site. Stavros Niarchos Jr., grandson of the Greek shippingtycoon, eventually purchased the house in October for $12.8 million, which was originally being offered for $13.995 million, saving it from demolition. As a consequence, the city of Beverly Hills passed unanimously a local preservation ordinance, requiring a 30-day holding period for alterations to structures 45 years or older designed by a “master” architect. In 2014, the architecture firmMarmol Radziner completed the rehabilitation of the historic home, restoring it to its original footprint, and also adding a guest house.
