2828 Midvale Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.
For sale: $1.349 million
Los Angeles' Petal House is not soft or floral. There are no shades of pink or red, and its name comes from its rooftop, which opens up like the petals of a flower.
The materials are gritty, taking inspiration from the nearby freeway. Like any well-designed piece of architecture, the home makes you think.
"It turns the whole house of traditional architecture on its ear," said listing agent Janice Lopez of Rock Realty Group of Keller Williams. "He created, what I consider, a masterpiece."
The home was designed by Eric Owen Moss in 1982. Based in L.A., Moss is currently the director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture and holds numerous awards for his work — including one for Petal House, which received the "25 Year Award" from the American Institute of Architects. Recently the home was included in a MAK Center tour, and a model of the home was featured in the Getty Museum.
Although Moss began his design in 1982, the original home was built in 1945, and Moss used the traditional home as the base for his piece.
"While it’s very explosive in an architectural sense, from a functionality standpoint, it’s very traditional because the ordinary, post-war 1940s tract home is very traditional," Lopez explained.
What isn't traditional is the exposed roof, which holds a spa and captures views of the city. Below, the rest of the home is light-filled and open, with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and a recently updated kitchen.
Due to the unconventional nature of the home, Lopez and her fellow listing agents, Jason Reitz and Blanche D’Souza, also of Rock Realty Group, are hoping for a buyer who will steward the home as an art piece.
"It’s something we want to preserve, not in a museum kind of way, but a living, breathing, habitable piece of art," Lopez said.
Erika Riggs, a real estate writer for Zillow Blog, covers celebrity real estate, unusual properties and home design trends. Read more of her work here.
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