A Tour of LA's Inspiring Architectural Landmarks
What Los Angeles lacks in skyscrapers, it makes up for with unique and innovative architectural designs, from the recent Broad Museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro to classic houses by Frank Lloyd Wright. Here are six of the city’s most iconic architectural landmarks to get you started.
1. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
Building, Concert Hall, Museum
2. The Broad Museum
Museum, Building
3. Hollyhock House
Museum
Completed in 1921, the Hollyhock House was Frank Lloyd Wright’s first project in Los Angeles. It was also the first time he started developing an architectural style unique to the Southern California landscape, which would later morph into California Modernism. Built for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, it is named after her favorite flower. The design is inspired by 7th century Mayan temples, and contains 17 rooms and seven bathrooms. “There is no other architect that has ever done anything like Hollyhock House,” Jeffrey Herr, the curator of the house, told Business Insider. “There isn’t any other structure like it either in his oeuvre or in anybody else’s.” Restored in 2015, the house is open to the public for tours.
4. Wayfarers Chapel
Building, Church
Designed by Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Wayfarers Chapel immerses visitors into nature with its almost all-glass exterior. Situated on a bluff in Palos Verdes, it is surrounded by redwood trees and overlooks the ocean. The chapel was built for the Swedenborgian Church of North America, and currently hosts around 800 weddings a year. It has also overseen numerous TV weddings, including Julie Cooper and Caleb Nichol’s wedding in The O.C.
5. The Bradbury Building
Building
6. The Getty Center
Building, Museum
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