Lot 6151: NEUTRA, RICHARD. 1892-1970.

Original pen and ink drawing of the Laemmle building, Hollywood and Vine, 482 x 317 mm, signed at lower right ("Richard J. Neutra, Arch") in block letters, titled "cor. Hollywood & Vine, 1932," on waxed linen paper, laid down to board, some cockling and stains from adhesive, mild spotting, edges trimmed.

After studying with Modernist architect Erich Mendelsohn, Richard Neutra immigrated to New York City in 1923 before traveling west. California became the perfect backdrop for Neutra's dramatic revisioning of indoor/outdoor space, and he soon made a name for himself with his 1929 design of the Lovell House in the Hollywood Hills.
This drawing is of the Laemmle building at 6301 Hollywood Blvd, the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine. An early Neutra commission, the building was famous for many years as the site of the Melody Lane Cafe. It was later subjected to heavy alteration, before it was gutted by fire and then demolished in 2008.