Oboler Gatehouse and Retreat
N 34° 05.985 W 118° 50.610
11S E 329945 N 3774750
Quick Description: Partially realized "Eagle Feather" complex designed for radio personality, movie and early television director/producer Arch Oboler and his wife Eleanor.
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/21/2006 11:09:54 AM
Waymark Code: WM1234
Views: 361
Long Description:Oboler’s credits include the “Light’s Out” radio and TV series;
“Bwana Devil”, the World’ first feature-length 3-D movie that
ignited the 50s 3-D craze; and the 1951 movie “Five” which was shot
at and near the house and spawned an entire genre of
science-fiction movies centering around a small group of
post-nuclear-war survivors .
Situated on a rugged and remote site high in the Santa Monica
Mountains, the Oboler complex is Wright’s only example of desert
rubblestone construction in Southern California. An avid Rockhound,
Oboler gathered rocks from a variety of locations, even driving his
van to the Arizona desert near Taliesin West leading to a most
colorful result . Regrettably, the main house was never built, but
the other segments of the complex that were completed consist of a
ridgetop stone and wood gatehouse and a small studio-retreat for
Eleanor perched on a nearby hill.
The Obolers lived in the gatehouse and other buildings for many
years. After he died in 1987, Eleanor remained briefly on the
property, then sold it to a new owner, who eventually plans to
restore the buildings . The buildings are in sad shape and are
still being prepared for restoration. The interior of the Retreat
has been stripped to check the structure after a fire. A caretaker
lives in the Gatehouse.
Comparing the challenges in his life to FLlW’s, Oboler
recounted, “A good friend of mine, Frank Lloyd Wright, had all the
trouble in his life architecturally that the world of 3-D has. But
he always stuck to the precept that you had to start not with the
concept of doing something madly, offbeat--but doing some thing
that was right for the purpose for which you were doing it; a
house, a museum. We talked about 3-D, because I was just starting
with it shortly before he died.”
