John Edward Lautner (1911 – 1994) was one of the most significant architects to have worked in Los Angeles. A disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, he designed from the inside out, often blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor with his use of materials and emphasis on Page 3 transparency. The James Goldstein House enjoys spectacular views over the Los Angeles basin, encompassing the Pacific shoreline and stretching to the hills and mountains.
John Lautner designed over 200 architectural projects during his career, but many designs for larger buildings were never realised. In the architectural press his extant body of work has been dominated by his domestic commissions; although he designed numerous commercial buildings including Googie's, Coffee Dan's and Henry's restaurants, the Beachwood Market, Desert Hot Springs Motel, and the Lincoln Mercury Showroom in Glendale, sadly, several of these buildings have since been demolished. With a handful of exceptions (e.g. the Arango Residence in Acapulco, the Turner House in Aspen, Colorado, the Harpel House #2 in Anchorage, Alaska, the Ernest Lautner house in Pensacola, Florida) nearly all of Lautner's extant buildings are in California, mostly in and around Los Angeles.
The Sheats Goldstein Residence is a house designed and built between 1961 and 1963 a short distance from the Beverly Hills border. The home was originally built for Helen and Paul Sheats and their three children. Helen, an artist, and Paul, a university professor, had previously commissioned Lautner for the 1948-1949 Sheats Apartments project located in Westwood adjacent to UCLA.
