New To Market: Schindler's Van Dekker Residence in Woodland Hills

We always find it a bit worrisome when brokers post archive photos rather than current ones. The house itself is gorgeous, but we're concerned when the agent describes it as a "modern ruin." The listing tells us the house "remains intact in virtually original condition, untouched but for the ravages of the elements." The house was built in 1939-40 for a Hollywood actor and his family and the seven-bedroom, four-bath home "departs from the language of flat roofs and plaster skin, introducing asymmetrical copper-clad gables, exposed wood interiors, blue-green flagstone patios and fireplace inglenooks in a nod toward Wright’s Taliesin West." A 2001 ArtForum article sheds a little more light on the state of the home: "Maintenance has not been a priority for the elderly owner, and the stonework and fireplace, cobwebs, crumbling ruins, and myriad kitty cats give the visitor an instant downed-bomber-pilot-hiding-out-in French-country-barn feeling." The house is 2,300 square feet on almost half an acre in Woodland Hills." And it sounds like a great restoration project in the right hands. Asking price: $995,000. [Photography: Courtesy of the Architecture & Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara]
· Albert Van Dekker Residence (1939- 40) [TVOA]