1933 Los Feliz House by Bullock's Wilshire's Interior Designer Asking $1.7 Million

Jock Peters isn't exactly a household name, but there was a time when he sat on panels about architecture with his Modernist contemporaries Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra. Though Peters was a working architect, he first made a name for himself doing the stunning interiors of the first three floors of the fabulous Bullock's Wilshire, according to an LA Times article from 1984. From there, he went on to design a couple houses, one of which is this Los Feliz property originally built in 1933 for cinematographer Alfred Gilks, who worked on both silents and talkies, and won an Oscar for An American in Paris. It's now for sale for the first time in 60 years, attests the listing.

Sure, the gutters seem to be in dire need of cleaning and the exterior could use a coat of paint, but set foot inside and it's obvious that Peters mixed "principals of modernism with flowing elements of art deco design" in all the right ways. The house's original goodies remain, from the handsome built-in drawers and bureaus in pretty much every room to the mural painted by WPA artist Buckley MacGurrin, who also created murals in the LA County Museum of Art and at the Hall of Records. Outside, there's a partially covered patio and landscaping that incorporates mature fruit trees. Sited just off Vermont, north of Los Feliz Boulevard, the four-bedroom dwelling is asking $1.675 million.

· 4600 Gainsborough [Official site]