Rare decor from Robert Winter’s bungalow headed to auction

In 1973, one of LA’s most important bungalows, the Arthur Jerome Eddy House, was demolished to make way for what the late architectural historian Robert Winter called “one of the ugliest apartment houses ever conceived by man.”

The razed Pasadena residence had been the work of Frederick Louis Roehrig, an architect and maker who had also crafted a number of iron table lamps for the home.

Winter rescued five of those lamps and placed them in his own Pasadena bungalow. Now they’re going up for sale at a Bonhams auction later this month, along with a number of other special pieces from Winter’s estate.

“To sell pieces from Dr. Winter, it’s truly an incredible privilege,” says Bonhams Los Angeles director Jason Stein. “He was such a pivotal figure for so many years in our architecture scene.”

The auction will feature 400 pieces pulled from galleries and private collections from across the U.S., Europe, and South America, spanning pivotal movements and genres, from Arts and Crafts to Art Deco to postmodern to contemporary.

Sixty-five of the pieces are California art or design by California makers, including a 1980s David Hockney painting of the intersection of La Cienega and Beverly Boulevard; a dining table and chairs by woodworker Sam Maloof; and a trunk, chest of drawers, and cupboard all whimsically hand-painted by potter Beatrice Wood.

“This is the first time—and I’ve done this for over 25 years—that I’ve ever seen Beatrice Wood furniture coming up for auction,” says Stein.

Stein, who curated the sale, says the Winter pieces are especially compelling and meaningful. For him, they struck a personal chord—and likely will with many Angelenos who have turned to Winter’s seminal An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles.

“I have sitting on my desk the guide to architecture, the first edition that my parents had, and when I got into design, my parents gave it to me,” Stein says.

From Winter’s own residence, Stein pulled a set of seven oak dining chairs, a Gustav Stickley chest of drawers, a pair of planters by Ernest Batchelder, a Rockwood vase decorated by Constance Baker, Roycroft candlesticks, and a delightfully futuristic clock from 1905, made by artist E.A. Taylor of oak, brass, and decorative enameled glass

Bonhams 2019 Modern Design Art Sale is set for Sunday, October 27 at 10 a.m. at 7601 West Sunset Boulevard.