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Frank Lloyd Wright Travel: The Precariously Perched Mansion

High on a haunted hill, Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House just got a reprieve. In danger of crumbling completely after a 1994 earthquake and a rainy 2005, a restoration project has shored up the delapidated-but-distinctive concrete block mansion near Griffith Park.

The Ennis House has appeared in lots of movies and TV shows (Blade Runner, Predator 2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to name a few), but its on-screen glamour can't conceal the fact that it suffers from the same thing plaguing the campus of Florida Southern College: Wright's avant-garde construction wasn't always time-tested. That didn't keep the architect from hyping the building in a 1924 letter to its owners, of course:

You see, the final result is going to stand on that hill a hundred years or more. Long after we are gone it will be pointed out as the Ennis House and pilgrimages will be made to it by lovers of the beautiful--from everywhere.

And while Wright's prediction turned out to be true, keep in mind that there aren't any tours or other activities happening. But if history is any guide, going to see the Ennis House now--while its still standing--might not be a bad idea.

Related Stories:
· The Ennis House Foundation [Official Site]
· Frank Lloyd Wright coverage [Jaunted]
· Frank Lloyd Wright Map [Jaunted]

[Photo: jplouis]