los angeles
architecture
the
strick house
michael boyd and gabrielle doré
interview by OLIVIER ZAHM
photography by OLIVIER ZAHM
All pictures of the Strick House copyright Niemeyer, Oscar / ADAGP, Paris, 2018
The Strick House in Santa Monica, by the legendary Brazilian modernist Oscar Niemeyer, architect of the capital city Brasília, was the only residential structure he built in the United States, from which he was banned because of his communist politics. Niemeyer designed it from photographs and oversaw the construction via telephone and many letters. Several years ago, a developer bought the house, planning to raze it, and started to destroy the garden. Michael Boyd and his wife Gabrielle Doré heard about the endangered house on the day they were closing on the sale of their townhouse in Manhattan. The next day, Michael was on a plane to Los Angeles on a mission to save the house. He…