{"nrhp_refnum":"71000151","name":"Sowden, John, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5121 Franklin Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Los Angeles","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.10555620800005,"lon":-118.30091960099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-07-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 6,500 square foot private residence at 5121 Franklin Avenue in Los Angeles, California, built in 1926 and designed by architect Lloyd Wright.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a unique work of art that combines plain planar wall surfaces with dense ornament, recalling Mexican Plateresque design. It treats Lloyd Wright's textured concrete block work as highly personal, related to German Expressionism and influenced by Irving Gill and Frank Lloyd Wright. The result is described as an almost unclassifiable and highly original design.","narrative":"Built in 1926 at 5121 Franklin Avenue in Los Angeles, this 6,500 square foot house was designed by Lloyd Wright. It sits above street level and is reached by scissor stairs. The facade has two planar stucco walls with a stair between them, and two chevron-shaped masses of textured concrete block above the entrance form a rail and hood for a recessed balcony. The plan is a rectangular ring of rooms around a large central court measuring 22 by 68 feet. The court once held a pool with two block pylons that formed a water organ, since removed along with some ornament. The house was nominated as an unusual work of architecture that pairs sheer walls with dense ornament, a separation compared to Mexican Plateresque design. Its architect drew on his father Frank Lloyd Wright and on Irving Gill, yet the nomination describes the result as highly original and almost unclassifiable. The major rooms remain essentially as built.","period_of_significance":"1926","architect_builder":"Lloyd Wright, architect","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and altered; the original site is retained. The court pool, the water organ pylons and some ornament have been removed, but the major rooms are essentially as built. Present use is private residence.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.403931-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/71000151.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000151/515a6d2429-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000151/515a6d2429-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Los Angeles","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Sowden_House,_Los_Angeles.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Sowden_House,_Los_Angeles.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859534","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sowden_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6258545"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/sowden-john-house-71000151/"}