While some homes are built quickly and lack original floor plans other homes are designed and constructed to be architecturally awe inspiring. California is one such state filled with homes featuring design elements, awe inspiring views and plenty of other attributes catering to design fans, and now plenty of those jaw dropping homes are on the market at highly discounted properties.
By this point, most Americans are well aware that the country is in a recession and the crumbling real estate market is partially to blame. Throughout the nation there is a surplus of inventory and very few takers of the current offerings. Despite the historically low mortgage rates, most fragments of the real estate market have experienced financial retractions, and the luxury home market is no exception.
Recently, real estate research site Trulia.com reported that 25 percent of all of the nation's home sellers have slashed their listing prices in July. Not only are moderately sized single-family homes substantially less money than in previous years, but luxury homes, McMansions, celebrity homes and even architectural treasures have been subject to discounts as well.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis House
Wright was an American born architect that was well known as the leader of the Prairie School design movement. His work evolved and the talent also developed his own technique called the textile block system. This system involved constructing buildings out of precast concrete blocks featuring patterned and square-like exterior surfaces. Fans of the artist can now score a 50 percent off bargain on the infamous Ennis house. The Los Feliz home was built in 1924, and was featured in the sci-fi classic "Blade Runner." Last summer the house was originally listed at $15 million, however the price has been slashed to $7.5 million.
Rudolph Schindler, How House
Schindler was born in Austria and over time his architectural styling became part of the Los Angles landscape during the early to mid-twentieth century. This mastermind focused his efforts on concrete construction, and one of the greatest examples of his efforts, the How House in Silver Lake, is on the market. The home was originally offered for sale at a $5 million price tag (2008) however since then, the price has been dropped to a nearly affordable $1.9 million.
Pierre Koenig's Bailey House, West Hollywood
Between 1945 and 1966, Arts & Architecture magazine, commissioned architects to experiment with American residential architecture. These efforts resulted in the construction of Case Study houses primarily in California (Los Angeles and San Francisco) as well as one home in Phoenix, Arizona. One such home called Case Study House No. 21 (AKA Bailey House) and was designed by American architect Pierre Koenig. The home was constructed in 1958 and sold for $3.2 million after only being listed for a week in 2006. The house is currently for sale.
Whether the imagination of certain architects was fueled by Author Ayn Rand's Fountainhead or they inspired her work, the crown jewels of home design can be found for sale on the local multiple listing services in town. While buying a slice of art history will require most individuals to acquire a jumbo loan, the reductions in home prices have helped bring the sticker prices back to earth.
