While watching The Big Lebowski, maybe you wondered about the striking house that the movie featured as the home of Jackie Treehorn. Or perhaps you caught a glimpse of it on Season 7 of Selling Sunset. Wherever you may have seen it, this iconic home is the Sheats-Goldstein Residence, located in the hills of Beverly Crest, Los Angeles.
The History of the Sheats-Goldstein Residence
Painter Helen Carolyn (née Johnson) Taylor Sheats and her husband, UCLA Professor and Dean of University Extension, Paul Henry Sheats, commissioned John Lautner to design them a home in the hills of Beverly Crest. Lautner designed and constructed the home between 1961 and 1963.
Materials include poured-in-place concrete, wood, glass, and steel. Along with the building itself, Lautner also designed its furniture, rugs and lighting. In fact, even some of the furnishings are concrete, and literally built into the structure of the house (certainly a way to guarantee one’s clients would use one’s furniture!).
The home traded hands a couple of times over the subsequent years. In 1972, fashion designer and real estate investor James F. Goldstein purchased it.
At the time, the house was already in poor condition. Goldstein hired Lautner to restore it and add some new features. They worked on remodeling it for the next two decades. Among the luxurious features Goldstein added are a nightclub and an art installation by James Turrell called Above Horizon.
A Master Course in Organic Design
For all its Hollywood grandeur, the Sheats-Goldstein Residence has a kind of modesty. It doesn’t impose itself on its surroundings. Lautner designed the Sheats-Goldstein Residence to blend in instead. He drew inspiration from the site’s sandstone ledge. The angled roofline of the home looks almost like part of the landscape jutting out from among the dense foliage, some of which has been encouraged to grow over part of the house.
Glass walls throughout the home ensure minimal separation between indoors and outdoors. Continuation of lines, planes and materials furthers the illusion that one is always outside. In the photo above, one might mistake this sitting room for part of the patio at first glance. Notice the unique little skylights. Those were made by installing 750 cast drinking glasses.
Some of the glass walls in the home can be retracted to provide cross-breezes for passive cooling. The views of Los Angeles and the surrounding hills are some of the best in the city. The four acres on which the home is situated also offer a tranquil moss garden and a relaxing swimming pool.
What is Next for the Sheats-Goldstein Residence?
Goldstein promised the Sheats-Goldstein Residence to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), along with Lautner’s architectural models, Goldstein’s art collection, and his 1961 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. Regular visits are not allowed, but the home does occasionally open to the public for limited tours and events.
Sheats-Goldstein Residence FAQ
- Who designed the Sheats-Goldstein Residence, and when was it built? The house was designed by renowned architect John Lautner and originally constructed for the Sheats family in the early 1960s, with the residence completed in 1963. It’s considered one of the finest examples of Lautner’s organic modernist style, blending poured-in-place concrete, glass, and dramatic angular forms with the surrounding hillside landscape.
- Who owns the residence today? James Goldstein purchased the home in 1972 and spent decades working directly with Lautner to expand and refine it until the architect’s death in 1994. Goldstein remains the property’s steward, continuing renovations with Lautner’s former associates.
- Is it true the house is being donated to a museum? Yes — in 2016, Goldstein made the decision to donate the residence to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The gift includes the surrounding estate and its contents, such as architectural models, a vintage Rolls-Royce, and artwork. The goal is to preserve the property as a public architectural landmark for future generations.
- What else is on the property besides the main house? Beyond the original residence, the estate has grown to include a guest house, tennis court, and nightclub-style entertainment space known as Club James, plus a James Turrell Skyspace art installation. These additions were designed to stay true to Lautner’s original architectural language.
- Can the public visit the Sheats-Goldstein Residence? The home isn’t open for regular visits yet, but guided tours are periodically offered by organizations like the A+D Museum, along with occasional tours from architecture and design groups. Ticket availability and pricing vary by event, so it’s worth checking with the hosting organization directly for current tour dates.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Hotel Lautner: Well-Preserved Architecture + Hollywood Luxury and The Bob Hope House: A John Lautner-designed Mod Masterpiece.
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