Starlet House
Presenting Starlet House, architect Gordon Hartley’s ode to Richard Neutra’s Case Study House #6.
Recently replicated in full for a Hollywood TV series, the home’s pitched roof and timber post-and-beam language hold a cinematic allure, marrying the vivacious spirit of California modernism with a deep west-coast reverence for nature. A skylit entry court sets the stage, illuminating a pathway lined by a delicate garden planter. Harnessing regional materials like cedar, granite, and glass, the residence masterfully adapts Neutra’s modernist ethos to the ambiance of the north shore. Indoors, vast window walls span three levels, framing a tranquil garden patio and verdant site beyond.
A seamless blend of mid-century modern and west coast sensibility, the home awaits its next custodian.
On Richard Neutra’s architecture:
“Merges clean lines, common-sense convenience and liberating openness of style with the warm overtones of home.”
– Time magazine, August 1949
“Neutra's work is a methodical search for a supple, organic algorithm for living, not a series of one-off solution.”
– Neutra Complete Works, Taschen, 2010
661 E Windsor Rd
North Vancouver, BC
Neighbourhood
Princess Park
Designer
Gordon Hartley
Designed and Built
1961
Price
$2,495,000
Specification
Mid-century Modern
Program
West Coast Modern
Floors
3 Split-levels
Rooms
4 Bed 3 Bath
Building
2,211 sqft
Lot
8,712 sqft
On Richard Neutra’s Case Study House #6:
Presented early in the case study program of Arts & Architecture magazine in October 1945 issue, it presents one of the most innovative design concepts in the series... and was one of the few Case Study Houses that was never built.
Characteristic of Neutra’s work, CSH #6 was planned with a gently sloping flat roof and overhanging projections. A well-landscaped ‘entrance court’ allowed for homeowner privacy and a quiet yet impressive approach for guests.
Though CSH #6 was never realized, it was an innovative design for the time and truly took advantage of indoor-outdoor living, functional efficiency and beautiful lines.
Richard Neutra on Case Study House #6’s flat roof system:
“‘Flat’ seems to have two meanings. When people talk of a flat roof they often mean one thing, while I probably mean another. You see, ‘flat’ may mean horizontal. But to follow me more easily, think of it first as ‘without relief or prominence’... In other words, no plastic, three dimensional protrusion—but the whole thing being simply with one single plane! A pancake could be tilted to any angle, yet it is still flat, isn’t it?”
— Richard Neutra, October 1945
On Richard Neutra’s influence on West Coast Style:
Richard Neutra was invited by B.C. Binning to give a series of lectures at the UBC in 1946 and 1953, which had a sustained and perceptible impact on the generation that followed and inspired an entire generation of young architects like Arthur Erickson and Ron Thom, who attended the lectures. In these lectures, Neutra examined landscape design as an extension of architecture and emphasized the importance of site for West Coast architectural design.
The Neutra lectures were important events in the development of modernism in the late 1940s and early 1950s in Vancouver. These influences created a fertile environment for the emergence of a uniquely Vancouver style of modern architecture, which would come to be known as the West Coast Style.
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