Bargain of the Year?

Not prolific like Wright or Neutra, nor flashy like Ellwood or Lautner, Rudolph Schindler’s Los Angeles designs nonetheless stand out as phenomenally innovative, for the mid-century and for today.

A modest-sized and -priced example of that genius is currently listed in the middle-class suburb preferred by many a celebrity, Sherman Oaks. Add to that a masterful restoration by Michael LaFetra, replete with a sizeable tax benefit, and the Harry J. Wolff House (1938) at $1.5 million looks like the modern-home collector’s bargain of the year.

"I would say it’s a bargain," says realtor Louis DeLaura, who listed the two-bed, two-bath in June at $1,499,000 for Sotheby’s International Realty in Malibu. The seller bought the home from LaFetra in 2006 for $1.425 million and basically left LaFetra’s restoration untouched, the realtor said.

"My understanding is, he did a lot," DeLaura said of LaFetra, referring further questions about the restoration of 4000 Sunnyslope Avenue to him.

"We did everything," LaFetra slightly overstated in a subsequent email interview. Noting that the work was guided by Schindler’s notes, blueprints, and historical photographs, he continued, "We removed carpeting, ‘80s faux-deco black granite bathrooms, a staircase…and brought back the breezeway.

"The interior of the house was white paint everywhere, and we removed it all, revealing the original ‘salmon’ plaster color," he said of the architect’s trademark ‘plaster shell’ design. "We also replaced everything in the kitchen, applying linoleum countertops [common in 1938], which seem to have held up pretty well!"

A native Angeleno, LaFetra is known for having restored more than a dozen stylish homes in the area over the past two decades, including three by John Lautner and one each by Richard Neutra, Pierre Koenig, A. Quincy Jones, Thornton Abell, and Paul Williams.

"This was my first Schindler, followed closely by the How House restoration," he said referring to a 1925 Schindler construction near Silver Lake. He punctuated with a smiling emoji and added, "It will most likely not be my last."