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26 DIGS.NET | 1.28.2022 S W E E T D I G S | 4 2 7 B E LO I T A V E N U E M A R K E T architecture certainly found many awe-inspiring expressions around the world, in few places did its philosophy echo the zeit- geist as it did in California. Fueled by the latest technologies, including aerospace, mass production and, eventually, comput- ers, the West Coast has always been fertile ground for innovative ideas. Modernism's strong designs and its focus on the future dovetailed with the area's rapid growth, creating the ideal back- drop against which to flourish. It was an environment that proved catnip to architecture's most nimble minds. Richard Neutra's work stood out even among this legendary group. Many of the ideas he incorporated, radical at the time, anticipated how we live today. Witness this home at 427 Beloit Avenue in Brentwood. Richard Neutra created the Douglas fir Plywood Demonstration House for the 1936 California House and Garden Exhibition. The house was raffled at the end of the show and won by attorney Stella Gramer, who, working with Architect Harwell Hamilton Harris, had it moved to the beautiful site it sits on today. The home remains as compelling, exciting and, indeed, as relevant as it was when it was first revealed to the public. Finding its way to market for the first time since 1950, the structure has received few updates, a testament to the German-born archi- tect's progressive ideas and his innate understanding of the California lifestyle. (To give further credence to his vision, the house would spark the Case Study House Program a decade later; the editor of Arts & Architecture, the magazine that spon- sored the program, was John Entenza, the son of Gramer's law partner. Neutra, naturally, was one of the marquee participants; he designed Case Study House #20.) Like his peers, Neutra championed the use of simple materials and straightforward construction. While many of his contem- poraries undertook to blur the line between indoors and out, Neutra took that idea one step further. Harkening back to his apprenticeship under renowned landscape designer Gustav Ammann, he strove to create a harmonious relationship between the structures he designed and their environment. He consid- ered his homes "machines in the garden": useful, spare and functional, free of needless decoration or extraneous embellish- ments. Yet, spare did not mean spartan. Neutra's aim was to create peaceful environments that would serve as a respite from the chaos of everyday life. The seamless flow between indoors and out suggested nature was the remedy; in his eyes, the beauty of the natural world was imperative to a happy well-cen- tered life. A simple metal clad solid core door marks the entry to the property. Chosen as much for its simplicity as for its security, it merges with the neatly trimmed greenery, deftly dividing the property from the street. Along with a garage, the simple street view belies the expansive two lot garden space that hides behind the gated facade. Architect Harwell Hamilton Harris worked with Gramer to perfectly position the home, orienting it towards its most serene vision. "It backs up to a hillside and the Golf Course so you really have the feeling of a park-like atmosphere," notes realtor Crosby Doe. The original residence sits on one lot while an artist's studio, also designed by Neutra, sits on the other. Created for the home's most recent owners, William Brice, the son of the comedian Fanny Brice (immortalized by Barbra Streisand in "Funny Girl" and its sequel "Funny Lady"), it's perfectly positioned a discrete distance away from the main house and can easily be used as a studio space, a class room, a gym, or converted into another house with a completely sepa- rate address. MODERNIST