Westside DIGS | Digital Edition Online

30 DIGS.NET | 12.9.2016 T he fact that James Goldstein acquired the John Lautner that bears his name seems less fitting than ordained. Lautner was, after all, the protégé of Prairie School proponent Frank Lloyd Wright. Goldstein, the expressively dressed millionaire whose eclectic interests include a keen eye for architecture, grew up in Wisconsin—one block from a Wright design inhabited by a schoolmate. Another of Wright's works, the Johnson Wax headquarters, was a stone's throw from the business Goldstein's father owned. Pegged a budding architect in his formative years, Goldstein strayed into other pursuits but never away from his passion for design, which only percolated. All roads eventually led Goldstein to the landmark Lautner, which he purchased in 1972—the culmination of a two-year search for more space than a high-rise apartment afforded his Afghan hound. At the time, Goldstein knew little of Lautner. What he did know was a long admiration for the house in the hills of Beverly Crest that California modernist Lautner originally designed in the early 1960s for Paul and Helen Sheats. What's more, it fulfilled all of Goldstein's basic requirements: "a good modern design with a view of the city and a swimming pool." It was, however, in escrow for another buyer. But when that deal fell through, the house fell into Goldstein's hands. Offering the full asking price is, he remembers, "one of the most important things I've ever done in my life." Another was bringing Lautner back into the fold for "one fairly small project in comparison to what I eventually ended up doing," says Goldstein of his 20-year collaboration with the architect who was "quite shocked at what had been done to the house" and worked with Goldstein on various projects and improvements until his death in 1994. "It wasn't a case of going back [to] John Lautner's original intention," he explains. "It was a case of going forward way beyond what was originally intended." Today, at roughly 5,000 square feet with eight rooms and features that include a TV screen that lowers from the ceiling and retractable parts of a glass roof, the James Goldstein Residence is hardly in want of space. The same cannot be said for Goldstein himself, however—the man has plans. Big ones. Ambitions that required he acquire the property adjacent to his own, with yet another John Lautner. But, "John was not proud of the house, and I didn't need two houses," says Goldstein, who is using the land to build an "entertainment and office complex," complete with a tennis court, his own nightclub and a huge terrace with dining facilities now under construction. It's all enough to make headlines, which Goldstein did earlier this year when he announced his decision to donate the James Goldstein Residence to LACMA, an institution that will preserve it for architectural tours, fashion shoots, movies and other like-minded interests rather than "having it pass on to some individual, and who knows what would happen to it," says Goldstein. Not after more than four decades of trying to "perfect" the place. Ironically, this latest development is fitting of Goldstein and his ultimate desire: to use the past to promote the future of design in Los Angeles and beyond. The James Goldstein Residence (from top) James Goldstein; the LED WALL in Club James; the view from the living room to all of L.A.; and the dining room and kitchen.

• Cover