The house above, named the Chemospere, resembled nothing as much as a UFO. In 1960, aerospace engineer Leonard Malin inherited land on a steep hillside that would be hard to build on. He enlisted architect John Lautner, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, to build the home. It was later the scene of a real murder, and in 1984 was the setting of Brian De Palma's movie Body Double.
The Chemosphere is only one of a list of seven glorious modernist houses that were so striking that they made it into the movies. Five of the homes were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright or architects who trained under him. Another is the Hollyhock House, built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1922.
If this home strikes you as some kind of ancient temple, you're not the only one to see the resemblance. It was used as a temple in the 1989 movie Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death. Really.
Read about all seven homes, their distinguished design history, and their movie fame, at Messy Nessy Chic.
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