Enhancements

Don and Shirley Johnson, the second owners added a garden shed and a lattice wall. These are clearly non-Schindler, took up a lot of space, covered the view of the main house, and felt out of place. After looking at Schindler’s drawings, we decided to remove these along with the concrete steps leading down to the patio and the brickwork surrounding these steps. It should be noted that neither steps nor brickwork appears on the original drawings, though R.M. Schindler was known to leave things out of his drawings, and add things on depending on budget and need.

Here’s the demo and the layout for the new concrete steps.

Simplicity and keeping the design low to enhance the sense of openness was of essence. There was a moment of trepidation, but when the designer Michael Boyd suggested we imagine the new design could to fold into the house, I got it. The space has been transformed and the next step will include plants and a new fence.