SPECIAL – Iconic Dreams North America - Sleep in an Iconic House!

Always wanted to sleep in a museum? Now's your chance! Iconic Houses' members include an exclusive selection of museum homes that you can rent for a holiday. Most houses served as weekend or holiday homes for their owners, giving architects more creative freedom. These well designed, authentic, and often experimental houses have wonderful stories to tell.

The houses are popular with architecture enthusiasts, so early booking is recommended. Here is a selection of highlights in North America, ranging from a villa in the Hollywood Hills to a simple wooden weekend and holiday home on Cape Cod. For the iconic homes where you can stay overnight in Europe, follow this link.

It is also great to see that by renting these houses you contribute to the preservation of this architectural heritage for future generations. It is a win-win situation where you not only get a unique experience, but also play an important role in the preservation of cultural heritage.

We’ve arranged the houses below for you chronologically from oldest to youngest. And we look forward to introducing more iconic holiday homes to you soon!

We want your tips!
We’re always looking out for new and inspiring examples. So, if you know a unique and unmissable house from the 20th century that is open for visits or to stay in overnight, please tell us about it by mailing info@iconichouses.org. Thanks for your suggestions!

New at Iconic Houses!
Cossitt Cottage, San Diego, 1910
Cossitt Cottage is one of the earliest examples of modern architecture built. It is also one of a set of four adjacent and nearly identical homes designed by Irving J. Gill for Frederick and Mary Cossitt in 1910 in progressive Southern California. The design of the Cossitt Cottages are distinctly modern cubes and are carefully grouped in a composition designed to take advantage of San Diego’s unique bucolic canyon environment. 
While conforming to the strong geometry of cubic forms, their unique siting along a canyon edge also provides the homes with abundant access to sunlight and fresh air. Gill was a master of zoned living and provided spatial and experiential variety. He has provided the house with dynamic shared spaces, semi-private outdoor spaces, private outdoor spaces, as well as shared and private indoor spaces.

Fitzpatrick-Leland House, Los Angeles, CA, 1936
The Fitzpatrick-Leland House, designed by Rudolph Schindler, was originally commissioned in 1936 by developer Clifton Fitzpatrick to attract buyers to the area. Set on the edge of a cliff, the dramatic L-shaped home commands a strong presence along the slope of Laurel Canyon and Mulholland Drive, capturing the eye with its interplay of protruding canopies and the volumes beneath. The living room features tall ceilings, ample views of the canyon and direct access to the front garden— blurs the boundary between internal and external spatial conditions—while a perpendicular two-story wing makes up the rest of the house.

Pearl M. Mackey Apartments, Los Angeles, CA, 1939
Designed by Rudolph Schindler in 1939 for Pearl M. Mackey, the Mackey Apartments are made up of five units distinguished by flat surface planes, expansive windows, and “boxy” volume. Located on a flat lot in a residential neighborhood, the building is one of a series of residential projects built by Schindler in the 1930s. The Mackey possesses typical Schindler characteristics: compact apartment layouts, exceptional incorporation of natural light, built-in furniture, variable ceiling heights, and private outdoor gardens or mini-balconies. Today, the Mackey provides residential space for the emerging artists and architects participating in the six-month MAK Center Artist and Architects-in-Residence program.

MHA Site Office, Los Angeles, CA, 1947
The MHA Site Office , the first structure built in Crestwood Hills for the post-war cooperative housing effort formerly known as Mutual Housing Association, springs from a concrete masonry abutment to cantilever on steel beams over a wooded canyon. Architects A. Quincy Jones, Whitney R. Smith, and structural engineer Edgardo Contini, a joint venture, created nine basic floor plans with bravado characteristic of the immediate post-war period. On 800 acres, eventually eighty of the original MHA designs were constructed. Today only thirty remain with nineteen declared cultural/historic monuments with the City of Los Angeles, including the MHA Site Office.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mäntylä, Acme, PA, 1952
Mäntylä, a grand Usonian house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Lindholm family in Cloquet, MN, now resides at Polymath Park along with the Duncan House, also designed by Wright and two designed by his apprentice Peter Berndston: the Blum House (1963) and Balter House (1964), both. All houses are available for an immersive overnight stay and tours.

Weidlinger House, Wellfleet, MA, 1953
Designed by pioneering engineer Paul Weidlinger and built in 1953, the Weidlinger House has been vacant and in danger of demolition since the late 1990s. In 2012 the Cape Cod Modern House Trust (CCMHT) obtained a lease and has begun restoration which concluded summer 2014. From a boat on the pond, Paul Weidlinger’s summerhouse looks like a white box floating high above the ground. Like his friend Breuer’s house, across the pond, it serves as a hovering platform for viewing nature. Anchored on concrete piers at the higher end of the slope, the house shoots out over stilts of increasing height until it is suspended in mid-air for a commanding view.

Case Study House #26, San Rafael, CA, 1962
Case Study House #26 in San Rafael is one of the last built houses of the influential post-war Case Study House Program, sponsored by the Arts & Architecture magazine. It is the only Case Study House designed by Beverley Thorne (1924-2017), who designed more than 150 houses in California, mostly framed in steel and on difficult sites. The timeless design is based on a simple concept, basically a shoebox comprised of 8 identical 10-foot bays, covered with a flat roof. The social spaces are accentuated by a double height space, whose dramatic roof follows the slope of the lot. Despite the difficult terrain, this design required minimal excavation. Smart design and orientation allow daylight to enter the home at any time of day and create a special atmosphere.

The Plant at Kyle, Austin, TX, 1990
Built in 1990 by Lake Flato Architects, The Plant at Kyle (aka the Carraro residence) near Kyle, Texas is a primary source of what is now recognized as the Texas architectural vernacular. The 1920s Alamo Cement Plant in San Antonio was dismantled, relocated as an eight-bay steel-frame shed cut into three pavilions, and overlayed with local materials. The Z-shaped plan includes a central building, clad in a galvanized skin, with a bedroom and study a screened volume enclosing a stone kitchen and living area and covered parking that now houses a pool. The current owners make the house available for tours, vacations, and event rentals.

Posted April 18, 2024