Chemosphere by John Lautner

A Flying Saucer on a Stick

Look up from Mulholland Drive and you’ll spot what appears to be a UFO that crashed into the hillside. The eight-sided structure floats 30 feet above the ground, balanced on what looks like an impossibly thin concrete post. This is the Chemosphere, and it’s been turning heads since 1960.

John Lautner spent weeks walking the property at night, chain-smoking and trying to solve the puzzle. The lot sat at a 45-degree angle. Building retaining walls and platforms would eat up the entire budget. His client, Leonard Malin, had only $30,000. The conventional approach wouldn’t work.

Lautner’s answer was to build up, not out. A single concrete column, 5 feet wide at the top, anchored by a 20-foot-diameter pedestal buried underground. The house itself weighs down on the column like a mushroom cap. The design cut costs in half and left the hillside intact.

Getting There

The house sits behind and above 7776 Torreyson Drive. You can’t miss it once you know where to look. From the street, you see the underside of the octagon and the concrete shaft disappearing into the slope.

The owners park below and ride a funicular up to the entrance. A small concrete patio connects one side of the house to the hill. The rest hangs in space, held up by engineering and math.

Inside the Octagon

The floor plan is simple. 2,200 square feet wrapped around a central brick fireplace. Glass windows ring the perimeter, giving views in every direction. The San Fernando Valley spreads out below like a map.

The original owner lived here with his wife and four children until 1972. The house changed hands several times, fell into disrepair, then got rescued by German publisher Benedikt Taschen in 1998. His restoration team worked from Lautner’s original plans, adding modern materials that didn’t exist in 1960.

Why It Matters

The Chemosphere became a LA Historic-Cultural Monument in 2004. The LA Times named it one of the city’s top 10 houses. You’ve probably seen it in movies: Body Double used it as the villain’s lair, Charlie’s Angels featured it as a tech genius’s hideout, The Simpsons turned it into Troy McClure’s mansion.

But its real importance lies in the problem it solved. Cities keep expanding into difficult terrain. Lautner showed that you don’t have to bulldoze a hillside flat to build on it. You can work with the land instead of against it.

While tours aren’t available, it’s a famous architectural landmark featured in films and remains a private home, so respectful viewing from public areas is the way to go.