Clock's ticking for Neutra house

IT has been a tough year for the Neutra VDL Research House II, the fabled glass box overlooking Silver Lake reservoir. Already in need of costly repairs, the house where Richard Neutra lived and worked was damaged further by winter storms that overwhelmed its flat roof, poured rain into the walls and flooded the floors. Then a steady $10,000-a-year revenue stream used to pay for basic expenses dried up.

Now the house's owner, the nonprofit Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, has announced that it might be forced to sell the landmark and close it to the public if supporters can't raise upwards of $2 million by the end of next year.

"We need to find money," Sarah Lorenzen, the resident caretaker of the property, said as she carefully tried to push a loose piece of aluminum railing back onto a balcony. "The deadlines are very serious."

The deadlines in question were spelled out in a letter from Cal Poly Pomona President J. Michael Ortiz to Richard Neutra's son Raymond, who has until October to raise $30,000 for insurance, utilities and upkeep of the site through 2009. The letter said Neutra, who is spearheading efforts to raise money, has until December 2009 to raise $1 million for an endowment to cover future expenses. Supporters also hope to raise an additional $1 million to cover building repairs.

If fundraising is not successful, other options would be considered, wrote Ortiz, who has refused further comment. The VDL house website, www.neutra-vdl.org, states that if supporters fail to raise the initial $30,000 in time, "the building complex is threatened with closure, possible sale to a private party and quite possibly permanent loss of public and educational access."

At a time when architectural preservation is a growing movement, interest in midcentury modernism is booming, and Neutra houses are valued in the millions of dollars, the questions seem obvious: How did this site, where one of California's most influential modern architects worked for four decades, fall into such disrepair? And why would an educational and cultural institution be in such a rush to get rid of it?

"It's a result of benign neglect for the 20 years since my family donated the house to Cal Poly," says Neutra's son Dion, an architect who worked with his father to rebuild the house and studio after a 1963 fire destroyed the original 1932 VDL house. "The school never seemed to have the funds to care for it. Now there are statewide budget cuts, and, meanwhile, the house keeps degrading and the situation getting more drastic."