Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz: A Street Profile of the Los Feliz Hills

Glendower Avenue is a curving hillside street in the Los Feliz Hills, inside a City-identified historic district below Griffith Observatory. It is home to the Ennis House by Frank Lloyd Wright, a City Historic-Cultural Monument. Two more City landmarks sit on the street, along with a 1951 house by R.M. Schindler. For a luxury buyer or seller, architecture is the headline on this street.

At Rooster Homes, we research a street like this before we tour it or price a home on it. This profile walks through what the City's own records say about Glendower Avenue. Every fact below is linked to its source the first time it appears.

"Los Feliz Hills" is the name this site uses for the hillside above Los Feliz Boulevard. It is not an official name. The City's SurveyLA report on Hollywood historic districts calls the heart of it the Los Feliz Heights Residential Historic District.

The survey draws that district from Nottingham Avenue on the west to Vermont Avenue on the east. It runs north from Los Feliz Boulevard to the edge of Griffith Park. It sits on a south-facing slope of Mt. Hollywood, in the shadow of Griffith Observatory.

Glendower Avenue runs through it. The survey's property list includes Glendower Avenue addresses from 2405 N to 2873 N, plus Glendower Place. Other streets in the same district include Cromwell Avenue, Bonvue Avenue and Glencairn Road. Chislehurst Drive and Catalina Street are in it too.

The district is large. The survey counts 317 properties, and 232 of them are contributors. That is about 73 percent. Its period of significance runs from 1920 to 1949.

For a wider look at the hillside, see our Los Feliz Hills neighborhood guide.

According to the same City survey, the land was subdivided in 1921 as Tracts 3733, 5337 and 4441. The developers were C.F. Cook, F.E. Woodley and William F. Thompson.

The hillside did not fill with one builder's plans. It was developed lot by lot. Each property owner hired an architect to design a house for that specific site. That is why the street feels so varied as you drive it.

The survey names the styles you will see across the district:

• American Colonial
• Spanish Colonial
• Mediterranean
• Tudor Revival

It also names architects whose work appears in the district. They include Paul R. Williams, Milton J. Black and Gordon Kaufmann. Wallace Neff and the firm of Morgan, Walls and Clements are named too. The survey names them for the district as a whole. It does not tie each one to a Glendower address, so any claim about a specific house needs its own record.

Early advertising for the tracts sold the setting. The survey says the ads touted the hillside, panoramic city views and easy access to Hollywood or downtown.

The Ennis House is the best-known home on the street. The Los Angeles Conservancy dates it to 1924 to 1926 and credits Frank Lloyd Wright. It is one of his textile block houses.

The block count is what stops people. The Conservancy reports that the house was built from more than 27,000 concrete blocks. Every block was made by hand, using decomposed granite taken from the site itself. The house is built from the ground it stands on.

The City lists it on its Historic-Cultural Monuments list as the Ennis-Brown House, HCM #149, at 2607 Glendower Avenue. The City designated it on March 3, 1976.

For anyone buying or selling nearby, the Ennis House shapes how the street is known. It also sets a high bar for how carefully the street's history is told in any listing.

The Ennis House has company. The City's landmark list and its survey of individual resources name several more houses on the street.

• Wirin House, 2622 Glendower Avenue. City Historic-Cultural Monument #812, designated July 8, 2005.
• Hlaffer-Courcier Residence, 2574 Glendower Avenue. Historic-Cultural Monument #1069, designated June 24, 2014. The City's SurveyLA individual resources report dates it to 1924 and calls it an excellent example of Storybook architecture in Los Feliz.
• Skolnik House, 2567 Glendower Avenue. Built in 1951. The survey identifies it as the work of master architect R.M. Schindler.
• 2405 Glendower Avenue. A 1926 house the survey calls an excellent example of Tudor Revival architecture in Los Feliz.

Put together, the street spans a wide range. A Storybook house from 1924 and a Wright textile block house from the same years sit on it. A Schindler house arrived in 1951.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216), and this is the kind of street-level research we bring to every home in the Los Feliz Hills.

The City survey describes the district's streets in some detail. The streets curve to follow the natural contours of the Hollywood foothills. Some lots enjoy expansive city views.

The survey also notes concrete sidewalks without parkways and period street lights. It points to mature trees, including cedar and carob. The district contains several public stairways as well.

Above it all sits Griffith Observatory. The Observatory opened on May 14, 1935, and its architects were John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley. The City lists it as Historic-Cultural Monument #168. Griffith Park itself is Historic-Cultural Monument #942.

The best known of the district's public stairways is the Los Feliz Heights Steps. The City lists them as Historic-Cultural Monument #657, designated October 14, 1998. The City's listing names locations on Cromwell Avenue, Bonvue Avenue and Glencairn Road, among others.

Those streets sit in the same district as Glendower Avenue. For anyone touring the area, they are worth adding to the route.

A home on this street can carry more history than most. Here are the questions we help buyers answer:

• Is the house a Historic-Cultural Monument? Check the City's landmark list by address.
• Is it a contributor to the Los Feliz Heights district? The survey's property list shows each address.
• Is it listed on its own in the survey? The individual resources report names a style and sometimes an architect.
• Who designed it? Look for a record that ties the architect to that exact address.
• How does the lot sit on the hill? Walk the site, the view and the approach from the street.

Our guide to buying a home in the Los Feliz Hills covers how we plan a hillside search. For the broader picture, see Buying a Luxury Home in Los Feliz. On this site, luxury starts at about $2 million.

This article explains how the research works. It is not legal advice. For questions about the rules on a landmark property, talk with your attorney and the City as well.

1. Pull the City records. Check the landmark list, the district property list and the individual resources report for the address.
2. Confirm the style and date. Use the survey's own words where they exist, such as Storybook or Tudor Revival.
3. Tie any architect to a source. Name an architect only when a record links that person to that house.
4. Tell the setting accurately. The curving streets, the views and the nearby steps come straight from the City survey.
5. Show the home in 3D from day one. Rooster Homes shoots Matterport tours in-house, so buyers can study a hillside floor plan before they visit.
6. Keep the seller informed. Under the Rooster Update Standard, the seller gets a real, specific update after every showing and open house.

Sellers can see how we prepare a hillside home in our guide to selling a home in the Los Feliz Hills. Our Selling a Luxury Home page covers the full plan.

• Use the City's name for the district. Los Feliz Hills is a common name. The records use Los Feliz Heights, so search both.
• Cite the source for every date. Sources sometimes disagree on a famous house. We use one clear source and link it.
• Keep district architects general. The survey names architects for the district as a whole. Tie a name to a house only with a record for that house.
• Describe the house and the street. Style, date, views and setting tell the story best.
• See it in person. Slope, light and the view from each room come through best on the ground.

Here are three hypothetical examples, meant to show how the research plays out.

A buyer who loves 1920s revival architecture. The district's period of significance runs from 1920 to 1949, and Glendower Avenue holds Storybook and Tudor Revival examples. We would pull the survey record for each house on the tour list. Then we would compare how each one sits on its lot.

A seller whose house is a contributor to the district. The listing would open with the City's own description of the district and the street. We would shoot a Matterport tour on day one. After every showing, the seller would hear what buyers said and what it means for the next step.

A buyer relocating from out of state. Start with the district map and the City records to narrow the search. Study the 3D tours from home. Then plan one visit that covers Glendower Avenue, the nearby steps and the view toward the Observatory.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). We explain the history behind every street and every number, and we keep the pace education-first.

For sellers, the work starts with a same-day kickoff. Escrow, HOA documents and disclosures move within hours of signing. From day one on, we stay involved, with weekly progress updates through closing. You can see each step in our listing process.

When you are ready to talk about a home on Glendower Avenue, contact Rooster Homes and let us know what works best for you. We will coordinate our schedule around yours.