Lovell Beach House, Newport Beach

The Lovell Beach House is located on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, California. The building was completed in 1926 and is now recognized as one of the most important works by architect Rudolf Schindler, second only to the Schindler House, built four years earlier for his family as a show house and studio. Both of these early houses by Schindler are considered landmarks of early modern architecture in America.
The residence is on the ocean front, not far from The Wedge at Newport Harbor, in a tightly packed neighborhood of buildings. The house is sheltered from the street on the west side by raising the living quarters above the ground level. The open space below reveals the reinforced concrete frames that were formed in the shape of a figure 8. Two stairways pass through the openings in the frames leading to the kitchen and the main entry. The garage is on the north side of the ground floor and the garden is on the south side, between the house and the beach.

The interior is arranged around a two-story living/dining room, with full height, curtain wall windows on the east and south side facing the ocean. The kitchen and breakfast area are located on the north side of the first floor, with a terrace on the ocean side over the garden. Lamps and built-in furniture were provided as part of the original design. Bedrooms on the second floor are connected by a corridor overlooking the main living room. Each of the bedrooms originally had access to an open sleeping porch, but these were enclosed by Schindler in 1928.