Mid-century modern in Mt. Washington is nominated as monument

The result was a dramatic Mid Century house where the Jing's raised a family. Now, that home has been nominated as a Los Angeles historic landmark - with the current owner’s help.

The Fong Q. and Lorraine Jing, Jr. House sits midway up a hillside on Palmero Drive. The entrance is a steep, winding driveway that passes under a broad, cantilevered balcony - one of the striking horizontal planes that characterize the design.

In the nomination, architect and landscape designer Virginia Paca called the house “an exceptional example of the Mid-Century Modern style of post war 'Organic Architecture' as described by Frank Lloyd Wright.” She added, “Earl Wear was one of a small class of California master architects who perfected the style during the post-war period.”

The Jing House was Earl Wear’s second commission, but it was the first that started with his own original design.

His goal was to make the  hillside three-bedroom look like it grew out of the landscape, Paca said. So the house was designed specifically for the site, the building materials were kept limited and plain - concrete masonry and stained wood. The interior flows freely, with level changes, wall openings and lowered ceilings unfolding the rooms to each other - and large windows and shared materials opening the inside to the outside.

“It embodies the distinctive characteristics of post war organic architecture, incorporating all of the elements specific to the mid-century style,” Paca said. “These include the use of simple geometric volumes, a lack of ornamentation on surfaces, the use of natural materials (stained redwood and painted concrete block), exposed structural elements, integration into the steep hillside terrain, flat roofs with wide, overhanging eaves, visual and physical connection to the outdoors through floor-to-ceiling windows and doors, patios and cantilevered decks, and a strong horizontal massing.”

. Dr. Jing was born in Fresno of of Chinese descent. His wife was Caucasian. Although Dr. Jing’s job was in Glendale, race laws did not allow him to live there, and homes in other upscale areas were similarly off-limits, Peca stated.  

A fan of Wright’s work, Dr. Jing met and collaborated with the young Earl Wear. The home was constructed and completed in 1958 by the Holland Dutch Building Company. The Jings ended up raising three children in the house, and lived there until the family sold it in 2001, according to the nomination form.

What's it like to live there now?

“Because of the many built-ins in the house, it dictates lay out and use,” said the current owner, John Gray, who bought the house at the end of 2017. “It follows Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian principles.”

The original design for the house included built-in furniture, much of it still in place: the master bed, the dining table, cabinets, desks, and dressers. The only furniture Gray brought in was a sofa (the original built-in sofa was removed as some point), chairs, and side tables.

“Once you surrender to the house, it’s very comfortable and peaceful to live in,” Gray said. “The light play and changes throughout the day are magical. Every detail and window placement was considered. So yes, but it might not be for everyone but I love it.”