Barnsdall Art Park, Urban park in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, United States.
Barnsdall Art Park occupies the crest of Olive Hill in East Hollywood, entered from Hollywood Boulevard on its north side. Its centerpiece is Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House, built 1919–1921, with a flat concrete roof and exposed beams; a paved terrace with scored slabs, a wooden slatted bench and potted plants sits beside it. The grounds hold an olive grove planted in a grid and later gallery and theatre buildings.
Aline Barnsdall bought Olive Hill in June 1919 and hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design a theatre and house. The city accepted her gift of Hollyhock House and 9 acres on December 22, 1926, creating the park. In 1927 a 1,000-seat Little Lattice Playhouse opened, and Residence A reopened as a recreation building in February 1928.
The Hollyhock House takes its name from Aline Barnsdall's favourite flower, and Wright worked abstract hollyhock motifs into the residence and its interiors. The Independent Shakespeare Company has staged free summer performances in the park since 2004, opening with The Two Gentlemen of Verona. The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery shows about nine contemporary exhibitions a year, drawing more than 45,000 visitors annually.
Parking and access to the arts buildings are on the north side, from Hollywood Boulevard. The park sits at the crest of Olive Hill, so paths climb; the terrace by the buildings is flat concrete with benches and potted plants. The galleries and the 299-seat Barnsdall Gallery Theatre are inside the arts complex, and the Independent Shakespeare Company performs outdoors in summer.
The Hollyhock House on the grounds earned recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site and represents California's first modernist architectural cultural property. This building displays an early example of Wright's innovative design principles that influenced his entire body of work.
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