This dazzling Overton Park Midcentury Modern time capsule looks as if it was built yesterday or conjured up for a period feature film. In fact, the house was built in 1957 in the then-new development of Overton Park for prominent civic leader Leon Brachman who died at the age of 90 in 2010.
Brachman engaged local architect Larry Morton Gernsbacher, about whom I could discover little. I found only one other house of his design in Westcliff, smaller and built two years earlier. Gernsbacher evidently furthered his studies at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin and this Overton Park Midcentury Modern does have many Wrightian characteristics, such as its low-slung profile and its site sensitivity.
The nearly 6,400-square-foot, six-bedroom five-and-one-half-bath house is situated on a nearly one-acre lot enabling a deep setback. The design is boldly horizontal and built in the then-fashionable Roman brick.
The exterior, in a classic Midcentury Modern idiom, hardly prepares one for the exuberant celebration of open space and light that is the interior. The floor plan is of such complexity that the listing photography contains no fewer than a dozen images of this one-of-a-kind central space.
The multi-faceted area appears to rotate on the axis of the central two-faced fireplace that climbs to the ceiling, escaping through hexiform skylights. This axis effect is enhanced by the terrazzo floor with triangular brass insets which appear to radiate outwards, their crisscrossings are like spokes in a bicycle, suggestive of an orbicular orientation. Fenestration is also 360 degrees, floor to ceiling in some areas.
It’s pointless to speak of a living area or dining area. The space is rather an interior archipelago of seating areas sometimes defined by vintage built-ins. Decorative details include custom-designed screens, doors, and banisters.
The kitchen appears to be period but is in fact the result of carefully planned recent renovations by the current owners covered in 360 West. Essentially, dark cabinets were replaced with custom light wood versions, an island that impeded circulation was removed, and glass doors were inserted into the masonry wall to pull in more light.
The multi-layered construction floats on Roman brick pillars of unique shape. At the landing on the second level, period-appropriate furnishings accentuate architectural elements. The current owner is an interior designer and, as has been seen in the kitchen remodel, fluent in the Midcentury style.
Treetop views from the principal bedroom give the impression of a tree house. The unusual shape of the large room is traced by the tray ceiling. There is a fireplace with a small sitting area beyond. One of the bathrooms on this level appears to be untouched since 1957.
At back is a nearly half-acre garden with a sumptuous pool, mature trees, and a masonry grill.
Architect Larry Morton Gernsbacher lived a relatively short life, dying at the age of 57 in 1984. Perhaps his production was quite limited. Nevertheless, 3720 Autumn Drive is an architectural gem and not a bad legacy that we hope the next buyer will preserve.
Julie Wilkins of Wilco Realtors has priced 3720 Autumn Drive at $4.2 million.
