a series of Los Angeles domestic projects, the Sturges, Green, Lowe, Bell and Mauer houses. His first significant solo project was his own Los Angeles home, the Lautner House (1939), which helped to establish his name – it was the subject of Lautner's first article on his own work, published in the June–July edition of California Arts & Architecture, and it was featured in Home Beautiful where it was lauded by Henry-Russell Hitchcock as "the best house in the United States by an architect under thirty". During this period, Lautner worked with Wright on the designs of the Sturges House in Brentwood Heights, California and on the unbuilt Jester House. Lautner supervised the building of the Sturges House for Wright, but during construction he ran into serious design, cost and construction problems which climaxed with the threat of legal action by the owners, forcing Wright to bring in students from Taliesin to complete repairs. In the meantime, the Bell and Green projects had both stalled due to rising costs. The Greens canceled, but Wright gave the Bell commission to Lautner. He was also engaged to supervise the Mauer house when the Mauers dismissed Wright for failing to deliver the working drawings in time. Although the Mauer House was not finished for another five years, the Bell House was quickly completed and it consolidated the earlier success of the Lautner House, earning him wide praise and recognition – the University of Chicago solicited plans and drawings for use as a teaching tool, and it was featured in numerous publications over the next few years including the Los Angeles Times, a three-page spread in the June 1942 issue of Arts and Architecture, the May 1944 issue House and Garden (which declared it "the model house for California living"), a California Designs feature centering on the Bell and Mauer houses, Architectural Forum, and The Californian. During 1941, Lautner was again brought in to oversee two more Wright projects that had run into trouble: the redesign of the Ennis House and an ill-fated project for a lavish Malibu residence ("Eaglefeather") for filmmaker Arch Oboler. This was beset by many problems (including the tragic drowning of Oboler's son in a water-filled excavation). A Lautner-designed retreat for Oboler's wife was eventually built. During 1942, he designed a caretaker's cottage for the Astor Farm (since demolished) and in 1943, he joined the Structon Company, where he worked