The original owner , John Sowden , was a painter and photographer who hired his friend , Lloyd Wright ( eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wright ) , to build his home on Franklin Ave in Los Feliz . The house is built using concrete textile blocks and Mayan themes , with decorative block-work along some of the interior walls . Upon approaching the " cave-like " front entrance , one passes through sculpted copper gates and then up " a narrow , tomb-like staircase " into the house . The building design follows a rectangular plan , with the rooms all opening into a 22 ' x 68 ' central courtyard by way of a narrow corridor . The courtyard originally contained a 32 ' long pool and fountain , which was removed sometime before 1940 and two textile-bock water organs which were destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930s , probably the 1933 Long Beach earthquake
1933 Long Beach earthquake
1933 Long Beach earthquake
John Sowden House