The Bridge House in Brookside is one of five gardens that will be open this Sunday from 1- 5 p.m. as part of the annual Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society Garden Tour.
If you haven’t had a chance to see this house and garden, you definitely want to buy a ticket. (Funds raised from the tour are donated back to the community for beautification projects, so it’s for a good cause as well!)
Architect Dan Brunn has turned the concept of a traditional lot with front yard, house and back yard on its ear. Once Brunn opens the corrugated steel gate at the front sidewalk you experience the house and the garden together.
“This allows the connection to nature, so not matter where you are in the house, the house is always connected to the landscape,” Brunn told the Buzz when we got to visit a few weeks ago.
Brunn designed this garden for our ears as well as our eyes. Crunchy gravel paths lead you through the garden to the sound of water in the brook accompanied by the sound of rustling leaves in the numerous large trees on the site. The effect is to completely quiet the sounds of busy, noisy Los Angeles.
The Bridge House is Brunn’s second home in Brookside. He first renovated a traditional house, preserving the exterior but completely transforming the interior to a light-filled space filled with modern art. He also intended to do that with the Bridge House, but told us the foundation was simply too far gone. Instead, he disassembled the house and shipped off the materials to Mexico so someone else could use those materials.
Brunn kept all the trees on the site and built a new house to conform to the trees. All the plants are water-wise and there’s no lawn. Even though this is a larger lot, the water usage is about one-eighth as much as his first house, a traditional home with a lawn.
The house, at 210 feet long, is like a bridge across the 260 foot long lot spanning the infamous Brookside brook creating amazing views of the brook and the surrounding garden from above as well as below.
Brunn has thoughtfully fit his modern house into the traditional neighborhood. Constructed with a low profile of recycled materials and sited to be energy efficient and more sustainable. And, according to Brunn, visitors will be able to walk through the house during the garden tour this Sunday!
Sunday, June 5, 1p.m. -5 p.m.
Tour begins at 166 S. Plymouth
Members $40
Non-Members $50
Partner Organization $40
Click here for tickets. Tickets may be purchased on-site on the day of the garden tour only at 166 S. Plymouth Boulevard. Credit cards or cash are accepted.
