1809 Apex Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Frank A. Garbutt bought 37 acres above the Silver Lake reservoir in 1923, and his family built three houses there. His own 20-room home went up between 1926 and 1928. An inventor whose oil-drilling tools had helped make his fortune, Garbutt feared fire enough to insist on concrete walls and a concrete roof, steel-reinforced doors, and no fireplaces. Workers poured the first floor continuously for two days and one night. Inside, an artist spent months painting the living room beams. Garbutt worked on race cars, a soapless detergent, and a better chewing gum at the mansion. After Garbutt died in 1947, his son and two daughters continued living on the estate. One daughter stayed in the big house until 1960, when the family sold the property. Her sister Melodile explained that, after their brother and her husband died, her sister did not want to live there alone. Development disputes left the houses dormant for years. In 1978, the other two houses were demolished for a housing development, but Garbutt House survived.
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