Arrive at the middle.
The entry floor holds the tall living room. Dining and kitchen spaces sit below it; the bedroom and interior balcony occupy the upper level.
The house
A new language
for a home.
Commissioned by rare-book dealer Alice Millard in 1923, La Miniatura brought Wright’s experiment with patterned concrete into a deeply personal setting.
Explore the model
FORM, LIGHT & LANDSCAPE
A house. A studio. A landscape.
Explore the 1923 house and the studio and guest house added in 1926. The covered walk, terraces and reflecting pool connect the buildings to the ravine. Select a building, turn the model, or look beneath its roof.
The complete ensemble
House, guest house, garage and covered walk meet around the ravine garden. Pale eucalyptus trunks and loose canopies establish the wooded setting. Hide Trees & planting for a clear architectural view, or select a building to explore its interior.
Studio & guest house · 1926
Designed by Lloyd Wright, the detached studio gave Alice Millard additional space for her rare-book business and guests. Its lower volume and the covered walk extend the architecture around the garden court.
Garage & arrival court
The low garage and arrival terrace follow the arrangement in the 1923 plan; the National Register records later garage work in 1931. Open the roof or select Interior to examine the bay, timber doors and roof framing. Dimensions and fittings remain interpretive.
A bedroom and bathroom sit behind the interior balcony, which overlooks the two-story living room.
Arrival, the tall living room, a rear guest bedroom and the stair form the entry floor. Open Interior to read their relationships.
Dining opens to the garden porches. The kitchen and service rooms occupy the rear, below the arrival level.
Rooms & circulation
Cutaway view · select a room marker to locate a space. In the main house, choose a floor above the model. Exterior restores the complete enclosure.
Interpretive architectural model · informed by archival drawings and photographs. Proportions, tree positions, terrain and interiors are approximate; this is not a measured reconstruction.
Model sources & drawingsTABLETOP PREVIEW
Place a miniature study of the house, guest house and garden court on a table or another flat surface.
SPATIAL ORGANIZATION
Three levels.
One continuous space.
The living room rises through two stories. An interior balcony links the upper rooms to the main space; the garden lies below.
Section / spatial relationships
A room connects the levels.
The upper floor stops at the living-room volume. From the balcony, the house is experienced across the void as well as along its corridors.
The ravine sets the section.
Terraces and the covered walk connect the house and the later studio around a reflecting pool. Their intersecting planes make the landscape part of the composition.
THE RAVINE GARDEN
Between the grove
and the ravine.
The grove, descending terraces and reflecting pool give La Miniatura its setting. The garden unfolds between the main house and the later studio.
A house among eucalyptus.
The 1976 National Register record describes the buildings as almost hidden among eucalyptus from Rosemont Avenue below. The grove shapes the view of the house before its walls come into focus.
The ground sets the sequence.
Terraces and paths follow the fall of the land toward Rosemont Avenue. The covered walk joins house and studio around the pool, connecting architecture, water and the slope.
A house for a life in books.
Alice Millard had already lived in a Wright house in Illinois. In Pasadena, her collection of books and art found a different kind of home: rooms unfolding around a tall living space, with the ravine always close at hand.
- Architect
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Client
- Alice Millard
- Commission
- 1923
- Studio
- Lloyd Wright, 1926
FIELD NOTES / 01
Read the architecture.
Read the square module, the recessed glazing and the stepped terraces. Each drawing isolates one architectural relationship in the garden elevation.
A century of La Miniatura
- 1906
Wright designs the Millards’ first house, in Highland Park, Illinois.
- 1923
Alice Millard commissions La Miniatura from Frank Lloyd Wright.
- 1926
A studio is added, designed by Lloyd Wright.
- 1976
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Drawings & research
Historical facts follow the records below. The diagrams are our interpretation of spatial relationships, not measured reconstructions.
BY ARRANGEMENT
Come closer.
La Miniatura is a private home, shared occasionally with small groups by arrangement. Write to us about your interest and when you hope to visit.
Arrange a visit