J.R. Davidson (1889-1977): Thomas Mann house

The Thomas Mann house was built in 1941 for the acclaimed writer by architect J.R. Davidson. The Mann's left Germany in the 1930's and settled in the Los Angeles area, with its large expatriate community. The 5000 square foot house on over an acre of flat land in the Pacific Palisades area, contained 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms at the time of its' construction. Thomas Mann sold the house to Chester Lappen in 1953 and moved to Switzerland. After Lappen died in 2010, the house was a rental, and then placed on the market as a tear-down. The Lappen family sold the house to the German government in 2016; it will be turned into an artist retreat to complement their artist residence Villa Aurora, which is located about 6 miles from the Mann house.

J.R. Davidson (1889-1977), architect

Julius Ralph Davidson papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

1941

Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. University of California Regents.