One of the profs in my Historic Preservation program was the structural engineer on that project. I pointed out that it was in Buffy and got a blank stare. But I was excited. Glad to know that it is complete!

mifeng | August 22, 23:02 CET

The Ennis House is a breathtaking work of art, I'm so relieved that it has received the restoration it deserves. One would think that such a magnificent work by Frank Lloyd Wright would never have fallen into such a state of disrepair in the first place. But the twists and turns of life do not spare even the beautiful and brilliant.

The connection of this house to the Whedonverse goes beyond that its exteriors were used as Angel's mansion. If I'm not mistaken, the interior of this house was used as background for several of the early Firefly production stills, examples here and here. Perhaps the history of this house as being used in Blade Runner made it a natural fit for the 'Verse too. In fact, even the deco style concrete block pillars of the saloon in the ep The Train Job, seem to be very reminiscent of the Ennis House. I suspect that one of the inspirations of Firefly's art direction may have been this amazing house.

11thHour | August 22, 23:12 CET

Good catch 11th!
I think that is in the walk way leading up the massive front doors..
cool.

mifeng | August 22, 23:38 CET

Such an amazing building, so atmospheric and unique. I was sad to see the state of disrepair it was in when I was there a few years ago so this is very encouraging.

rockgoddes | August 23, 00:59 CET

Oh, I am so, SO happy to hear about this. I was horrified by the possibility that it might not even survive.

And thanks, 11thHour, for the Firefly production stills. I don't think I had seen them.

palehorse | August 23, 05:29 CET

mifeng ~ You may be right about that being the walkway leading up to the front doors. Considering that the photoshoot took place while the house was still in serious disrepair, the interior may have been unavailable for use.

The thing about the Ennis house though is that the interior has the same surfaces as the exterior! There's a wonderful, vaulted, indoor/outdoor feeling to the entire design.

palehorse ~ Glad I unearthed some Firefly stills you hadn't seen before. The stills from this particular shoot aren't seen as often as others. The material from Firefly's brief but bright existence is so rare and precious, that to see something new is like finding buried treasure. I'd LOVE to see the full photo collection from that shoot... we've only seen a handful of those photos, and I know the photographers burn through rolls and rolls of film on those shoots.

I just adore the Ennis House. I really hope they will reopen it to the public, I'd love to take a tour. I tried to go on a tour a while back, but they didn't have them available... even though the website said they were... *sigh*

The Ennis House is to architecture what a Mozart composition is to music...

11thHour | August 23, 05:58 CET