Educational Media Reviews Online

The Oyler House: Richard Neutra’s Desert Retreat captures what this smaller, but characteristically Neutra home meant to its designer, its original owner, and its current owner. It does so by showing what modernist master Neutra looked for when taking on projects, as well as exploring the relationships between the building, its creator, and its owners.

The film begins with Richard Oyler’s life and what led him to purchase the site, a desert property near the Sierra Nevada Mountains, on which the house now sits. While Oyler settled on Neutra as the perfect architect for his site, he was surprised when Neutra agreed to design the house. Neutra agreed for the same reason that Oyler wanted the house built—they both fell in love with the piece of land. Neutra was also committed to building for people of modest means, making himself accessible to those clients. A unique and lasting friendship developed between the two men as a result of the commission.

The film consists mainly of interviews with the current owner, actress Kelly Lynch, Oyler, and Neutra’s two sons. Oyler and Lynch discuss what they like about design of the house and site—how Neutra’s homes featured large common areas rather than segmentation, how he designed buildings to naturally evolve from the site, and how innovative he was with some of the site features. Their discussion of the relationship between a building owner and creator asks the question of who has the responsibility to preserve mid-century homes such as this one, and who has the right to change the creation. The photography of the house and site serves the film well, evoking the feelings that the owners express about the house.

The 46-minute running time is perfect for this tranquil, leisurely film. In addition to showcasing Richard Neutra’s design, it depicts how important a modest, but unique home can be to the people who design and live in it.