Gone, But Not Forgotten

Robert Reed, "Mike Brady," the Dad in "The Brady Bunch Series

We've been watching "A Very Brady Renovation" on HGTV for the past few weeks. A group of designers from HGTV has been totally remodeling the house that was used for the exterior location of the house on TV's "The Brady Bunch."  The split-level Studio City home used for exterior shots in "The Brady Bunch" was built by Harry M. Londelius in 1959. The interior of this house in North Hollywood, California does not resemble the set of the interiors used for filming at the studio at all. This was an effort to completely make over the existing interior to resemble those sets from long ago. The team at HGTV, along with the six remaining cast members of the show (the children) did a good job in re-creating the interiors. They had to add an entire new wing to the house, taking away most of the existing backyard. Even though the house looks good on TV, the way they remodeled and added rooms makes the floor plan rather confusing. It will be interesting to see if this house ever sells on the open market.

After watching a few episodes, I was reminded that "Mike Brady's" office exterior was the 1960's Beverly Hills Library.

Beverly Hills Library (1963), Martin Stern, Architect

When I was very small, the BH Library used to be housed in one of the top floors of the BH City Hall. I remember taking the old-fashioned, glass and wrought iron-door elevator with my brother. The view from the windows at the top of City Hall in those days was spectacular.
I guess the Library needed more room, so in the early 60's renowned architect Martin Stern was hired and built a beautiful building, finished in 1963. The mosaic on the sides of the building depicted an abstraction of book spines. Sadly, this building was demolished in the 80's so a bigger library and more offices could be built in the Spanish/Moorish Revival style of the City Hall.

Originally, the building looked like it was floating over this water feature. Eventually, the "moat" was filling in with landscaping

More about architect, Martin Stern. I had no idea that Martin Stern was the architect for my beloved Library building!! After a bit of research (love you, innernets!), I found out that Mr. Stern was responsible for this gorgeous building. Martin Stern was the designer of Encino Village homes, many Las Vegas Strip hotels and restaurants and all three Ship's Coffee Shops in the L.A. area!

There were probably 3 or 4 different shots in "The Brady Bunch" of Robert Reed walking into this building. Supposedly, this was the office of a hip, modern architect. I loved this building! It was definitely hip and modern. 

I salute you, Martin Stern, for beautifying Beverly Hills Civic Center (at least for a little while) and for your contributions to modern architecture in the SouthWest! I also salute Sherwood Schwartz, producer of "The Brady Bunch" who chose his locations well. 

"A Very Brady Renovation" can be seen on HGTV.