Crime of the Week

Some disasters can't be blamed on the Bauhaus.

9824 Yoakum Drive, Beverly Hills.

This ungainly shack in nosebleed Beverly Hills was built in 1923, during Modernism's heyday, but it's about as far from Dessau as it gets.

Perhaps John Barrymore had his handyman cobble the place together as a hunting boozing lodge, as it sits in what was, at the time, a very remote area. It certainly seems better suited to weekends of heavy binging with your pals than to day-to-day living.

An "open" plan.

The interior is no less a mess than the exterior. A spiral staircase leads down to a featureless (and, from what I can tell, windowless) basement room—I'm thinking orgy parlor. A sliding vertical ladder allows access to the loft; sleepwalkers need not apply.

The rear hindquarters.

The rear is a hodgepodge of stucco, shingles and clapboard, with all the backyard charm of a well-maintained favela.

Should you care to indulge your prurient interest further, the listing is here.