Hollywood History

Restored for German pop-rock star Bill Kaulitz, a Lloyd Wright house dazzles anew

- FELIX WAGNER

1. ORIGINALLY DESIGNED BY LLOYD WRIGHT FOR ACTOR DANIEL DE JONGHE, THE EARLY-1960s HOUSE HAS NOW BEEN RESTORED BY DAVIDE RIZZO AND ROB MICHEL FOR BILL KAULITZ. 2. KAULITZ BY THE POOL WITH A GLASS OF DOM PÉRIGNON.

O na peak of the Hollywood Hills, tucked behind a thicket of lush greenery, a little-known gem of midcentury design traces the landscape rather than overwhelms it-a brawny base of concrete and stone giving way to a single story of timber and glass. Built in the early 1960s by the noted Angeleno architect Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. (otherwise known as Lloyd Wright) for film star Daniel De Jonghe, the residence hints at Taliesin West, the Arizona home and studio of Wright's famous father. Some accounts suggest that dad and son worked on the design together before Frank Lloyd Wright Sr.'s death in 1959.

Bill Kaulitz, the German singer-songwriter and Tokio Hotel frontman, knew this was the house for him just by laying eyes on the driveway, a carefully and elegantly carved swath in the terrain. "I fell in love immediately," he says, recalling the home's low-slung profile and midcentury design. Together with his bandmate and twin brother, Tom-Heidi Klum's husband-he initially rented the house, eventually buying the place in 2019 as an escape from the European limelight. Says Bill, "LA is the ultimate freedom for me."