BEVERLY HILLS The Sheats-Goldstein Residence is one of Los Angeles' most iconic architectural masterpieces, designed and built by John Lautner between 1961-1963. Tucked into the hills above Beverly Hills, the house is a striking example of Lautner’s signature organic modernism, seamlessly blending concrete, wood, and glass to create a structure that feels both futuristic and deeply connected to nature. Initially built for Helen and Paul Sheats, the home was later purchased by fashion and basketball enthusiast James Goldstein, who enlisted Lautner—and later, his protégé Duncan Nicholson—to expand and refine its design over decades. The result is an almost sculptural space, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls that erase the boundary between indoors and outdoors, a cantilevered roof that floats effortlessly over the living spaces, and a visual language that celebrates openness, light, and an unbroken connection to the surrounding landscape.
Goldstein’s vision extended beyond the house itself, leading to the creation of Club James. The design of Club James began as a collaboration between James Goldstein and architect Duncan Nicholson, later involving James and Kristopher of Conner + Perry Architects after Duncan's passing. The construction commenced in the early 2000s, and as the project progressed, its scope expanded and evolved into the remarkable space it is today. Designed as a private entertainment venue, Club James is an architectural feat in itself, buried beneath the one-of-a-kind infinity tennis court and emerging as a seamless continuation of Lautner’s modernist aesthetic. The space features a sleek, moody atmosphere, incorporating concrete, glass, and steel with dramatic lighting and innovative acoustics to create a setting for exclusive gatherings. Conner + Perry’s design honors the original spirit of the Sheats-Goldstein Residence while introducing a contemporary edge that complements Goldstein’s love for fashion, art, and nightlife. The club also integrates elements of landscape architecture, making it feel like an organic extension of the hillside rather than a separate, intrusive structure.
Together, the Sheats-Goldstein Residence and Club James form a singular architectural experience, evolving over time yet maintaining a cohesive vision. Goldstein’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of design has transformed the property into more than just a home—it's a living, breathing piece of modernist history that continues to captivate architects, designers, and cultural figures worldwide.
Film - Mick Aure Producer - Elias Tebache Music - Deep Al Brindle Photography - Sterling Reed Special Thanks - Jim Goldstein, Kris Conner & James Perry
If you have a reputable company or organization and would like to sponsor our channel, click the link below: https://openspaceseries.com/contact
www.openspaceseries.com @openspaceseries
I didn't have an ultimate goal.
When I purchased the house,
I had no idea that I would end up working on this
for close to 50 years, and I'm still working on it.
So it was sort of step-by-step decision process
of what am I going to do next?
And I've always come up with more ideas.
I am James Goldstein.
Thank you for visiting my home.
The home has become known as the Sheets Goldstein home.
It was designed by John Lautner,
who was Frank Lloyd Wright's main disciple.
I grew up in Milwaukee,
and I happened to live one block away
from a Frank Lloyd Wright house
that belonged to schoolmates of mine.
So I spent a lot of time there.
And my father owned a business in Racine, Wisconsin,
very close to the Johnson Wax plant
that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
So he had a huge impact on me.
I had been looking for the right house
for two years.
I wanted a house for my dog
because I was living in a high-rise apartment,
and she needed room to run.
That was my motivation.
My requirements were that the house had to be modern.
It had to have a great view,
and it had to have a swimming pool.
When I walked into this house
after somebody told me about it,
I knew instantly that this was the one.
Even though it had been decorated very badly,
it had been built with very cheap materials,
but it had a great design.
It had a great view.
It had a pool.
It was done by a disciple of my favorite architect,
so it was just what I wanted.
But I quickly found out there was one big problem,
and that was that someone else already had it in escrow.
One week later, I got some good news.
The other buyer tried to lower the price.
And I stepped in at the original price,
bought the house, and it changed my life.
Well, the biggest project is building
what I've called Club James next door.
When I first moved here,
there was another house next door.
We shared the driveway.
And eventually, I bought that house,
tore it down, and built Club James,
which includes a tennis court, a nightclub,
my offices, a second pool.
So that was a huge project.
When it came to upgrading this house,
I brought John Lochner back,
and he and I worked together for more than 15 years.
So I learned from him.
And then he passed away prior to the design
and construction of Club James.
By that time, I knew what I wanted to do.
My name is James Perry.
I'm an architect, and I moved out here
following architecture.
And luckily, I found a place with Duncan Nicholson,
who was a colleague of John Lochner's
and worked in his office until Lochner passed away in 1994.
Duncan was a project architect
on this house during that time.
And so he took over the project
and carried on the work that was ongoing.
And so I started working for Duncan in late 2006,
and we immediately started working on this project.
It, at that time, was a tennis court addition,
and the work has been nonstop, still ongoing today.
I worked with Duncan from 2000 to 2015.
When he passed away,
both Christopher Conner and myself worked for Duncan.
And so we formed our own firm at that point
and continued the work that we had planned,
a master plan for.
And it's been developed since then
and continues to be with James Goldstein.
Our architecture firm is Conner & Perry Architects,
and we've been in business for eight years.
And we're a small architecture office
that specializes in organic architecture,
which has its lineages that go back
to John Lochner and Frank Lloyd Wright.
For the home, we try not to do very much addition,
but for the new structures,
we really have full reign to go a different direction
because the programming there is different.
The complex, we've broken it into basically three phases,
and it kinda works to those levels
that the tennis court was first completed.
And then the level below the tennis court
is the nightclub and offices
that was completed and finished around 2015.
The third phase is the lower terrace
that was completed in 2023.
It includes a pool, bar, kitchen,
restroom, and a locker room.
Yeah, it really doesn't get old coming here
or working on this property
because I keep finding new details
that surprisingly after such a long time that are new.
It really is just like a love of the space here.
It's like a feeling you get
where you're really in something special.
There's nothing like it in the world.
That's what architecture is supposed to do
is actually move you.
We haven't talked much about it.
It's just like the core principles of organic architecture,
which is like design from the landscape and the individual,
designing from the inside out, the unique geometry.
This house has that in spades.
It's like such a great home
because it's a limited palette of materials.
It's also about the nature of materials
of being like what was chosen here
was concrete, glass, and wood.
Every form has a function.
And the idea is like organic architecture
is trying to get you as close to nature as possible.
And this room really does do that.
It really puts you as close to nature
as you can possibly be.
You're protected, but you're also like open,
which seems to happen in a lot of Wattner spaces
where it's like almost cave-like.
The newest work that we recently completed
on the lower terrace is what I'm most proud about
because it was work on our own
that I think complements the existing architecture
that Duncan had started.
And I think it's a seamless connection to the landscape
and to their previous architecture.
My name is Chris Connor.
I'm a architect in Los Angeles.
I came to work for Duncan Nicholson,
who is the impetus behind much of what you see here.
He was an associate at Wattner's office
and was the one that really introduced me
to organic architecture and the philosophy.
You know, I was aware of it, of course,
of Frank Lloyd Wright and everything at the time,
but he was the one that really gave me
sort of in-depth knowledge
of practicing organic architecture,
beyond just reading about it
and kind of understanding it on a very superficial level.
I always like to talk about the design approach
for any new structures as being an evolution of the language
that Wattner has established in the original residence.
The core DNA is there.
It's transferred over.
You've got the material palette and the geometry,
but the expression of those genes is modified
to what it needs to be in this new context.
There's specific examples,
like the concrete board forming in the house
is a wider traditional plank, like 3 1⁄2 inches.
And then here in the club,
we went with a 1 1⁄2-inch plank
because, one, we're using it much more pervasively.
It's on all the surfaces.
We wanted to read more as a texture and not so graphic.
There's the common material palette of the stainless steel
and the frameless glass.
You don't have the warmer domestic tones that the house has
with the warm brownish-red leathers and the redwood.
Over here, everything is a bit cooler.
You know, you've got this silver leather.
The core geometrical concept over there
of the overlapping triangles is so clear.
And over here, I think the geometry has been allowed
to sort of free flow a bit more,
that it's not as restrained by that idea.
But it certainly has a relationship to it.
Designing next to, I mean, what is arguably
one of the most iconic houses in Los Angeles,
it's certainly a challenging and humbling undertaking.
I mean, difficult, yes,
but, you know, at the same time, inspiring.
I mean, it's difficult not to be inspired
when you walk into that house, into this place, you know.
No matter how much time I spend up here,
you come up here with new eyes.
I mean, some of the most rewarding aspects
of working on this project,
I would say one is working with a patron like Jim Goldstein,
who has the patience and the means and the desire
to realize amazing, unique,
like hyper-customized architecture, right?
It's just not something that happens
in the world these days.
It's like the 21st century Hearst Castle, almost, you know.
Being given the opportunity to really develop designs
and see them come to life has been a unique
and really rewarding process.
I would say the other unique and rewarding thing
about working up here is sharing this place,
especially with students,
but really anyone who has an appreciation of design
and being able to see this place through new eyes
every time, like seeing someone's face light up
when you share this with them.
And that's one of the unique things about this property
is that Mr. Goldstein shares it with the world, right?
It's not this hidden private enclave.
It's something that really engages with the world,
which in itself is pretty rewarding.
Coming up here as someone involved
in the design of the place,
like, yeah, you kind of come in with a narrow focus
on what's wrong with the place.
But I would say walking into Lautner's house,
to me, is always inspirational.
No matter what's going on with my day,
just something about that space,
it affects your body on like a very visceral level, right?
Like there's just something timeless and dramatic about it.
I think it's what we strive for in our practice.
It's this ineffable thing.
It's just like, you're always reaching for it, you know?
Well, the future is that even though
I'm in very good health now,
eventually, when I pass away,
the house will transfer to LACMA,
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
And they intend to operate it
in a very similar way as I have,
except that no one will be living here,
but it will be open to tours,
used for events, used for fashion shoots, and so forth.
The feeling I have now is even better
than it was originally,
because I've spent almost 50 years
on perfecting the property.
And now, especially on a clear day like today,
I feel so proud of what I've achieved here.
I would like to say that I think about the design
of this property every single day.
Every little detail has been well thought out.
And if you want to do something right,
whatever it is, take it all the way,
because that's what I've done here.
