This 594-Square-Foot Apartment in Silver Lake Is a Modernist Jewel

Not much more than 600 square feet, the apartment is housed in a 16-unit complex from the 1920s that has a semi-commune feeling with its interconnected living spaces and garden walkways. As each apartment was given its own identity, Fanny has loved figuring out how to live in this vision. “There is a vast array of different apartments in the building,” she says. “The one across the way is a double-height apartment with an incredible wall of windows. Mine is oriented toward the Hollywood sign—a perfect painting studio.”

Even though Schindler was an iconic L.A. architect, Fanny thinks the space doesn’t have a particularly local feeling. “The shapes are very Russian Constructivism.” This idea rings true in the wood features, the fireplace, and the shape of the ceiling. “Schindler was very specific with his work. He designed with an idea of exactly how people should live,” Fanny says. “I haven’t become one of those people who are totally obsessed with Schindler, but he becomes part of your psyche.”

The one challenge of the space is the kitchen, which is tucked away and almost comically small. When Fanny was first living in the apartment, she kept setting off the fire alarm. “I finally figured out how to open the little kitchen window and, once it’s open, it is miraculous,” she says. “This completely obliterated the problem. Schindler thought about it and has these sophisticated engineering innovations.”