History FAQs

Design FAQs

Fun FAQs

● The home was built in 1950-1 by architect Leopold Fischer (1901-1975) for a couple by the name of Adolph and Mary Slechta. 

● Leopold Fischer fled Germany in 1936 to New York and then moved to Los Angeles in 1937 

● Adolph was the owner and president of the Great Western Savings & Loan Association, and one of the branches was within blocks from the residence. In 1977, Adolph was acknowledged by the Consolidated Realty Board for hiring the first Black escrow trainee, Mrs. Annelia Green,  at Liberty Escrow Co., a subsidiary of Great Western. 

● After completing her residency at NYU, Bath began a Corneal fellowship program at Columbia University, which focused on corneal transplantation and keratoprosthesis surgery (1973 to 1974). While a fellow, she was recruited by both the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute and Charles R. Drew University to co-found an ophthalmology residency program at Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital. She then began her career in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman ophthalmologist on the faculty at Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. She was appointed assistant chief of the King-Drew-UCLA Ophthalmology Residency Program in 1974.

● Dr. Patricia Bath bought the property and took up residence in 1977. 

● Dr. Bath was an American ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian, and academic. She was an early pioneer of laser cataract surgery. She also became the first woman member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, first woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, and first woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center. Bath was the first African-American person to serve as a resident in ophthalmology at New York University. She was also the first African-American woman to serve on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center. Bath was the first African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose. The holder of five patents,[1] she also founded the non-profit American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.

● The home has undergone minimal renovation; the only one of significance is the kitchen that was renovated in 2000.

● The residence is a perfect example of Fischer’s post-World War 2 domestic architecture. The design combines the need for a representative home for a successful businessman with the couple’s desire to entertain family, friends, and business partners often. 

● A combined living and dining area on the first floor, an outdoor terrace along the width of the entire building, and a large open-air swimming pool a few steps below the terrace form the heart of the house. 

● A fixed floor-to-ceiling window wall of just over 34ft in length and 8ft in height formed a border between the living quarters and the outdoor spaces. Fischer’s plan provided a 6ft-2”-wide double door as the sole access from the living quarters to the outdoors. This door also divided the window wall into two sections of 9ft-6” and 18ft-11” length, respectively. Each section was to be glazed with a single sheet of plate glass. 

● The bright patch of sparkling sunlight at the far end of this axis linked the entrance into the house with the outdoors and drew one’s eyes immediately toward the entry to the terrace, garden, and pool. 

● Contrary to the post-war modernist architectural trend of merging the indoors with the outdoors, Fischer’s design evolved around a belief that there should be a dedicated room and place for every need and activity in a contemporary modern home. The principle of a room and a place for every need and activity extends to the garden itself, which Fischer conceived as an outdoor room defined by distinct “elevations:” On one side rises the garden facade of the main house; adjacent to it stands a one-story play pavilion.

● The first-floor indoor living quarters are dominated by a large fireplace framed by a mantel made from green, richly veined serpentine, a semi-precious stone, and set in a wall entirely paneled with dark wood. The rich grain and color of the wood are indicative of the exquisite woodwork and interior fittings that Fischer designed for many areas elsewhere in the home. ● The wooden stair leading from the entrance passage to the main bedroom on the upper level features an elegantly curved wooden handrail complete with thin aluminum balusters that curve outwards at their lower end, where small aluminum discs fix them against the string supporting the steps; a combination of colors, materials, and simple forms that recalls details of interiors designed by such Viennese architects as Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos, from which Leopold Fischer was influenced and studied under.

● Upstairs, the wooden surround of a fireplace in the main bedroom is enlivened with delicate, almost rococo wooden profiles. Adjacent to the bedroom, two generously dimensioned walk-in closets are located, offering numerous cupboards, storage spaces, and drawers made-to-measure for the wardrobes and accessories of the lady and the gentleman of the home.

● The first bedroom to the left on the first floor belonged to Dr. Eraka Bath during her youth. 

● The second room downstairs at the end of the hall to the right was Dr. Patricia Bath’s office.

● The upstairs master bedroom belonged to Dr. Patricia Bath. One of her favorite things about the home was the natural light. She never had curtains in her bedroom. As a surgeon, she was an early riser appreciated waking up to the light naturally coming through at dawn.

● Dr. Bath’s residence was home to events ranging from backyard barbecues to black tie events. She was known to host events for her global village that included, artist, health care professionals and professors from around the world, the Association of Black Women Physicians (ABWP), her professional colleagues at UCLA, and events with guests who were and still are political heavyweights like Congressman Mervyn Dymally, Tom Bradley, and Maxine Waters.