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ARCHITECTURE - MARCH 2004

"architectural producers," referring architects and contractors to clients seeking to upgrade homes. On occasion, the pair sells vacant plots together with architectural plans by noted local designers, and then consults with the buyer on the marketability of the new building's design and construction.

Both Hatfield and RealEstateArchitects like to compare their work to that of art dealers. Hatfield says that homebuyers are becoming increasingly aware of the "intellectual-property value" of good design: "There is an intangible value connected with an artist's work," he explains, "and architects are artists."

Linder and Lerner, who estimate that 25 percent of their buyers are architects themselves, aim to promote the financial value of good design to a broader public. To this end, they teach a continuing-education course at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles called "The Value of Architecture." Treating architecture as collectible art has mixed implications, though, as Hatfield readily admits: "I used to be an idealist," he says, "but in the real world, I've found that the one sure way to preserve architecture is to price it so that it is exclusive. Fortunately or unfortunately, that is the way it is."

Jan Horn has also observed this phenomenon. He is executive director of the high-design targeted "architecture division" of the Los Angeles offices of Coldwell Banker, an international real estate firm. Horn says that buyers have become increasingly interested in midcentury modern architecture, including the Case Study Houses, over the last decade.

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