The Sowden House, built by Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This beautiful, unique structure, sometimes referred to as the "Jaws house" for its windows that resemble a shark's open mouth, was built in 1926. The 5,600 square foot home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles is currently for sale, listed at $4,875,000.
The house also has the dubious distinction of formerly belonging to a suspect in one of the most notorious unsolved murder cases in American history, the Black Dahlia (Elizabeth Short) murder. From 1945 to 1951, the Sowden house was owned by Dr. George Hodel, who at one time was the prime suspect of the L.A. District Attorney in the Short murder. Hodel's son, former L.A.P.D. homicide detective Steve Hodel, even wrote a book claiming that his father killed Elizabeth Short somewhere in the Sowden House.
While some have expressed doubt as to the merit of Steve Hodel's claims of his father's guilt, Doctor Hodel was allegedly not an honorable man. His own 14-year-old daughter Tamar accused him of molesting her (though he was later acquitted), and his secretary died under suspicious circumstances, another case in which authorities were suspicious of Hodel. A tap on his phone after the Dahlia murder yielded a tape of Hodel commenting on the Short murder, as well as saying "maybe I did kill my secretary."
The Sowden house and others with checkered pasts — including the "Amityville Horror" house, in which the DeFeo murders took place — are listed in this article at Viral Nova.
Images Credit: Zillow