It’s still under construction here, but you might recognize this house since it made the rounds on Instagram in February 2026, when it was up for rent.

The Skinner House at 1530 Easterly Terrace was built by architect William Kesling for Mancil Skinner, a freight company owner, and his third wife Rubie (pictured above in 1936). 

It’s one of at least two dozen Streamline Moderne residences Kesling designed between 1935 and 1937 in the Silver Lake-Los Feliz area, including Skinner’s asymmetrical sister structure next door at 1536 Easterly, the Vanderpool House — and the model home that inspired it all, down the street at 1519 Easterly.

In February 1936, the “Modern Home” model was furnished by the May Company and opened to the public for exhibition.

The Skinner residence is characterized by a flat roof, deep horizontal eaves, expansive window areas, doors with portholes, chrome bannisters, even a built-in living room sofa. The newlywed couple lived here until early 1939, when they moved to a ranch in Chino. 

Three years later, Mancil, 39, fell while dismounting a moving horse and hit his head on a eucalyptus tree, breaking his neck.

The Oklahoma native did not have an updated will in place, and a legal battle ensued between Grace Rice, his second wife (and mother of two of his four children), and Rubie, with whom he had adopted a newborn daughter in 1941. 

As the child was not mentioned in the will, Grace Rice contended she was “illegitimate” and not eligible to Mancil’s estate. Rubie testified her husband had admitted to fathering the child, despite the fact they paid $225 to a Mesa, Ariz. maternity home for the baby.

In the end, Rubie won — and received 4/6th of the estate (the remaining 2/6th went to Mancil’s other two daughters; his eldest daughter was not provided for in his will).

William Kesling had his own legal issues. Near the completion of the Skinner house, the architect was caught in a building scandal that involved falsifying labor and material claims.

In December 1936, Kesling and his wife Ehrma were indicted for fraud after they “exhausted the funds of 22 home builders.” He received two year’s probation and relocated to La Jolla (where he eventually ran into similar financial problems).

The majority of Kesling’s Streamline Moderne homes are in Silver Lake, but many can be found throughout Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley and Pasadena.

In North Hollywood, songwriter Allee Willis lived in Kesling’s Vernon House (11576 Otsego) for decades, until her 2019 death.

Although she claimed it was built in 1937 as a party house for MGM Studios, that’s not true. Robert H. Vernon, the original owner, was a toolmaker who had absolutely nothing to do with MGM nor the motion picture business. According to the 1940 census, Vernon worked at an aircraft factory. Willis’ iconic pink palace was sold for $1.5 million in February 2026.

Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery commissioned Kesling to design a Streamline Moderne residence at 947 North Martel Avenue, as well as a rental duplex at 754-756 Harper Avenue. The home, which was landmarked as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2018, sold eight years later for $2.25 million.

In Los Feliz, another Kesling standout is the Johnstone Residence at 3311 Lowry Road, built in 1935 (the same year as the model home on Easterly Terrace). The two-story home, originally owned by Los Angeles deputy district attorney Harry C. Johnstone, was last sold back in 1988 for $200,000 — and today is worth an estimated $2.245 million.