“It’s not about the pieces. It’s how the pieces work together,” says LA-based rapper Ice Cube. Whether sampling beats or designing architecture, beautiful things happen when you “take something that already exists and make it something special.”

Touring the Eames House, Ice Cube calls attention to the off-the-shelf pieces that make up the modern icon. Built by designers Charles and Ray Eames using a steel-frame, factory windows, and prefabricated walls, the home is more than its parts—a fine example of the rapper’s maxim.

Making holiday plans? If you’re planning to be in the L.A. area, plan on doing what lots of tourists are (and have been for years): visit the famous houses. Compared to the vagaries of trying to spot movie stars, let alone get close enough for an autograph, casing out the famous homes of L.A. is a more enjoyable pursuit. From the oldest (Gamble House, 1907) to the one dearest to our hearts (Eames House, 1949), from the work of Wright to Neutra, it is, as Andrew Ferren writes in The New York Times, “the ultimate showplace of American dream houses.” Our guy got a rare tour of the interior. (Tours of the grounds are open to everyone; interior tours are by appointment only.) The Mondrian-like façade is worth the journey alone. One of 25 homes built as part of a program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, the house features off-the-shelf parts ordered from catalogs. Charles and Ray balanced these industrial elements with a craftsman-like attention to detail that turns house into home. In fact, they lived and worked there for the rest of their lives. Let us know if you make a visit.

For details of the Eames House, check out these great photos posted by An Amateur on Flickr.

Visit Lifework to read about Cerentha’s dinner at the Eames House.