Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), created a buzz in museum circles earlier this year when he expressed an interest in acquiring canonical, Midcentury Modernist houses for his institution’s collection. As detailed by The New York Times on March 15, Govan’s plan would preserve L.A.-area houses as in situ satellites of the museum.

Although the idea is hardly new, his remarks generated considerable excitement. But Govan has since retreated from his original statements. He declined to comment for this story. LACMA’s president and C.O.O. explained the museum’s current position. “Eventually, we would love to collect houses and preserve them,” Melody Kanschat says. “But we don’t have any plans.”