When we first saw the home 8 years ago you could feel it had a presence,
it had some great lines and and unlike many homes in Los Angeles it had this courtyard
leading up to to the entry and the classic hallmarks of a great example of modernist
architecture. We instantly felt we could improve it but we can also preserve it.
This home was quintessential Los Angeles mid-century architecture from the 60's,
when the client reached out to us he was in escrow for the house and wanted us to give the stamp of
approval. Some of the mid-century homes whether they are of historic value or not they are such
a mess, so it's usually black or white for us as to whether or not it's going to work
or it's not. So the client bought this property and per the letter of the law he he could have
built a 30,000 square ft home here and as we are in Encino which is just west of Beverly Hills a
lot of people do just that. For the most part it's the same house restored and I applaud him for it.
Once you get off the street and and come inside the courtyard,
you feel like you know you're in this peaceful area it's almost like
a decompression zone before you actually get to the front door.
As you enter immediately to your left you see there's a a beautiful den. Originally this was
the dining room, this room perfectly exemplifies how special a space can be
without a view because there's an intimacy about this space, there's a handsome, dark,
rich feeling in here that almost takes you back in time. This is a more formal sitting area,
it's bright and light but these pieces of furniture tone it down,
a lot of warm colors and retro patterns. Unlike today where the kitchen and dining
generally open up to each other, homes in the' 60s kept them separate, so the dining room
was moved to give it a closer proximity to the kitchen and a connection to the outdoor terrace.
It was important for us to make sure that the kitchen not only captured all the natural light
but is also generous in its proportions as the client loves to cook and entertain.
The primary bedroom itself is very simple again it's the custom furniture, the bed,
the side tables and the chair and rug against the backdrop of the pool,
gives this room its beauty. Walking behind the primary suite you have
a very efficient use of cabinetry for closet space then a handcrafted island.
You know in the bathroom you feel like you're somewhere other than LA because you see the
hills and there's a lot of beautiful pines and growth in this visual connection through
the window but also a vertical connection from the skylight down through to the the bathtub.
At the opposite end we have a couple of guest bedrooms with their own private little
outdoor spaces to relax and enjoy the view. A narrow 3-ft hallway leads down to the office,
so narrow because these old mid-century homes often the dimensions were smaller. To elevate
the experience we introduced this beautiful glass wall system and a water feature outside of it.
We designed the furniture and curtains in the office in keeping with the era.
We are a full service Architecture Firm this means we design not only the home
but also the interiors, cabinetry and some of the actual furniture,
because of that we are very connected to not just the overall form of the house but
the actual objects inside of the house. This is a piece that was designed by the
head of our Interiors Department Christopher Allen, he is looking at the details of these
mid-century furniture pieces and trying to recreate something special. This space would
feel very different if this cabinet and the dining table weren't designed for it.
When we were first approached to restore this house, it wasn't just a conversation about the
architecture it was also about how the house was going to interact with the landscape.
The site was over an acre with a steep slope right off the back of the house which is common for these
types of homes in LA, one strategy with this home is on the back side of the house you'll
see 12 ft retaining wall to create an outdoor fireplace and we used a double infinity edge
cantilevered pool to the right side again to expand the vista and also the outdoor space.
So when you're outside and you're looking back at the Pavilion you're looking at this
beautiful clean line, it doesn't take away from the beautiful pine trees that have been
here for 60, 70 years and all the kind of borrowed landscape that you see around in
the valley and the surrounding areas, so the scale of the home really takes a backseat to
the landscape and and it becomes more powerful if you think about it because it's not complicated
and it's not fighting with the landscape. This home in particular has a lot of glass
and so there's a lot of natural light coming through through and it needs to be balanced
and so the use of natural materials, the travertine and having the teak paneling in
the house really adds that richness and depth and warmth that helps balance or offset the
pavilion-like nature of this home. It's hard to be this disciplined,
it's not easy you know and I think you have to be a little bit neurotic like we are because these
mid-century homes are such a part of the fabric of Los Angeles, we feel a responsibility when
restoring them that they are still going to be around for the next 60, 70 years.