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Originally built in 1929, this Beverly Hills Spanish home on a large flat lot required a complete remodel and second floor addition. My client, a busy real estate developer and his philanthropist wife, have an active household complete with four growing children. The family entertains on a weekly basis for groups of six to two hundred, presenting a need for both intimate and expansive spaces. The single story living room was maintained and the remaining house was torn down and redesigned as a two-story structure with a full basement, which contains an acre of wine storage.

Although the lot was large by Beverly Hills standards, there was a need to eliminate exposure to the street. The issue of privacy and lot constraints inspired the need for unique design solutions. View corridors and circulation axes were designed in deep perspective that terminated in visual focal points. Interior and exterior spaces were articulated by covered, semi-covered and open areas. Openings are delineated by solids, voids and transparencies that create a sense of privacy without compromising visual quality.

The interiors, designed by the wife, contain exquisitely detailed applications of onyx, mother of pearl and book-matched limestone. The original roof timbers of first-cut Douglas fir were repurposed into deeply carved and detailed parking court gates and hand-hewn trellis timbers.