When one Beverly Hills couple found out that their beloved neighbour had sadly passed away, they went over with condolences for her family — and an offer. ‘How do you make the transition from “Sorry for your loss” to “Can I make a bid?”’ the husband wondered at the time.
They had good intentions. Not only did the couple want to ward off a real estate developer who was putting up soulless spec houses in the area, but they also wanted to turn the home into a place to accommodate their aging parents. The neighbour’s children were amenable to the idea, and a deal was struck. The problem was, neither of the couple’s parents cared to move in. ‘It turned out, for us,’ says the wife, who works in talent representation, ‘if you build it, they won’t come.’
To mastermind combining the two properties, they called upon interior designer Eric Hughes, who had helped them with a previous, less intensive renovation. ‘What’s unique about this project is that there are two separate structures, but they’re connected visually with the landscaping,’ Hughes says.
For the architectural work, Hughes suggested bringing in Jeffrey Allsbrook and Silvia Kuhle, whose firm, Standard Architecture, is known for its streamlined, inviting spaces for California creatives. ‘They had a vision of combining it and making it an estate,’ Kuhle says of the owners. ‘Rather than work around all the existing stuff,’ Allsbrook says, ‘we took it all out and let the nature flow down’.
The result is a romantic sweep of land, including a gracefully sloping hillock dotted with wild grasses and stone steps that join the upper house to the lower one. (The lush landscaping was done by Matthew Brown Landscape Design.)
More significantly, that newly acquired home was razed and rebuilt to complement the existing one, its pitched gables echoing those of the main house, though rendered in white to contrast with the original’s black façade. The result nearly doubles the living space between the two buildings, now set on a lot that amounts to about an acre and a half, which hosts a pool, a barrel sauna, a firepit and an outdoor shower.
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That signature California connection to nature is ever present: It’s not uncommon to see a family of deer sipping from the pool some mornings or hear a hooting owl on a nearby oak tree branch.
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Aesthetically, the wife made her preference known. ‘She wanted something you weren’t precious about, something loft-like,’ Allsbrook says. She brought them an image that helped guide the process: a space with wooden furniture, concrete floors and oversized windows divided with thin metal mullions.
‘Concrete and steel can sometimes feel austere, but I wanted something cosy, inviting, with a warmth to it,’ the wife says. ‘A place where people feel like they can throw themselves on the sofa. There was a Sea Ranch vibe that was calling to me.’
This tension plays out quite effortlessly — even playfully — throughout the homes. Take the concrete floors, walls, and floating staircase in the office: they give off an industrial vibe softened by the slatted wood ceiling, a nubby shearling armchair, and a wall of mounted guitars.
Or, there’s the overlapping textures of rugs and curtains in the main bedroom. And in the living room, the artfully arranged stacks of books and earthy ceramics, the twisting rope coils by artist Jim Olarte, and a grooved wooden totem atop a marble base break up the sleek, white foundation. ‘It pulls away from that stark aesthetic,’ Hughes says. ‘Maybe it’s the “new modern.”’
The family has since hosted a range of events, encompassing the whole spectrum of human emotions, from a shiva to a wedding to their rabbi’s book party. They can easily accommodate their daughter’s impromptu swim dates, with the parents oftentimes joining in. They’ve even gathered as many as 75 guests for a holiday meal. So it appears that if you build it, they will, indeed, come — maybe just not the ‘they’ you were first expecting.
