Clean Lines

The great room is anchored by a 25-foot-high granite, wood-burning fireplace with a reclaimed timber mantle located beneath Alumicor skylights.

The Mutual Housing Association Site Office, used by the original architects and engineers for nearly a decade, was later renovated into a home after a brief stint as the community’s arts building. In 2000, after architects Cory Buckner and Nick Roberts moved in, it was established as Historic-Cultural Monument number 680 by the city of Los Angeles.

Moskow Linn Architects of Boston tackled this ground-up renovation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a client who wanted to maximize efficiency. Photo by Eric Roth.

Vertical planks of western red cedar provide a warm contrast against horizontal zinc siding panels.

The Hammerman House is truly a masterpiece of California Modernism.

A clean-lined bathroom of stone and concrete.

The kitchen is now part of the large open living space. The 1960s Hygena formica cabinets in Polyester Pumpkin were a vintage find. The white pendants are from IKEA and the blue is from Habitat.

The floors upstairs, originally a battleship gray linoleum, were replaced with oak flooring.

A peek into the master bath.

Nestled among trees and apple orchards, this warm and inviting family home makes the most of its peaceful wooded plot.

The house has two modules: a living space on the left and a utilities, laundry, and outdoor kitchen on the right.

The 4,478-square-foot Yellow Door House features two parallel concrete prefab buildings that are offset from each other. Between the structures, a semi-enclosed area features a bar, outdoor shower, and storage racks for surfboards.

“It was great to work from the plans of someone who was a part of the history of architecture,” says Drapszo.

Each villa is composed of a series of spaces, varying from two to three bedrooms, and offers different views out to the ocean. Overlapping timber roofs made from recycled teak planks and built by local craftsman provide shade from the powerful sun.

The redesign of the staircase is a contemporary touch which could have just as easily existed in the home's original state. The wood slat screen blends with the wooden staircase and the wood ceiling opening the space and making it feel bigger—a huge improvement over the sheetrock wall that had been previously there.