Favorites

A 1000xBetter removed the wrought iron and striped awning, and covered the façade in wood, leaving the distinct midcentury elements intact.

Perched below the Griffith Observatory and overlooking Hollywood is a lush lot crowned with four towering olive trees and a 1965 home designed by modernist architect Craig Ellwood. When a young couple purchased the home in 2018, it needed substantial work. For a historic restoration, they called on Woods + Dangaran, a local firm fluent in modernist history. The team completed a meticulous restoration of the home while keeping original components like the linear shape, open plan, and expansive windows. One of the most striking features is the original koi pond (a feature deemed so essential that its preservation was a condition of escrow) that is now crossed via a bridge that leads to a new lap pool—perhaps the biggest intervention on the property.

A 100-year-old oak shades the front of the house, which is clad in weathering yellow cedar.

“From anywhere in the house, you have a sense of the outdoors,” says Melonie, “and yet it’s very private.” Ikegami agrees. “The building was really about the landscape—it can dissolve into the background,” he says. In the master bedroom, Japanese Tansu chests from the couple’s previous home flank a Duxiana bed. The full-height windows and swing door are from Western Window Systems.

Derek Gray of Bay West Builders made the entry bench from wood earmarked for an unbuilt breakfast bar. Radiant-heated concrete floors offer a polished counterpoint to the board-formed walls outside.

Chopping off the original roof eaves and raising the walls to create higher ceilings helped unlock greater view potential, giving the home a true “panoramic experience.”

A flat front yard, with drought-tolerant landscaping and a spa, is a place for gardening, lawn games, and congregating with guests.

Continuing the progression, an ascent past a green wall and other layered plantings brings residents and visitors to the front entry, where the Fleetwood pivot door invites first glimpses into the home.

“As much as I possibly could, I wanted things to be concealed and not exposed,” Meera says of the kitchen’s streamlined aesthetic. A paneled dishwasher and Sub-Zero fridge help achieve the look, along with clean white counters (Wilsonart Quartz in Marble Falls) and custom flat cut walnut millwork by Ralph King Cabinetry.

Balancing soft and hard, warm and cold, the primary bedroom’s stained oak floors are an answer to the cool grey concrete elsewhere in the home. “My fear is that I didn’t want it to look too cold,” Meera says. “That's why I tried to bring as much wood into it as I could, and incorporate the soft furnishings to make it feel more comfortable.” A Nook Bed by Blu Dot was chosen for the space, completed with a ​​Brooklinen Classic Duvet Cover in Window Pane. An Emmet Sling Chair in Dakota Tobacco by Burke Decor is perfectly positioned to enjoy the private hillside view.

Honoring the strength of concept, vertical screens continue the circular path around the kitchen. “That was, in a way, a continuation of the shape of the circle without being either a line on the floor or a solid wall,” explains Stept.

A large wraparound deck can be accessed from each of the four upper level bedrooms, encouraging fluid connection with the home’s serene and peaceful natural surroundings. An Opalhouse Southport Patio Egg Chair from Target invites quiet lounging on the side deck.

Two linked 1,000-square-foot pavilions are greater than a sum of their parts. The simply detailed, taut, flat-roofed home’s two wings form a T-shape. One wing runs north to south, parallel to a pool, and contains the open-plan living spaces. Photo by Matthew Millman.