There’s the DIY of assembling that Ikea bookcase, and then there’s the DIY of building an entire house. In both cases, it helps if you are an architect with an enthusiastic partner, both possessed of resourcefulness and skill, like Joe and Marie Michell, who built this of-the-moment Post and Beam in

A recently-completed collaboration between architect/developer David Maman and interior designer Leslie Close of Close Design, this home on Brentwood’s Arbutus Drive represents the best in “quiet luxury”—a term that’s overused but still evocative. Absolutely up to the moment in amenities, the proper

With a career spanning decades from the 1930s to the 1970s, Robert Byrd built some of L.A.’s most influential homes, working in a very characteristic style that combined a farmhouse aesthetic, heavily timbered and woodsy, with carpenter interior details and extravagant brickwork. Unlike the classic

There’s a long tradition of Modernist extravagance in Palm Springs, dating back to the 1950s, of architectural minimalism overlaid with the inescapable influence of Hollywood Regency. In 2012, Sean Lockyer, AIA of Studio AR&D Architects created this extraordinary residence, one of his first desert p

If you’re looking for a 3-bed, 2.5-bath house with flexible multi-level spaces, beautiful details set in a sophisticated design language that reaches back to the glory days of Modernism in Los Angeles, look no further than this exceptional property from Corsini Stark Architects. Known as the Callow

Known for his sleekly Modernist style (inflected with a dash of Italian Rationalism from the 1930s) John Maniscalco has become one of the Bay Area’s most in-demand architects. His eponymous firm has created beautifully conceived and detailed residences from the Peninsula to Marin County, the Wine Co

In the Westside’s Mar Vista neighborhood, the Mexico City based architect Pablo Pérez Palacios of Pérez Palacios Arquitectos Asociados has designed a serene, yet visually challenging, new home unlike anything seen in Los Angeles. Finished in concrete and paying homage to great minimalists like Luis

Meandering along an elevated site high above Pacific Palisades, celebrity designer Jae Omar’s latest luxury dwelling—dubbed ‘Dragon’—is a breathtaking and deeply spiritual 11,500-sq-ft composition of Japanese-inspired charred shou sugi ban wood and black steel cladding. The 7-bed, 9-bath home, creat

In 2008, the renowned architecture firm Predock Frane built a pair of nearly-identical houses in the Marquez Heights neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. Sited adjacent to each other within an environment of conventional Mid-century homes on a wooded, sloping lot, they were dubbed the Twin Houses; one

Set on a compact lot behind a picket fence, this idyllic Eagle Rock compound is centered around a classic stucco bungalow seamlessly remade in 2011 by architect Barbara Bestor. The 4-bed, 3-bath property came on the market last week and includes a free-standing casita plus a studio/office in lovely,

Completed in 2021 by Fabien Lannoye, the design principal at Nova Designs + Builds, in concert with San Francisco interior designer Cindy Bayon, this 4-bed, 4.5-bath Napa retreat is a luxurious composition of wood, stone and glass, with spectacular interior spaces closely linked to the outdoors and

Long regarded as a wonderful place to live, the classic Palm Springs neighborhood of Deepwell Estates possesses a heritage of exceptional Desert Modern residential architecture and a history of celebrity residents; a place valued both for privacy, its proximity to Downtown, and mountain views.Origin

Created in 2009 by the renowned landscape architect Garett Carlson, The Boulder House was conceived visually as a large boulder rising beneath a hillock– actually a turf roof– becoming one with the landscape and almost invisible from the road.  Set in a magical, drought-resistant and sympathetically

With an aesthetic evoking the California mining camps of the 19th Century, this recently completed 2-bed, 2-bath, 10-acre property by Paul and Wendy Hadley near Pioneertown has just come on the market. Nestled into its high-elevation site (and not unlike its mining camp predecessors) the property op

Since the 1980s, Venice has been the locus of cutting edge residential design, where architects have been looking at ways to deconstruct and reconstruct the gritty low-rise vernacular landscape using industrial materials in new applications, perhaps best exemplified by the Dennis Hopper Residence, w

At Rancho Mirage’s famed Tamarisk Country Club, the design/build firm Studio Veren has completely re-imagined a classic 1959 desert dwelling by architect Val Powelson. Eschewing the standard all-white interiors so common in renovations, they’ve employed deep tones and wood paneling while honoring th

Framing distant views of the San Gabriel mountains, this handsome 1959 Post + Beam, originally built by Buff, Straub + Hensman in Pasadena’s San Rafael Hills has been beautifully reinvented by designer/developer Stephani Gan. Serenely paying homage to the firm’s innovative work of that decade and In

Sited on three private acres in one of Rancho Santa Fe’s most desirable neighborhoods, this newly-listed home (known to architecture scholars as the Marshall House) was originally created by Richard Neutra, one of Southern California’s most prolific influential Modernist architects. Elegantly expand

New to the market, and hovering gently over its pristine 38-acre site, this superbly executed Wine Country estate is the work of Swatt Miers, the San Francisco based architectural firm known for creating sweeping, elegantly detailed homes.With a mandate from the clients to minimally intrude upon the

Over the course of a year, we look at dozens of properties on the market. All have unique architectural and design pedigrees, some are newly built, some renovated and others have been rescued from neglect and the effects of time, but their creators all have one thing in common—a passion for Californ