This 1950s Los Angeles Home Is a Sanctuary for All Seasons

Vaishnavi Nayel Talawadekar
·7 min read
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More often than not the best things in life happen when you least expect them. Or as one Los Angeles couple puts it: “when you’re out of town with zero cell phone reception.” Their current home, a two-story 1950s abode in the heart of sunny Brentwood, was a lucky find. “We never even visited. One of our parents went and saw the place for us and walked us through it via a spotty FaceTime. Lo and behold, we placed an offer the same day,” says the wife.

A scarlet front door, enlivened in Farrow & Ball’s Picture Gallery Red and a vintage brass Gio Ponti handle, opens to reveal one end of the living room. A restored 1970s AeO chair, dressed in a bright orange leather from Maharam Textiles, sits by the fireplace in the company of Azucena’s Monachella Floor Lamp by Luigi Caccia Dominioni.

The home checked many boxes: It had a great layout, it was impossibly lush, and it was large enough for them to grow into. But it fell short on personality, and so too practicality, as evidenced by the washer-dryer wedged into the back of the primary closet. Neither problem deterred the couple, who were confident in making the place livable again with a little help from long-time friends Neda Kakhsaz and Zabie Mustafa of Los Angeles–based architecture and interior design practice Studio Muka.

The millwork in the living room is full of peekaboo moments that reveal special objects sourced throughout the owners’ travels. Chief among them are a Carl Auböck Glove vase and a collection of vintage vessels by Gunnar Nylund. An open bar cabinet stands to the right.
The kitchen’s galley layout holds a mirror to its midcentury past. Neda and Zabie brightened up the counter and backsplash with handmade Heath ceramic tiles. The cabinets wear Farrow & Ball’s Pavilion Gray, while the hood bears a likeness to late Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi’s iconic Casa de Vidro in São Paulo, Brazil.
You’d never know that the Dirk Van Der Kooij table in the breakfast nook was made of recycled plastic. The vintage Robert Mallet-Stevens chairs around it cut a Stygian contrast to the Sergio Mazza pendant above. The candle holders are by contemporary artist James Naish and were sourced from Rhett Baruch Gallery.

The plan, at least initially, was to keep things strictly cosmetic. “But as we took Neda and Zabie through the space, and heard all their ideas, it seemed like the possibilities were endless,” explains the husband of what would soon become a soup-to-nuts remodel. The architects didn’t have to look far for inspiration—or did, depending on which way you look at it. “The sun was our compass,” says Neda, whose cosmic rationale was rooted in good reason. Because the clients are both practicing anesthesiologists whose work keeps them in the glare of harsh fluorescent lights, it was important that the home provide the opposite experience. The architects took one leaf from the book Sun Seekers (which describes the California sun as a miracle cure for ailments), and another from the “proto wellness” ethos of the surrounding community, which was developed in the 1950s in keeping with the culture of health, wellness, and natural lifestyle that is now synonymous with West Los Angeles. “Our design objective sat at the intersection of architecture, design, and medicine,” explains Zabie.

The dining room is an emerald oasis composed of an LC6 glass table by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, and restored midcentury Italian chairs. Large-scale and small-scale paintings by Skyler Brickley envelop the space. The pendant is by Santa & Cole.

The architects didn’t just want to summon the light, they wanted to multiply it too—a feat they deemed possible only by reconfiguring the layout to make room for furniture and take advantage of the tropical terrace views. It was one thing to modernize the space, but quite another to simultaneously honor its history. Over time, much of the magic of the architecture had been lost, and as the architects saw it, it was up to them to bring some of it back. What followed was an exercise backward in time, with inspiration pulled from design heroes such as Robert Mallet-Stevens, Le Corbusier, and Charlotte Perriand. In a bid to bring back the 1950s, Neda and Zabie also espoused a modernist ethos, stripping away the strange concrete-looking epoxy floors, paring down details, and performing a balancing act of warm timbers and deep jewel tones. The blanks that remained were highlighted with art from the owners’ personal treasure trove, which, as Neda points out, “the couple had collected over the years but never had a chance to display.”

A walnut and linoleum table by Studio Muka and an Ettore Sottsass Lodge chair dressed in Maharam’s Mohair upholstery accentuate one corner of the office. A painting by Alexis Rockman, titled Parade, and a fish-patterned silkscreen by Claire Tabouret, conjure an eclectic potpourri of color and pattern. “They’re grown-up and childlike all at once,” says Neda. The rug is an Armadillo design.
“It’s the most ideal place to wind down and watch a film,” says Zabie of the den, a warm space with walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s Brinjal. A ceramic vase by contemporary ceramicist Addison Woolsey, sourced from Lawson-Fenning, sits atop a Pierre Chapo coffee table. The seating area is characterized by a bespoke sofa bed with Studio MUKA pillows and Paolo Deganello’s Archizoom AeO chair. A Beni Rugs carpet takes center stage.

The art set the stage for the furniture, which the architects specified in colors and forms à la midcentury Europe. The selection included a 1970s Togo sofa, restored Italian dining chairs, Archizoom AeO armchairs, Robert Mallet-Stevens seating, and a vintage Sergio Mazza pendant restored by Rewire. What wasn’t vintage was made to match in spirit. Example? The mixed resin breakfast table by Dirk van der Kooij, made from recycled plastic, and the custom aluminum and linoleum coffee table, which doff their hats individually to the surrounding palette.

In the primary bedroom, vintage Murano glass sconces dazzle in the afternoon afterglow. The bed, crafted in leather and walnut wood, is a labor of love by Studio Muka. The rug is an Armadillo find.
The primary bedroom is a serene oasis that basks in minimum color and maximum light. Potted Shrimp by Farrow & Ball calms the walls, while a stool by Ingvar Hildingsson echoes the walnut wardrobes. A photograph by Stephen Shore of a hotel in Ukraine emblazons the wall.
Aquamarine quartzite and brass fixtures and accents breathe tranquil air in the primary bathroom. A Coppa Aperta wall sconce by Ignazio Gardella and a brass stool by contemporary artist James Naish from Rhett Baruch Gallery lend a sheen to the matte periphery.

Not all laws were laid down by humans past or present. “Their cats are sensitive to certain materials, so every decision was feline-approved,” muses Zabie. This meant no synthetic fabrics. No furniture with plastic. No easy-to-mess velvet. “We started referring to the cats as clients,” Zabie continues of the pets, who the owners say chew on just about everything. “They had to channel a bit of Peter Marino for their star feline clients,” jokes the wife.

Different eras collide in the powder room. “Nathalie Du Pasquier’s collaboration with Mutina was one of the first finishes we looked at for this project. It exemplifies the perfect partnership between art and design,” shares Neda. The wall sconces take a leaf from Le Corbusier’s famous Villa La Roche. Dead Salmon by Farrow & Ball energizes the walls.

As the owners explain, there’s lots to love about the home: the easy flow between interior and exterior, the use of vibrant and unexpected color in each space, the way the living room and the ravine mirror one another through the sliding glass windows downstairs. “It’s an organic showcase from morning to afternoon to evening,” says the husband. “Here, there’s always something to marvel at.”

The terrace flows in from the landscape, giving the home an Eden-like ending. The seating, which includes a Palissade exterior dining set and armchair by Hay, is disguised amidst the greenery. A metallic Le Corbusier Applique de Marseille wall sconce and a restored black wall lamp halo the setting come sundown.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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