This is an extensive remodel that turned a spec house into a charming French provincial home with a rustic exterior. Only the stone entry surround with its curved pediment hints at the sophisticated interiors. An elegant foyer, paneled formal rooms, rusticated classical columns, ebonized wood floors, and special plaster treatments convey the feel of a city person going to the country. The family room and loggia revert to the French provincial theme with beamed ceilings in woods of warm tones and more rustic detailing. The owners’ contemporary art collection juxtaposes elegantly with the traditional architecture.
Tuscany’s jewel-box villas and Wallace Neff’s exquisite California Mediterranean houses of the 1920s and ’30s inspired this symmetrical Tuscan residence in Beverly Park. The two-story entry surround, with columns below and Baroque scrolling above, was inspired by the “risalto” motif found in villas outside Florence. The front door offers a view straight through to the gardens and pool beyond. Doric columns, corner quoining and roof overhangs with carved wood rafter tails continue the Tuscan theme.
An interpretation of the royal chateaux—Chateau de Maisons, Courances and Anet—built as country estates around the Loire Valley and Ile de France in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Steeply pitched roofs, grand dormers and tall chimneys plus classical columns and detailing that originated in Italy and were adapted to French taste highlight the exterior. An expansive loggia, adapted from the covered shopping arcades in Paris, runs the length of the rear facade and serves as an outdoor living and entertaining area. The French garden pavilion is a transition between the formal gardens and the tennis court, offering views of both. Interiors are classical with finishes of stuc pierre walls, antique stone floors and boiserie found in French chateaux.