Spanish Courtyard House

Nested in the terraced hills surrounding Silver Lake, this 1920s Spanish Revival structure has been extended and transformed into a gracious private residence. When we first encountered the original 1200 square-foot house, we found that a previous renovation had compromised its architectural and aesthetic integrity. Yet potent remnants of the original—beautiful stucco walls, a tiled roof, and bird mouthed rafter tails, all calling cards of Spanish Revival— remained as glimmers of possibility of how this structure could be renewed. Three core ideas anchored our design: extending the house, cultivating privacy in the rear garden, and unifying the assemblage to complete an architectural gesture begun generations earlier.