28 DIGS.NET | 1.28.2022
Balconies, verandas, decks and a large patio, shaded by a
well-established olive tree, extend the home's rooms into the
landscape, anticipating Southern California's focus on living
outdoors. The result is an interior that finds the ideal balance
between open and cozy. With Neutra's intimate understanding
of light and shade, he chose mostly warm materials — wooden
walls and floors, the kitchen's stainless steel countertops and
blue tiles, blue linoleum — that enhance the views, the move-
ment of the sun and the changing landscape to create a home
that tangoes with nature's ebbs and flows rather than fight-
ing against them. Underlining the home's expansiveness are
steel multi-paned folding doors and windows that invite the
outdoors inside, (scenic artist Oscar A. Ramirez, who works
with Universal Studios, spent a year restoring the metallic glow
of the frames to their original lustrous patina). Note the hori-
zontal band of clerestory windows that skip across the top of
one wall of the living room. They not only counter balance the
strong steaming through the room's large main windows, they
provide a generous expanse of wall area on which to display art
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and, just as importantly, a shaded spot in which to escape the
powerful midday sun.
The allure of the home — and indeed of Neutra's work — lies
in the architect's ability to understand that a house must not
only look good and function well, it must also address unspoken
human needs — for privacy, for seclusion, for safety. Note the
lights embedded in the home's eaves. Not only do they illumi-
nate the patio and landscaping at night, they also eliminate the
mirrored glass effect on the interiors, bringing the outdoors in.
Steeped in the history of Southern California, here is a home that
has stood the test of time because it celebrates what living here
is all about: our love of beauty, of the outdoors and of feeling one
with nature; our need for privacy and a respite from the increasing
demands on our time. It seems that the more things change, the
more they remain the same. It's something the architect under-
stood and why his work has withstood the test of time.
