House in Bel Air
Dropping In on Paul Williams: House in Bel Air
Los Angeles, California
Set two storeys below the street, this unusual suburban house was designed in the late 1940’s by noted Hollywood architect Paul Revere Williams for movie score lyricist, Y. P. Harburg, himself best known for penning “Over the Rainbow” for the film, “The Wizard of Oz.” The house is entered on its upper (bedroom) floor from which one descends to the living and dining rooms, breakfast room, and kitchen at the garden level. Conceived as a modest English country cottage with a sprinkling of Williams’ signature Art Deco detailing, it was subsequently enlarged and altered unsympathetically by later owners.
When BPA was retained by new owners, a couple with two young sons, the 6000 square foot house presented a chaotic upper floor connected perilously to the lower level by a steep, awkwardly winding staircase. A hallway now cuts through the upper floor to a new family room where a ribbon of south facing windows surveys the canyon beyond and an exterior stair leads to a roof deck with a view of the ocean. Skylights are remodeled to give even ambient light with minimal heat gain. The existing rear stairway – a classic Paul Williams winder – is retained and given new importance by an elliptical ceiling with an eccentrically located oculus.
Upper floor bedrooms, bathrooms, and studies are remodeled to improve daylighting and give each new distinction. The space beneath the new family room– a shaded terrace for al fresco dining and socializing - mediates between house and garden.
But the main event is the newly enlarged and reconfigured stairway that unites the floors spatially. It’s lit from above by an existing dormer window that bounces light down a three-story shaft. Modifications on the lower level accommodate the new staircase. The dining room was opened to the living room to create a single, large-scaled space and the fireplace and round bay window were simplified and strengthened to reckon with the powerful presence of the new stairs.
Los Angeles, California
Set two storeys below the street, this unusual suburban house was designed in the late 1940’s by noted Hollywood architect Paul Revere Williams for movie score lyricist, Y. P. Harburg, himself best known for penning “Over the Rainbow” for the film, “The Wizard of Oz.” The house is entered on its upper (bedroom) floor from which one descends to the living and dining rooms, breakfast room, and kitchen at the garden level. Conceived as a modest English country cottage with a sprinkling of Williams’ signature Art Deco detailing, it was subsequently enlarged and altered unsympathetically by later owners.
When BPA was retained by new owners, a couple with two young sons, the 6000 square foot house presented a chaotic upper floor connected perilously to the lower level by a steep, awkwardly winding staircase. A hallway now cuts through the upper floor to a new family room where a ribbon of south facing windows surveys the canyon beyond and an exterior stair leads to a roof deck with a view of the ocean. Skylights are remodeled to give even ambient light with minimal heat gain. The existing rear stairway – a classic Paul Williams winder – is retained and given new importance by an elliptical ceiling with an eccentrically located oculus.
Upper floor bedrooms, bathrooms, and studies are remodeled to improve daylighting and give each new distinction. The space beneath the new family room– a shaded terrace for al fresco dining and socializing - mediates between house and garden.
But the main event is the newly enlarged and reconfigured stairway that unites the floors spatially. It’s lit from above by an existing dormer window that bounces light down a three-story shaft. Modifications on the lower level accommodate the new staircase. The dining room was opened to the living room to create a single, large-scaled space and the fireplace and round bay window were simplified and strengthened to reckon with the powerful presence of the new stairs.
Country: United States
Zip Code: 90077
