The clients for this modern stucco and masonry house had lived for 18 years in a smaller house on this same site: a level, corner lot with many mature trees. They wanted generous living spaces for the family of four to be able to be together and entertain while still allowing each person private spaces for sleeping, recreation, and study. The house is designed in two wings creating an "L" along the site's corner and around a courtyard with a lap pool. The shape of the house allows the longest view of the site as a captured quiet space, now fully landscaped. The "L" wings accommodate the bedrooms, dens and studies. In the crook of the wings sits a higher family and public entertaining space that overlooks the garden and pool. My clients now enjoy maximum urban privacy and full-site enjoyment of their property in their close-to-downtown neighborhood. Materials, selected from a subtle-range color pallet, give the house the solidity and tranquility the clients originally desired. Paul Hester, Photographer