Manor House Meets Modern Life In A Transformed 1930s English Cottage-Style L.A. Home

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living room with a bar...

Updates to a vintage Los Angeles abode keep its cham intact while injecting modern flair.

staircase with view of living...

Designer Alison Palevsky placed a Lindsey Adelman fixture in the entry of this Los Angeles house. The move declares this will not be a traditional manor home. A view to the living room reveals two Milo Baughman swivel chairs reupholstered in a Glant fabric from Kneedler-Fauchère poised beneath an Adam Henry work.

family room with a sectional...

Checking all the boxes, the family room sectional—wrapped in Pindler fabric durable enough for energetic kids—makes for a comfortable hub. A Lawson-Fenning armchair and a window bench round out the seating. The Lucite coffee table is a vintage score from 1stdibs. Underfoot is a rug from Lawrence of La Brea.

kitchen with circular light pendnats,...

A gut renovation updated the kitchen yet nods to vintage charm. Brass accents on the Cedar & Moss pendants and the Waterworks faucet have throwback vibes. Honed Italian statuary marble on the backsplash is from Mission Tile West. The barstools are from Organic Modernism, and the Wolf range is from Snyder Diamond.

dining room with a round...

The round table in the dining room features a built-in lazy Susan. Dan Johnson’s Viscount chair was challenging to find in any quantity above one, so reproductions fill in the rest. The showstopping vintage Murano chandelier sourced from Fabio Ltd. plays off Max Steven Grossman’s captivating work.

master bathroom with stand alone...

The master bathroom was also fully gutted and now plays host to a freestanding Victoria + Albert tub, from Snyder Diamond, fitted with a Dornbracht faucet. “The new configuration is more functional and feels open with plenty of natural light,” notes the designer. On the floor is Borghini tile from Stone Mart.

master bathroom with a shelf...

“We decided to treat the window with draperies to soften the room, and use the shelves that flank it to house beautiful objects and photos,” Palevsky says of the master bedroom’s Pindler fabric coverings. At the foot of the custom bed is a woven leather bench from Thomas Hayes Studio.

exterior of the back of...

While the interiors were revamped to fit contemporary needs, the exterior still “needed to feel somewhat traditional,” shares Palevsky. “We used a palette of mostly white and green for plantings, leaving out any bold colors purposefully. The backyard was cleared and the hardscape was squared off to create an expansive lawn.” The central seating area is furnished with pieces by Janus et Cie.

Los Angeles has no shortage of stunning historic homes, though they’re often out-glossed by modern hillside perches that get big ratings on real estate reality shows. This 1930s English-cottage-style residence by architect H. Roy Kelley is too sophisticated for cat fights and tired plotlines, though it is a story about dramatic transformations.

“We loved the architecture, that’s what drew us to the house,” the wife says about the property in leafy Little Holmby. While the character and period details were alluring, the couple—native Angelenos with two young boys—discovered the house also had the holy grail of family living (and peacekeeping): green space. “We wanted a big backyard, and to find flat land in Los Angeles,” she says, leaving us to calculate the probability.

A design lover with a self-professed weakness for cool lighting, the client was flipping through a magazine when she landed on the Pacific Palisades residence of designer Alison Palevsky. It was the aesthetic she craved: contemporary and stylish, but also livable. Coincidentally, the couple and Palevsky share a common connection: The wife’s dear friend Randie Kleinman, a landscape designer who consulted on the gardens. Soon, Palevsky went from consulting on color to ushering in a chic revise that merged manor house with modern life. “The first thing I always look at when we start a project is the bones, the architecture,” says the designer, “because you can’t take something that’s in a certain architectural style and completely change it. You have to keep a little bit of what’s there and pay homage to it. So, the floor plan and style were dictated first by the architecture and then by the way they wanted to live.”

Imposing an open concept scheme on a vintage gem would be heavy handed. Instead, Palevsky let the spaces breathe. Her masterful edit blended vintage furnishings, custom pieces and modern variations that didn’t betray precedent. To establish a clean slate, the walls and knotty pine beams received coats of soft white paint with contrasting glossy black trim, a tailored nod to the 1920s and ’30s.

Palevsky selected urbane furnishings that didn’t assert formality but didn’t retreat from it either. Slinky custom pieces and a variety of seating areas dress the living room. The couple enjoys the space constantly, hosting friends or retreating after dinner to sit by the fireplace—a formerly massive presence the designer tamed with a crisp modern iteration in marble. The husband wanted a built-in bar for in the living room, but the wife initially resisted, citing bachelor pad vibes. Palevsky responded with a custom walnut and brass creation. “It’s more of an elegant piece of furniture,” she explains.

The clients’ growing art collection, a particular passion of the husband’s, deserved elevated surroundings. An art collector herself, Palevsky embraced the chromatic works by Julio Le Parc, John Baldessari and Adam Henry. One large, colorful piece by Max Steven Grossman in the dining room depicts the ultimate curated shelfie. “The goal was to achieve this balance between old and new,” she says, noting the 1960s Murano chandelier and edited furnishings in the space. “The vintage chairs are from a similar period and the overdyed Persian rug feels young and hip because it’s a modern take, but it adds a textual component.”

The wife’s dream kitchen, featuring a generous waterfall island and breakfast nook, required a complete overhaul. She worked with Jesse Harrison, principal of Harrison Design, on the plans, and then Palevsky infused it with her own touches. “This is where my story blended with Alison’s,” says the wife of the space. “I wanted it to feel youthful, I didn’t want the traditional white kitchen.” A blend of blue-gray cabinetry and brass accents assure it isn’t.

A separate family entry just off the kitchen was created by general contractor Mike Khudir of Century West Construction. From the hall, the eye is drawn to the green oasis outside. The kids are either outdoors or on the plush sectional in the sunny family room, a favorite gathering area. Palevsky assembled it with just a few key pieces in a clean palette like the rest of the home, calibrating it to suit a hip couple and a modern family that happens to live in a stately residence. “I’m comfortable with the role of being the editor and curator of the house, helping create their vision. Everyone has great ideas, pulling them out is the hardest part—it’s about not incorporating every good idea you’ve ever had into one space,” the designer says, turning to the wife. “She tells me a story, I help illustrate it and then we do our thing and we transform it and then she and her family live it.”