There is nothing like this modernist home in Echo Park, and there may never be anything like it again. Cause where do you find a house sited on over half an acre of land in the middle of the city?
When the property hit the market in 2004, it had seen better days. Despite the description reading, “The craftsman home needs TLC, but there’s plenty of room to upgrade and restore,” artist Jonathan Williams and writer Kim Pesenti saw the promise of what could replace the dilapidated structure resting on over half an acre of land.
They hired architect Rachel Allen to create what a 2009 LA Times feature describes as a rural retreat in the middle of the city.
Allen, whose work includes several residential projects, ATX Kitchen in Atwater Village, and Buzznet, explains this simple modern house “nestles into the land.”
Inside, you feel suspended in the trees. Walls of windows allow views and light from every direction. A clever design feature of laser-cut plywood mimicking leafy shadows strategically placed on the central skylight adds to the indoor-outdoor feeling.
The split-level design brilliantly maximizes space and features a large kitchen, an open living and dining space, sustainably harvested walnut and concrete floors, Heath Ceramic tile, custom built-ins throughout, and many windows.
There are multiple outdoor areas directly off the house, with pathways leading to seating areas and rock gardens within this park-like setting. And all of this is shaded by mature leafy citrus, pomegranate, yucca, pine, eucalyptus trees, and fruitful citrus and pomegranate.
Since there’s nothing like it, and there may never be anything like it again, I guess the neighborhood’s sales price will be a record-setting high.
Listing courtesy of Rob Kallick & Tatiana Tensen – Sotheby’s International Realty