Books

What a joy it is to look through this book and see iconic homes in the Los Angeles area. As Annie Kelly says in her Introduction, the one thing that ties all these homes together is diversity. She writes, “Los Angles features an incredible variety of housing, ranging from a modern art-filed cube overlooking the ocean in Malibu to an adaptive-reuse loft in a 1929 Hollywood office building to a Venetian Gothic villa sporting a Juliet balcony, complete with a gargoyle.

Her husband Los Angeles’s Street-Porter has been photographing the architecture and interiors of LA for over twenty-five years. They are a formidable team. This book is divided into two sections: Living with Art and Design and Los Angeles Modern. Author Kelly writes about the historical precedents of these houses and the famous people who live in them.

For example, artist Charles Arnoldi designed  a home for his family on the coast of Malibu. Throughout the house, Arnoldi has hung works by fellow artists who have been longtime friends like an early Frank Gehry pale fish sculpture and a classic by Billy Al Bengsten. Antiquarian Joel Chen blends an eye-catching collection of period furniture and Chinese objets while interior design Jean-Louis Denoit’s house features a Tony Duquette gilded mirror and an abalone shell chandelier.

The renovation of modernist houses is also on view. Mary Weatherford’s reworking of her A. Quincy Jones-designed home, in collaboration with designer Oliver Furth, has an eye-popping orange bedroom.

This book is a must-have for anyone who loves  architecture and design.