Ledgewood Drive
Ledgewood, a compact California modernist home nestled in the Hollywood Hills, was designed in 1961 by Robert Kennard, a pioneering Black architect who fought to open the profession to minorities and women. As with any renovation of a historic property, our challenge was to preserve the form and spirit of the original structure while gently ushering it into the 21st century. We believe the most meaningful way to respect great architecture is to demonstrate its adaptability to the rhythms and rituals of contemporary life.
Because people use kitchens and bathrooms in dramatically different ways than in decades past, these tend to be the spaces where we exercise the most creative license. Our guiding principle is to ask ourselves what the original architect might design if they were alive today.
Layering color into the monochromatic palette of midcentury modernist houses allows us to bring a fresh energy to these homes without compromising the architecture. Here, a range of mossy greens helps cement the bond between indoors and out.
Using traditional materials and craft techniques in unexpected ways is a hallmark of our practice. For the primary bath, we took classic handmade Moroccan zellige tiles and cut them into unusually small pieces, stacked vertically, for a surprisingly contemporary twist on a centuries-old material.
Earthy, organic materials like the warm woods and leather in the primary bedroom nurture an intimate relationship between the house and the verdant L.A. landscape in which it sits. Remaining true to the ethos of Kennard’s original design, these materials are deployed with restraint and precision.
