New Brentwood Home Combines Modern Amenities with Old L.A. Charm

At first glance, the home known as Brentwood Park II might be mistaken for a 1920s Norman Revival.

Its form is familiar. There are steep triple gables and rooflines curve gently over twin garages left and right of the main pavilion. There’s the light gray tone of exterior walls, and punched-up, black steel windows, garage doors, and gates. And then there’s the serenity of the courtyard, beckoning beyond.

But, no. Closer examination of this new house in the post-World War II, suburban neighborhood of Westside in L.A. reveals a home that’s ultra-modern, down to its twenty-first-century bones. The nostalgic form outside of this modern Brentwood home is a deliberate gesture by architect Bobby McAlpine to put tradition-bound neighbors at ease.

And it works.

“With the steep gables and a perfectly symmetrical façade, the street front of this home taps the iconic architectural language of America’s colonial past,” says McAlpine, the traditional/modernist designer with offices in Montgomery, Nashville, Atlanta, and New York.

The promenade through the home is flawless. It’s a procession from the gates through a limestone-paved courtyard, past a pivoting glass door to an inner sanctum and an expansive indoor living area. Finally, there’s a stroll through more black-steel glass doors to a landscape designed with meticulous care.

It was a team effort. The team was assembled by a designsavvy client whose husband, a tennis aficionado, was drawn to the site with its existing court and older home. “This property came with a 1940s ranch on it, one much smaller than what was built,” says Meg Joannides, principal/owner in MLK Studio, based in West Hollywood. “The clients found the property and called me in.”

Joannides, in turn, called in 12 gifted architects to present to her client. The two already saw eye-to-eye and had a vision. “What I liked, she liked,” Joannides says.

Though they may have loved all the architects interviewed, it was a visit to McAlpine’s design for a Napa Valley home that sealed the deal. “The client walked in and felt good in it but didn’t want to replicate it,” Joannides says. “She interviewed him—her husband didn’t think it was practical because he was not in L.A.—but we were sure and convinced him otherwise.”

Together, they agreed to bring in British-born landscape designer Christine London, someone the client had heard about. She’d worked on a project across the street, one that McAlpine referred to as “the unconventional little brother” to his design. Theirs was a holistic process, with all designers at the table. After the architect had sited the house and guest quarters, all those involved discussed the pool, firepit, tennis court, and interior and exterior living areas. “It was a really harmonious team,” Joannides says.

These clients are young at heart—their blended family includes three children from previous marriages, who are now off to college—and they do a lot of entertaining. Their new home is designed with that in mind, whether for large gatherings, small groups, or, alternately, just the two of them. Its open plan is comfortable for California indoor/outdoor living. It’s modern, but not super-sleek. “Instead, it’s a warm, eclectic modern,” Joannides says. “It flows, with a home office that opens to a salon, which opens to the kitchen, though each can be closed off with pocket doors.”

Reclaimed wooden posts and beams and plaster on the walls lend an aged look inside, along with hand-painted silk wallpaper. Floors at the entry are French tumbled limestone; the interior designer used a medium gray oak for floors elsewhere. “It’s hybrid, between something traditional, then more modern at the back of the house, where it’s open with the glass. The firepit feels like part of the house,” she says.

London merged the garden with the rear of the house, approaching it as an extension of interior living. “It is very permeable,” the landscape architect says. “It’s connected to the interior, so outside dining is comfortable and accessible.”

She tailored the site plan, along with the landscape design, to maximize the long and narrow lot of just over an acre. The land drops off at the rear of the property, so her evergreen and sycamore plantings—cool in the California warmth—move down and tuck into the tennis courts beyond. “Axial views are seen through vistas from the house or from the little terraces."

McAlpine notes that his design is demure in front and uninhibited in the back. “This house illustrates that where there is virtue, there is also disobedience,” says the architect. At Brentwood Park II, that’s a good kind of disobedience.

This story originally appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of New Old House.