LA’s picturesque Bird streets are in the Hollywood Hills, high above Sunset Strip. Distinguished by quietude and exclusivity offset by the movie studios, nightclubs and bars the neighbourhood looks down on, this is a pocket of the city that reconciles its architectural history with a contemporary design language. Doheny by is a residence that perfectly articulates this balance between tradition and modernity.
Framed by 100-year-old sycamore trees, Doheny is an expansive compound accessed by reclaimed cedar gates set within mature hedging. A cobblestone driveway leads to the low-lying, Belgian-farmhouse-inspired home which mediates between the indoor and outdoor lifestyle LA so perfectly nurtures.
Designed and built by , Doheny forges a new vision for the city’s architectural persona, homaging the gravitas of its mid-century attitude and leveraging it to define a new design aesthetic. It balances the expression of Frank Lloyd Wright (who had a home and studio on Doheny Drive) with the fulfilment of cutting-edge expectations on residential living.
Doheny fuses resilience and elegance through a design response that considers equally how the home will feel and look. An ultimate entertainer’s home which maintains ultra-privacy, indoor-outdoor architecture is set between a living and dining room with 25-ft. ceilings and full-height custom metal windows.
Doheny’s farmhouse aesthetic has been organically informed by the surrounding natural beauty where birds, deer and the occasional bob-cat are the only visible neighbours. A white-panelled kitchen with grey-marble stone benchtops, island, and splashback articulate the rustic elegance that distinguishes the home. Traditional joinery profiles and classical tapware are balanced with the clean architectural symmetry of the colossal skylight above and the layout below.
The kitchen features custom stonework and herringbone white oak floors.
Osklo orchestrated a refined cohesion throughout Doheny with the continuous presence of key accent materials within a larger monochromatic compilation of white architecture and black steel windows and doors. Stone carries through from kitchen to bathrooms to fireplace surrounds, while cedar is a constant around door thresholds and the stair banister, offsetting the oak floors and verdant backdrop. The result is an atmosphere of relaxed intent.
While half the downstairs area of the main house is dedicated to togetherness beneath a 7.6m high ceiling in places, and ease of transition between indoors and out, upstairs is an intimate sleep space. A full-floor master suite with office features double balconies, fireplace, breakfast bar, soaking tub and a magnificent shower surrounded in Calacatta Viola marble and crowned by a 20ft sky dome. Three further oversized en-suite bedrooms with private terraces are located downstairs.
Doheny embraces a strong relationship with its garden. Acting as a threshold between the absolute privacy of the home and the shared natural environment beyond the compound walls is a cultivated haven that serves to restore and ground. From inside the home, impressions of movement, light and sound wash across the surface textures, serving as another thread that binds design language. Doheny’s backyard is the largest in Doheny Estates, stretching from a formal courtyard to a private outdoor dining room with a pizza oven, a sprawling lap pool, spa and 15ft outdoor fireplace.
Doheny encapsulates an aspirational lifestyle attuned to its Hollywood Hills location. Osklo has intuitively navigated the surrounding natural beauty, creating a built environment that engages in a dialogue with it to articulate an engagement with both. Each element draws on the natural environment for aesthetic expression so that the result is a home that remains authentic to the 1960s origins of the neighbourhood.
In a nod to the 1960s origins of the Doheny Estate, mid-century silhouettes are a common theme throughout lighting and furniture choices.
Natural timbers, brass accents and timeless styling pieces, such as a , create a refined eclecticism within a guest ensuite.
A separate pool house extends the living spaces of the main house, doubling as an entertainment space and incorporating a screening room with a bar.
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