Top 10 home galleries so far this year
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Our top 10 new home galleries published from January through June, ranked by page views:
1. Ennis House. When Frank Lloyd Wright completed the Ennis House in 1924, he immediately considered it his favorite of the four concrete-block houses that he built in the Los Angeles area. Full gallery.
2. Ray Kappe House. Of more than 100 houses that Ray Kappe has designed over his long and distinguished career, the one he designed for himself and his family in Los Angeles’ Rustic Canyon is the most important. ‘Maybe the greatest house in Southern California,’ Stephen Kanner, the former president of American Institute of Architects’ Los Angeles chapter, once said. Full gallery and 360-degree panoramic views.
3. Small wonder. Randy Franks wanted to make his dream home out of a 670-square-foot condominium in the coastal community of Montecito, near Santa Barbara, so the interior designer called on his experience restoring a clipper ship for financier E.F. Hutton. ‘Living in a tiny space is a lot like living on a yacht: Every square inch is important.’ Full gallery.
4. DIY Craftsman. It was the ultimate DIY project: building their own house. For Don and Natalie Kick of Granada Hills, the challenge wasn’t just to construct a 2,800-square-foot Craftsman themselves. It was to build the house while home-schooling their two daughters, expecting daughter No. 3 and running a business from home too. Full gallery.
5. Cubist flight. The Santa Monica house that Victoria Casasco designed for cinematographer Giorgio Scali has some spectacular elements, including a glass-walled living and dining area that has a ceiling rising 23 feet high. But perhaps the biggest design move is the master bedroom suite, which hovers 13.5 feet above an outdoor living room. Perched on cantilevered steel beams, the bedroom seems to float in the air. Full gallery.
6. Medieval meets Modern. One homeowner liked Romanesque architecture. His wife preferred an industrial look. How could they up with a house they both loved? They enlisted Janice Shimizu and Joshua Coggeshall, who designed a hillside retreat that merged medieval and Midcentury traditions. Full gallery.
7. Venice color. Nely Galán’s house on one of Los Angeles’ Venice canals demands to be stared at -- and discussed. Galán, former president of entertainment for Telemundo, hired artist and colorist Patssi Valdez to manage the color scheme. The women studied photos of homes in Cuba, Greece and Italy and famed architect Luis Barragan’s projects to arrive at a palette that glows. Full gallery.
8. Mission meets flea market. Mark and Cindy Evans wanted to create the ambience of the California missions they loved while making room for their favorite pastime: shopping flea markets. Their eclectic home is an entertaining mix of early California Monterey-style furnishings with collections of Mexican yard art and Laguna Beach plein air paintings from the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s. Full gallery. Credit: Gina Ferrazi / Los Angeles Times
9. Alice Millard House. Frank Lloyd Wright’s alluring house, also known as La Miniatura, rises like a Mayan temple from a tree-canopied hillside on Rosemont Avenue in Pasadena. Inside, the play of light and shadow still delights. Full gallery.
10. House of TINI. As co-owner and creative director of the vintage home decor emporium TINI, short for This Is Not IKEA, Alexis Hadjopulos has won fans with the kind of quirky sensibility and lack of pretense that is defining a new breed of Los Angeles tastemaker: the populist connoisseur. Full gallery. Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times
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