Queen Victoria’s Dining Chairs and a Bronze Cat Faucet Create the “Right Mix of Weirdness” in This 1920s LA Home

The property was purchased in a matter of minutes over FaceTime, yet the careful restoration process unfolded over many years. Even before stepping foot in their Spanish Colonial Revival–style residence in Los Angeles’s Hancock Park, its new owners—or “stewards,” as they prefer to call themselves—knew that preserving the 1928 home’s historical integrity was paramount. To make it their own, the wife, a former beauty executive, and her husband, a film and television producer, enlisted local designer Barry Fox to help them inhabit the mindset of its original inhabitants.Contemporary art mixed with blue-chip antiques establish the tone in the entry hall. An 18th-century Russian mahogany table sits atop a Kashan Mohtasham rug from Beauvais Carpets, surrounded by a sculptural vase from Built By Gattas, vintage parchment stools in the style of Jean-Michel Frank, a Brian Belott work from Morán Morán Gallery, and a Pepsi painting by Mary Louise Schrodt. Overhead hangs a plaster-and-bronze pendant from the Lamp Workshop. Parchment Covered Stool/End Table.Antique African Museum Asante Carved Wood Stool“What would a family in the 1920s have wanted? They would’ve wanted something that was ultramodern,” the wife says of the sleek kitchen, clad in Calacatta marble and reflective brass. While the laboratory-like space might initially seem at odds with a preservation-minded renovation, it perfectly embodies the owners’ guiding philosophy. “Our interpretation is more historicist in ideology than practice, and for us to put in a kitchen that felt a bit like a futuristic envelope-push compared to the rest of the architecture was really exciting.”The original flooring in the entry hall—an early point of debate—ultimately stayed at the wife’s insistence. “The cream ceramic has this patina to it that you’re not going to get no matter how much money you spend trying to,” says Fox. “It’s so good.” Louis XV gilt-bronze sconces and a Patrice Dangel patinated-bronze torchère cast a warm glow over a Gaetano Pesce Nobody’s Perfect chair. Led by June Street Architecture principal Sonny Ward, the painstaking structural updates of the James Dolena–designed (who is also known for the design of the Walt Disney Estate) residence discreetly expanded the living spaces to include, among other additions, a subterranean three-tier screening room, while preserving the protected edifice, lush courtyard, and unusually deep circular swimming pool. “The intervention demonstrates how thoughtful engineering can support preservation,” says Ward. “We didn’t see it as our right, frankly, to dramatically alter the home,” adds the wife of their approach. Though the undertaking was extensive, the couple—who divide their time between New York and Los Angeles with their two school-age children—remained guided by a sense of responsibility to the house and its history.A Karli Henneman painting hangs above a George II mahogany table topped with a 1970s globe lamp by Sergio Mazza and Giuliana Gramigna. A monumental vessel by Olivier Gagnère from Ralph Pucci stands in front of French doors dressed in Brunschwig & Fils curtains. The custom leather-and-parchment sconce is by Fox; the foreground chair and stool are both by David Wiseman. That philosophy carried into the interiors. “At the very beginning of the project, we talked about, ‘What’s a chopped and screwed Mongiardino?’ We were trying to combine these different vernaculars, these different linguistic idioms to come up with the right mix of weirdness,” the wife says of the trio’s early conversations. “Or, ‘What if Jacques Grange, instead of being a French Burgundy, were a funky natural orange wine? What would that look like?’”A large Sol LeWitt watercolor animates the dining room, with walls wrapped in a Clarence House fabric. George III painted dining chairs from Queen Victoria’s collection gather around a 1970s Milo Baughman burlwood dining table. “He just is a real workhorse,” the wife says of Fox. “He has this incredible Rolodex. He has a lot of old school contacts and habits and processes, but he’s not a flashy person.” Fox, who first met the clients through a mutual friend more than a decade ago, describes the resulting aesthetic as “counter-trend in a positive way.” In the sunset-hued living room, for example, a tan-leather-wrapped Mario Bellini sofa shares the space with 18th-century pier tables beneath a geometric Day-Glo canvas by Peter Halley. “None of it makes sense on paper,” the wife admits. Though everyone agreed that comfortable California living did not require a sea of “floppy” cream-colored sofas. “I think that a formal house, with a really strict organizing principle around how rooms are used, actually makes it more comfortable,” she explains. As a result, the home’s relaxed family spaces remain distinct from its sequence of more traditional public rooms and the primary suite.Painted in Farrow & Ball Incardine, the library centers on a circa-1960s Atelier Braun-Fortuna desk from Belgium set before a pair of Josef Hoffmann leather Kubus chairs flanking a Philippe Hiquily side table in gilt resin and petrified wood. Robert Kime bookcase lights illuminate the room after dark, while curtains in a Fleurons d’Hélène fabric with custom La Manufacture Prelle tape frame the space. The custom wool carpet is from La Manufacture Cogolin. French Modern Coffee Table with White MarbleTon Hoffmann Dining ChairThe husband, a lifelong collector of fine art and antiques, was particularly invested in ensuring the interiors struck the right balance between refinement and livability. While praising Fox’s and his wife’s shared ability to create beauty by “manufacturing new intense aesthetics within the context of a room,” he also wanted to ensure “that there is a level of comfort and an ability to really live in the place too,” he says. “I think there was a great conversation about that.”Finished in a Portola Paints limewash, the breakfast room pairs circa 1910 Arts and Crafts chairs with a round CB2 table beneath a cone pendant from the Lamp Workshop. A work by Jenny Holzer hangs on the wall. Hartman Baldwin served as contractor, while Jessica Witkin of Witkin Art Advisory collaborated with Fox on the art curation. June Street Architecture founding principal Sonny Ward oversaw the residence’s refurbishment and expansion. “It was just a perfect synthesis of people who deeply cared about preserving this house,” says the husband. CB2 Boscoe Round White Dining TableL’Objet Damier Vase - X-LargeFox, whose gift for pairing museum-quality art and Clarence House textiles with clever finds from CB2 is unmistakable, relished curating and expanding the couple’s collection of rare pieces. In the dining room, Fox paired dining chairs from Queen Victoria’s personal collection he found at a Christie’s auction with a 1970s vintage Milo Baughman dining table. In the primary bedroom, he placed a George Nakashima headboard, flanked by vellum side tables in the style of Jean-Michel Frank, alongside an 18th-century Régence fauteuil from the husband’s childhood Fifth Avenue home beneath a work by Brooklyn artist SoiL Thornton. “One of my favorite things to do,” the designer says, “is figure out how someone’s going to be drawn into a room with the art and furniture and how it’s placed.”One of the home’s most whimsical—and labor-intensive—details resides in the downstairs powder room. A custom bronze faucet from P.E. Guerin spouts water through an exact likeness of the family’s beloved cat, Buns (a.k.a. Bunny Mellon). The Calacatta Monet countertop is from Tristone and Tile; above, a CB2 mirror hangs against Pierre Frey wallpaper, while the block-print cafe curtain fabric was sourced by Fox during a trip to India. For all of the home’s grand Sunset Boulevard moments, perhaps its most revealing detail is tucked inside a downstairs powder room. There, a custom bronze faucet designed and cast over two years by P.E. Guerin is an exact likeness of the family’s beloved cat, Buns (a.k.a. Bunny Mellon). “That was a big undertaking,” Fox says of the one-of-a-kind fixture. “But [the wife] was obsessed with having it done and it’s pretty great.”“It’s supposed to feel a little bit like a laboratory for food,” the wife says of the kitchen, where Miele and Sub-Zero appliances are concealed behind reflective brass. Noguchi Akari and Lumfardo pendants lend a warm glow after dark, while Olson Kundig stools and Waterworks plumbing fixtures complete the space. Crow Canyon Home Splatter Cereal Bowls (Set of 4)East Fork Weeknight Serving BowlPainted in Farrow & Ball Matchstick, the primary bedroom is a study in quiet restraint. A Louis Cane dressing table and stool from Galerie du Passage join a vintage George Nakashima headboard, bedside tables in the style of Jean-Michel Frank, and a vintage stool set before an 18th-century Régence beechwood fauteuil upholstered in a Le Manach fabric. The bench is covered in a Larsen Fabrics textile, while curtains in Dedar frame works by Veronica Gelbaum, SoiL Thornton, and Magnus Peterson Horner above the bed. Matouk Lowell ShamMcGee and Co Mia Floor LampThe homeowners retreat to a cozy den within the primary suite, where a Jonas sofa upholstered in a custom Le Manach fabric pairs with a lounge chair and ottoman wrapped in Métaphores mohair and velvet beneath a Markus Lüpertz drawing. Porta Romana sconces, a Thomas O’Brien floor lamp for Visual Comfort, Robert Kime Roman shades, and matchstick shades from Windochine complete the layered space. Rose Uniacke glass lanterns illuminate the gym hall, which stretches the length of the pine-clad workout space above a Sabine Hill cement-tile floor. At the far end sits a 19th-century English leather armchair from the husband's childhood bedroom in New York City. “The home’s restrained massing, textured stucco walls, arched openings, courtyard organization, and relationship to the landscape are all characteristic of the architectural vocabulary that established Hancock Park as one of Los Angeles’ most significant residential neighborhoods,” notes architect Sonny Ward. Rose Uniacke Honeycomb Glass Lantern19th-Century Pair of Carved Walnut Folding ChairsWalls and drapery wrapped in a rosy Namay Samay fabric envelop the daughter’s bedroom. A Birch Lane bed, topped with a throw from Nickey Kehoe, rests on a Stark carpet between vintage shagreen side tables supporting 1940s lamps by Bertil Brisborg from Lief, where the circa-1950 Josef Frank floor lamp was also sourced. A vintage Philip Arctander Clam chair from JF Chen sits beside a Charlotte Perriand stool from Cassina.