Step Inside 6 Midcentury-Modern Homes in California That Are Undeniably Enviable

His eagle eye for midcentury fixer-uppers is was what first drew him to a house on Rising Glen Road in Los Angeles. “I’m always looking for places to either renovate or to buy, to move up the ladder,” Statham says. “This one sort of came out of the blue and had a certain charm. It was quite downtrodden and had been neglected, as most of these of midcenturies have.” Statham quickly decided to purchase the place and gut renovate it to serve as a multi-use property for guests, as well as his office and gym. 

Working in concert with his longtime architect Jeff Allsbrook of Standard Architecture, Statham decided to keep as much of the existing shape of the exterior as possible, while outfitting the interior with top-of-the-line modern amenities. For the interior design, he worked with Courtney Applebaum to create a neutral palette of whites and earth tones, with texture in the form of leather couches and chairs, and sturdy wood tables and desks. —Juliet Izon

A one-of-a-kind L.A. landmark

In Mary Weatherford’s landmark midcentury-modern home in Los Angeles, art and architecture work hand in glove. “It’s a beautiful symphony of interwoven diagonals, verticals, and horizontals,” the artist says of the experimental structure, built in 1948 by architects A. Quincy Jones and Whitney R. Smith in collaboration with structural engineer Edgardo Contini and landscape designer Theodore Payne. “The restoration was like solving a puzzle. We had to figure out which piece of wood is which color, the elaborate interplay between the posts and beams with the floor and ceiling, how certain volumes and forms interact. In a lot of ways, the process was like making a painting in three dimensions,” Weatherford says.

The complexity and historical significance of the project perhaps explain the roughly four years it took to restore the modest 1,500-square-foot and two-bedroom structure. “Mary was obsessive about getting it right,” insists designer Oliver M. Furth, Weatherford’s partner throughout the odyssey of bringing the residence into the 21st century without compromising the architects’ bold experiment in structural and experiential innovation. “She invested huge amounts of time and energy in the service of being a faithful steward of this property. As much as she wanted to honor its past, she wanted to secure its future,” he says. —Mayer Rus