This hilltop home in Studio City, south of Ventura Boulevard, started out life back in the 1940s as a modest one-bedroom cottage. Over the years, it was added onto and reconfigured by a succession of owners, and by the time it got into the hands of its current owners, pastry chef Sarah Lambert and commercial director John Dolan, it had become a warren of dinky little rooms with little connection to the outdoors and very awkward flow.
To sort the house out, Lambert and Dolan enlisted the services of celebrated Silver Lake-based architect Barbara Bestor, with excellent results. Bestor, whose wide-ranging CV includes numerous restoration projects, most notably that of John Lautner’s iconic Silvertop, reworked the formerly cramped and unharmonious residence into a bright and airy contemporary ranch.
Measuring approximately 3,700 square feet, the single-story home features four bedrooms, three and a half baths, and an open-plan living room/dining room/kitchen space. Being the kitchen of an actual chef, this one is suitably well-appointed, boasting a 4-by-12-foot island with soapstone countertop and a Gaggenau induction cooktop. Other deluxe interior elements include Bestor-designed consoles and cabinetry with Douglas fir detailing, designer lighting, brass fixtures, and imported concrete tile.
Continuing the open-plan concept is a wall of pocketed Fleetwood doors that slide away, expanding the living area to include a pergola-covered outdoor lounge with retractable sunshades and built-in seating by Plain Air, the outdoor furniture line co-founded by noted landscape architect Judy Kameon, who oversaw a redesign of the home’s lush gardens. The .66-acre grounds also contain a newly retiled pool with spa, a cabana, a sculptural outdoor fireplace, and a spacious guest house with kitchenette and bath.
Listed with Tori Horowitz of Compass, the pedigreed property is asking $5.8 million.
