This contemporary design for a historic modern house in Beverly Hills earned Marmol Radziner a 2016 ASLA honor award for residential design. The residence — Kronish House — was built in 1954, and it's the only house designed by Richard Neutra that's still around in Beverly Hills.
The entire landscape suffered the ravages of time and it was about to be razed and demolished until the public stepped in to save it. Finally bought by an owner who aimed to restore it, Marmol Radziner was hired for the project, and the property is now listed on the city's Local Register of HIstoric Properties.
The original design featured seamless extensions of the house out into the landscape through elements such as large sliding glass doors, patios, overhangs, built-in planters and more. The firm did extensive research on the original plan and plantings, and there's now a remodeled pool house and a new guest house at the other end of the pool.
In addition, plantings in the glass courtyard were replaced, and new plantings were installed around the perimeter of the site for privacy from busy Sunset Boulevard. Native plantings are mixed with a Mediterranean palette, along with species from temperate shade gardens, desert regions, subtropical climates and microclimates that exist in different parts of the garden.
According to Marmol Radziner, the property is now home to many nesting birds and insect pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and moths — and there are special habitats as well to support bird and small mammals.
The awards jury noted that "It's really a wonderful revitalization of an historic project. Its funkiness, really whacky, stylizes a period in a very interesting way."
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