SPIRITUAL REVIVAL Rustic accents and a neutral palette deliver calm and cohesion to a Los Angeles new build
Nancy Newberg worked with architects Marmol Radziner and Kathryn M Ireland to bring calm and cohesion to her home
Jewellery designer Nancy Newberg is a long-time admirer of Spanish Revival houses. But she is also devoted to characterful modernity, infused with a touch of elegant minimalism. So when the opportunity arose to design and build a family home in Los Angeles, Nancy decided to bring together her points of inspiration in one thoughtful, rounded and individual new house.
‘I was eager to do the project because I love architecture and design and my dream was to build another house some day,’ says Nancy, who studied fashion before founding her eponymous company. ‘We built our first home, where we raised our children, and since the boys were all grown up, the time seemed right to create this new setting for the next chapter of our lives.’
Nancy assembled a ‘dream team’ that included architects Marmol Radziner and the English-born, Californian-based interior designer Kathryn M Ireland, plus landscape consultant Stephen Block. Together, they created an ambitious house that includes a choice of outdoor rooms and a guest wing arranged around the garden and swimming pool.
‘We wanted to create a home that was beautiful and timeless,’ says Nancy, ‘and we wanted the interiors to be full of light, uncluttered, clean and minimal. But it was also important that the rooms felt relaxed, warm and comfortable, so we went for a neutral palette using lots of linens with a few antiques mixed in.’
Architect Ron Radziner and his firm are best known for innovative 21st-century new builds and sensitive updates of mid-century classics. But Ron, who has known Nancy for many years, is also a big fan of the Spanish Revival style, which was seen at its height in the early years of the 20th century, when Californian architects such as
Wallace Neff embraced the aesthetic. ‘We tried to be proportionately authentic to the Spanish Revival style,’ says Ron. ‘So the proportions of the rooms are very much in keeping with what those old Revival homes were all about and quite intimately scaled. Even within the more contemporary work that we do, it’s all about proportion, materiality, light and indoor/outdoor living and those are all things that are very relevant to this house. It’s a Spanish-style home, but it’s clean and not overly fussy.’
Kathryn M Ireland is another friend, who Nancy has worked with over the years. The interior designer created a number of new pieces for the house, with others drawn from her collection of furniture for The Perfect Room. But the mix draws in mid-century classics by Børge Mogensen and others, while there were also buying trips with her client to Parma and Paris. ‘The choice of furniture was really guided by the spaces and the integration of new and old,’ says Kathryn. ‘A few pieces came from Nancy’s old house, but apart from that it was a clean slate. It was definitely time for a pared-down vibe and so the interiors are very controlled and thoughtful.’
Pieces from Nancy’s art collection were another key element of the design process. The generously scaled hall especially has the feel of a home gallery with the honey-coloured plastered walls offering a neutral backdrop for photographs, paintings, ceramics and sculpture. This gentle colour palette carries through most of the house and into the guest wing, adding to the feeling of calm, cohesion and order.
Designed with a strong sense of connection to the setting and surroundings, this contextual update on the Revival style feels very much as though it belongs here. ‘Our home is a peaceful oasis,’ says Nancy. ‘It’s everything that I had hoped it would be and more.’