FIELD OF VISION

Architect Paul McLean snugs a home up to Bel Air Road to take full advantage of a sweeping vista

- J. Michael Welton

Out front, the 30,000-square-foot home— built on a 51,400-square-foot lot—snugs up to ultra-busy Bel Air Road. To the rear, complex soil conditions required a thoughtful landscape intervention.

But in the end, the architect’s ambitious vision paid off in spades.

This house offers one of the most commanding vistas to be found in L.A.’s Westside, and they dominate every room in McClean’s two-story-plus-basement design.

“The view is 220 degrees from east to west,” he says. “You see out to the Palisades, then to the ocean and the Santa Monica high-rises, and around to Westwood, Century City, Beverly Hills, and downtown Los Angeles,” he says.

Celebrating that view required an architectural sleight of hand—an experiential promenade that begins with a walkable approach to the house from the road. “We pushed the house up close to the street, and created a court off to one side,” he says. “Then there’s the entry sequence with a 200-foot-long waterwall that screens off noise from the street.”

A walkway by the waterwall (adjacent to a green wall) leads to a right turn into the home’s double-height entry—and its visual punctuation mark. From there the vista explodes out beyond terrace, infinity pool, sweeping lawn, gardens, and sloping landscape. “The client wanted to create a beautiful, large home, and it was important to have a big lawn for parties and fundraisers, and great views connected to the city and beyond,” he says.