From the start, interior designer Lauren Geremia knew that the grand house she was hired to refresh and reimagine, a vintage gem in Berkeley, California, built in 1920 by the pioneering female architect Julia Morgan, was uncommonly terrific. A Bay Area legend, Morgan designed some 700 structures, including hundreds of private homes, in and around San Francisco in the early 20th century. Demand for her talent peaked after the 1906 earthquake leveled many beloved buildings and left those that she built, sturdily, with decorative skins covering thick concrete walls, untouched. Morgan was at the forefront of the Arts and Crafts movement, and her most exquisite works (Hearst Castle, the Berkeley City Club, Julia Morgan Hall at the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley) are now historic landmarks.
The well-preserved seven-bedroom Colonial with formal gardens on a winding Berkeley street was in an atypical style for Morgan. The story goes that the Glide family commissioned three houses in the neighborhood as wedding gifts for each of their daughters, and this one, with a Georgian façade, must have been a special request. Its formal rooms and overgrown gardens looked like they could have been plucked from England and dropped in California. That history and stylistic dichotomy appealed to its new owners, who were returning to the States after a stint in London with three young daughters of their own.
"I was looking pretty casually on Zillow when I saw the listing for this house," says the husband, who works in real estate. He grew up in the neighborhood and had always planned to return one day to raise his own family. Aware of Morgan's contribution to the community, he called a local friend and asked her to go take a look "to see if it was worth it for me to get on a plane," he recalls. Nine days later, the house was the family's new home.
Denne historien er fra July - August 2023-utgaven av Architectural Digest US.
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Denne historien er fra July - August 2023-utgaven av Architectural Digest US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Elements of Style - Charlotte Macaux Perelman and Alexis Fabry celebrate 10 years of artistic exploration at Hermès
Last March, Hermès brought its home universe to life in eye-popping fashion at a one-night-only extravaganza staged at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. The lavish performance featured dozens of dancers showcasing the French luxury house's furniture, tableware, textiles, and decorative objects in elaborately choreographed vignettes that seemed to riff on the unboxing ritual so popular on social media-a supersized spectacle of conjuring magic from ordinary crates. The event also coincided with the 10th anniversary of Charlotte Macaux Perelman and Alexis Fabry's tenure as artistic directors of the Hermès home division.
SEA CHANGE
Trading Manhattan for Brooklyn, designer Robert Stilin soaks up new scenery indoors and out
HELLA, YES
Thirty years into her career, Dutch design star Hella Jongerius proves the best ideas-and objects are those that grow and transform along with us
GREEN GODDESS
From her perch in Lloyd Wright's 1927 home and studio in West Hollywood, Vicki von Holzhausen is spreading the gospel-and refining the science—of eco-friendly, plant-based materials
BOTH SIDES NOW
Celebrated for his fantastical, genderfluid fashions, designer Harris Reed brings the same rule-flouting approach to a petite London apartment
shades of eden
In her magical LA garden, artist Mimi Lauter contemplates the cycle of life and the rapturous power of color
CHARM SCHOOL
In the hands of Ashe Leandro, a historic New York City house gets a delightful makeover
mother nature
Taking inspiration from her own childhood memories, Jennifer Garner crafts a cozy California home and garden where she and her family can put down roots
Finnish Lines
Resurfaced by Hem, a postmodern Nordic icon is back on the shelves
Changed for Good
Blending architectural styles, the new movie Wicked ventures off the beaten yellow-brick path