Inspiration for the 31st Street Residence came from two of California’s important architectural traditions – European Modernism and Mediterranean influences dating back to the beginnings of the rancho lands underlying this area’s beach communities. The home speaks with a Southern California accent with traces of both Rudolf Schindler’s own tilt-up concrete residence-studio in West Hollywood and Wallace Neff’s local interpretations of Mediterranean revival villas. This artful mash-up is visible from the largest compositional gestures to the smallest details – from exposed, board-formed concrete walls and glass windows that disappear into nearly seamless corners, to the thick white plaster walls, and to the thatching on the exterior palapa – a freestanding Spanish open-air pavilion in the backyard.

​

A sensitivity to nature and the future of the environment is incorporated into the home’s design through the honest expression of materials and in the ways the home accommodates the elements – wind, sun, and topography. Sustainable materials, for the most part available locally, are used throughout. The combination of concrete shear walls, steel door systems, and vertical grain Douglas fir siding can withstand the forces of the marine environment, high winds, three children, and a dog. Floor materials with radiant heating smooth the transition from inside to outside while entire window walls open up to the ocean breezes to cool the home.