Architectural Detective, Palm Springs, CA (2026)

09/04/2026

Happy Floor Plan Friday!⁠
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As we all know, Monterey Revival is one of my favorite architectural languages; combining Spanish, Indigenous, and Anglo-American architectural traditions, the style became something of an architectural calling card for the California lifestyle.⁠
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And while Monterey Revival is chock-full of unusual combinations and inventive examples, Marston & Maybury’s 1930 commission for Mr. and Mrs. James L. Beebe stands out as one of the more imaginative interpretations of the style. Traditionally, Monterey Revival homes are distinguished by a full-length, cantilevered or two-story porch, yet the Beebe Residence takes a rather different approach, recessing its porch and upper balcony into the body of the house in a composition that loosely—and I mean loosely—recalls Palladian precedents such as the south-facing facade of Andrea Palladio’s Villa Cornaro, rather than the Anglo-American Colonial Revival vocabulary more commonly associated with Monterey houses.⁠
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⁠The home’s floor plan is long and lean, with the front door welcoming you into a generous entry and stair hall that provide access to the library, powder room, living room, dining room, and the attached breakfast room. The compact service spaces include a kitchen, service porch, and a ground floor staff suite in addition to a three car garage and motor court. ⁠
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Porches, terraces, and walkways surround the house, inviting the outdoors in and the indoors out to create a truly Southern California way of living. Upstairs, we find the primary suite, three additional bedrooms, and two baths.⁠
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1060 Roanoke Road, a 5 bedroom, 5 bath, 4,107 square foot home located on a 20,033 square foot lot, last sold for $4,000,000 in July 2022. ⁠
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Project: Residence of Mr. and Mrs. James L. Beebe⁠, 1930⁠
Architect: Marston & Maybury⁠
Location: San Marino, California⁠
Source: Architectural Record, the MLS

08/29/2026

🚨Save Me!🚨 1948 Craig Ellwood-designed Epstein Residence in Brentwood⁠
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⁠Much to my dismay, yet perhaps unsurprising in our ever-evolving Los Angeles, Craig Ellwood’s 1948 Epstein Residence has hit the market, the listing presenting it as a “rare chance to build a dream home in an A+ location.” ⁠
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For the Epstein’s, Ellwood would design a long, low, and lean single story home organized around an open concept living and dining room boasting walls of glass to entice the outside world in. The original floor plan included an economically sized kitchen in addition to a primary suite, a secondary bedroom and bath, plus what appears to be a staff suite accessed via an exterior door. ⁠The home is an early example of Ellwood’s imaginative modernism, yet significant later additions have altered the architect’s original vision.⁠
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Architect Craig Ellwood (1922-1992) was born Jon Nelson Burkein Texas before moving to Los Angeles with his family in 1937. After serving with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, Ellwood would begin working in construction while studying structural engineering through nigh school classes with the UCLA extension. ⁠
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⁠Ellwood is best remembered for his contributions to Arts & Architecture magazine’s Case Study House program, designing Case Study House 16 in Bel Air, Case Study House 17 in Beverly Hills, and Case Study House 18 also located in Beverly Hills. ⁠
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While Ellwood was never a licensed architect, he would help to create the distinctive, laidback modernism that would become a hallmark of Southern California design in bustling post-war America.⁠
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Let’s hope that this home’s next steward celebrate’s its architectural heritage so it can be saved from the same fate as Ellwood’s 1950 2,770 square foot Zimmerman Residence, which was purchased in 2023 by actor Chris Pratt and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, who demolished the home and replaced it with a 15,000 square foot modern farmhouse. ⁠
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401 N Cliffwood Avenue, a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, 2,393 square foot home located on a 14,810 square foot lot, is listed courtesy of Joseph Cilic with Sotheby’s International Realty.⁠
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Source: The MLS, Progressive Architecture

08/28/2026

Happy Floor Plan Friday!⁠
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⁠For Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Franklin⁠, Marston & Maybury would design a Regency-inspired Colonial Revival style home on a prime lot located just south of Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The home’s expansive brick exterior is enlivened by large wooden shutters and a lacy wrought iron entry porch. One aspect I particularly enjoy in the small terrace located just off the library, which allows for heightened connection to the out of doors.

The home’s floor plan is based around the central stair hall, with the living room, dining room, and library radiating from it. The service spaces include a pair of staff bedrooms in addition to the kitchen, pantry, service porch, and service staircase. Upstairs we find a what may have been his and hers primary suites to connected via their dressing and bathrooms in addition to one more bedroom suite, a sleeping porch, and a linen room.
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⁠Sidney Arnold Franklin (1893 - 1972) was born in San Francisco before getting his start in Hollywood as an assistant cameraman at the age of 20. Both he and his brother, Chester Franklin, would become directors during the silent era, co-directing “Gretchen the Greenhorn” together in 1916. Franklin’s directing credits would go on to include “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” (1934) and “The Good Earth” (1937). By the 1940s, he would shift to producing films such as “Random Harvest” (1942), “Mrs. Miniver” (1942), and “Madame Currie” (1943).⁠ He would live in the house with his first wife, Ann P. Denitz Eddy (1984-1987)⁠, before their divorce in the 1930s. Ann would go on to marry actor and singer Nelson Eddy in 1939 and Sidney would marry his second wife, Ruth Helms, in 1937.⁠
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Located at 718 N Maple Drive, the home is extant and has been well maintained.⁠
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Project: Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Franklin⁠, 1930⁠
Architect: Marston & Maybury ⁠
Location: Pasadena, California⁠
Source: House Beautiful

08/27/2026

On the Market: 1925 Marston & Van Pelt-designed E. S. Skillen Residence in San Marino⁠
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⁠Located on Lombardy Drive, the Marston & Van Pelt-designed E. S. Skillen Residence is a classic high style Spanish Colonial Revival home. Set far back from the street, the home’s most prominent feature is its substantial Churrigueresque door surround featuring lions, acanthus leaves, and scallop shells. The home’s stucco exterior is enlivened by metal rejas, or screens, all under an expansive tera cotta tile roof. ⁠
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The interiors are a classic example of the robust exuberance of 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival style; once we cross the threshold into the entryway, we are welcomed into a Moorish-inflected space complete with pointed arches set into austerely decorated walls. The living room includes an original wood paneled ceiling, ⁠a feature also present in the dining room. The home’s original open air courtyard has since been enclosed and transformed into a family room style space, yet many of the original details remain. Similarly, the kitchen has been reimagined and substantial additions have been made to the rear of the home. ⁠
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⁠Set on just over an acre of land, the grounds include a pool, spa, detached garage, pool house, and verdant gardens.⁠
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1905 Lombardy Road, a 6 bedroom, 8 bath, 9,488 square foot home located on a 1.14 acre lot, is listed courtesy of Evangelyn Lin with eXp Realty for $13,500,000⁠.

08/23/2026

On the Market: 1927 Wallace Neff-designed Spanish Colonial Revival Style Home in Altadena⁠
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⁠Located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains near Eaton Canyon, today’s home is a classic L-shaped Spanish Colonial Revival style home designed by Wallace Neff. One of the founders of the California regional style of the 1920s and thirties⁠, Neff would help to define the architectural outlook of the state that influences us to this day.⁠
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While the home is semi-shrouded by mature landscaping from the street and the interiors have been periodically remodeled ⁠over the years, we can still see many original details shining through. The ground floor includes a large living room that still contains its original beamed ceilings, leaded glass windows, and built-in bookcases. Other spaces in this floor include a central stair hall, a front library, a dining room over looking the rear terrace, with the kitchen and its associated service spaces located in the rear. Upstairs, are three bedrooms and bathrooms. ⁠
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The expansive property is composed of two separate lots, with a pool and 1959 Modernist style pool house located on the adjoining lot.⁠
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1788 Pepper Drive, a 5 bedroom, 7 bath, 3,128 square foot home located on a 27,116 square foot lot, is listed courtesy of Bryony Atkinson with MAISONRE for $3,200,000.

08/21/2026

Happy Floor Plan Friday!⁠
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⁠For Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. Dunn, Marston & Maybury⁠ would design one of their most delightful French Norman Revival style designs. Located on one of my favorite streets in South Pasadena, the home is a study in the evolving eclectic styles of the 1920s. Instead of being a carbon copy of a Norman original, Marston & Maybury⁠ infused the homes street-facing facade with large swaths of blank stucco, an aesthetic that works particularly well in French Norman and Spanish Colonial Revival designs.⁠
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⁠The home’s expansive roof is punctuated by three engaged dormers that have since been capped with copper awnings. Inside, the home is a classic L-shaped floor plan with the living room to the right, dining room straight ahead, and service spaces to the left, which include a pantry, staff suite, kitchen, service porch, a large outdoor porch, and an attached garage with space for a dog kennel. The upstairs originally contained a primary suite with an attached dressing room and shared bath in addition to two more bedrooms and one more private bathroom. ⁠
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Harry Lippincott Dunn (1894-1988) was born in Santa Barbara, California. He would complete his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley before heading east to study law and journalism at Columbia before volunteering as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service during World War I. During his service, Dunn would be awarded the Croix de Guerre for his service supporting the French Army.⁠
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After the war, Dunn would return to the US to complete his JD at Harvard University. Dunn would soon return to Southern California, where he would be made a partner with O’Melveny & Myers in 1927, the same year his new home would be completed. ⁠
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Located at 512 Arroyo Square, the home is extant and has been sympathetically enlarged. The home most recently sold for $4,347,500 in September 2021.⁠
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Project: Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. Dunn, 1927⁠
Architect: Marston & Maybury⁠
Location: South Pasadena, California⁠
Source: House Beautiful, 1931

08/19/2026

On the Market: 1981 Cliff May-designed Carroll Dean House in Agoura Hills⁠
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⁠In the mid-1970s, Carroll “Dean” Rasmussen, a prolific contractor with his family’s C.A. Rasmussen, Inc. company, would secure 150 acres of land surrounding Agoura Hills’ Fountainwood and Meadowood communities as he built up the areas infrastructure. Dean would then tap architectural designer Cliff May⁠, a founder of the California ranch house style, to design a home for his hilltop site. ⁠
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For Dean, May would design one of his classic expansive ranch homes, this one built up around a central courtyard and pool, creating a true Southern California outdoor living room. The home’s floor plan is a testament to open floor plan living, with generously sized spaces knit together to form a cohesive home. ⁠
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From the living room fireplace to the outdoor courtyard, this home is a love letter to May’s rambling ranch house style that would come to define postwar architecture in America. ⁠
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28611 Bamfield Drive, a 7 bedroom, 8 bath, 6,831 square foot home located on a 16.54 lot, is listed courtesy of Erin Urbina with Compass for $6,495,000.

08/18/2026

For Mr. and Mrs. P. A. Gillespie, the Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury⁠ would design a French Norman Revival-influenced cottage with a striking resemblance to their earlier commission for interior designer George S. Hunt. Both homes have similar floor plans, with the Gillespie residence having an additional first floor bedroom and slightly larger service quarters. ⁠
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As always, I’m a big fan of the home’s tall, impossibly pitched roof bookended by two chimneys, and it’s clean-lined exterior, which lends the romance of the Norman countryside to sunny Pasadena.⁠
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Project: Residence of Mr. and Mrs. P. A. Gillespie, 1927⁠
Architect: Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury⁠
Location: Pasadena, California⁠
Source: House Beautiful

08/15/2026

This week on Style Studies: Neoclassicism.
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⁠From Monticello to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to the streets of Southern California, we’re tracing the history of the Neoclassicism in Southern California.
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See you in the archives.

08/14/2026

Happy Floor Plan Friday!⁠
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⁠Today we’re diving into the floor plans of Marston, Van Pelt, and Maybury⁠’s commission for Mr. E. A. Culbertson⁠. The plan is a classic L shape with the living room to the right, dining room to the left, and the service areas stacked behind the dining room. ⁠
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⁠One detail I love is how the maid’s room is connected to its attached bath through a curved area—such a welcome bit of whimsy!⁠
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Located at 1321 Virginia Road, the home is extant. From the street, we can see the the home’s entry facade is virtually unchanged beyond the enclosure of the original porte cochère, yet the rear facade has been expanded in a way that obscures the home’s original design. ⁠
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Located at 1321 Virginia Road, the home is extant and has been well maintained. Most recently on the market in October 2024, the home last sold for $5,100,000.⁠
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Project: Residence of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Culbertson⁠
Architect: Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury⁠
Location: San Marino, California⁠
Source: Architectural Forum⁠, The MLS

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