Inspired by a southern California master - ranch house remodeling in the style of architect Irving Hill

Sunset, March, 1995 by Daniel Gregory

It's a common dilemma: how do you add a second floor to a typical low-slung, L-shaped, 1950s-era ranch house without making it seem top-heavy? These houses were designed to be expanded horizontally, not vertically. A shallow roof gable sitting on top of a two-story wall can easily look as absurd as a beanie on the head of a basketball player. And on the inside, it takes imagination and skill to link the two floors in an effective and memorable manner while forging strong ties to the garden. The trick is to find a way to unify the entire remodel--just what Venice, California, architect Marc Appleton did for owners Mark and Michele Nasatir.

The Nasatirs loved their Santa Monica neighborhood and did not want to move. But their three-bedroom, one-bath house on its tight lot was just too small for their growing family. Setbacks prevented major additions at the sides and back, so the only option was to go up. Mark recalls: "We wanted to max out the space, but we didn't want a bunker." The Nasatirs also had potentially conflicting tastes: he wanted something contemporary, and she admired a more traditional aesthetic. "Enter our muse," says Appleton, "the late Irving Gill." According to Appleton, Gill's architecture "seemed to provide the right inspiration for our appropriately ambivalent solution."

Gill was a regional modernist whose work combined contemporary and traditional qualities. He abstracted and simplified elements drawn from early California mission architecture, such as thick walls and long arcades. His buildings emphasized straightforward rectangular volumes, clean, unbroken plaster or concrete surfaces, and spare Craftsman details. His most famous works, such as the La Jolla Women's Club, built in 1913, are admired for their directness and simplicity, and for the way they incorporate the outdoors through courtyards and pergolas.

Appleton kept the original footprint of the ranch house but changed the wall surfaces: down came the old boards and battens, and up went smooth stucco stud walls. These walls are reinforced to support the new second floor, which contains the master suite, two children's bedrooms, and two bathrooms. The living room remains in its original position but now rises the full two-story height of the house. Wrapped on two sides by a stair and a bookcase balcony, this handsome space becomes the functional heart of the house. It's both a soaring living room and a dramatic stair hall, and it leads to every major room in the house. It also opens south through French doors directly onto a patio. A new arcaded portico--especially reminiscent of Gill in its columns, arches, and trelliswork--leads to the front door from the street facade beside the garage. It covers what was the unsheltered path beside the projecting garage. Appleton sums up his Gill-esque design: "Our clients are pleased, and we hope Mr. Gill isn't spinning in his grave."