A Renovated Hollywood Home in a Star-Studded Enclave Wants $6.5M
Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Hollywood Hills, also known as "Celebrity Row," is an ultra-private neighborhood that counts Will Ferrel, Zac Efron, and Lady Gaga among its residents. On a lot at the top of the drive, husband-and-wife team Sam Gnatovich and Alexi Rennals of Los Angeles–based Simo Design has extensively renovated a 1938 home. The 4,482-square-foot, four-bed, five-and-a-half bath residence is now on the market for a cool $6,500,000.
A bridge traverses the pool, connecting to a lower lounge deck and grassy yard. The home includes a guesthouse with a flexible space for a studio, gallery, gym, or home office.
The entrance to the house.
The property is situated on two lots, with the main house elevated above the lower yard and guesthouse. Although a double-lot home is a rare find, this meant that Simo Design had to work through the challenge of seamlessly unifying the upper and lower lots.
Because the distinct elevations left inadequate space for a conventional pool, their solution was to integrate the pool and the landscape bed as a transitional element from the main house to the backyard.
The street-to-street lot has upper- and lower-level parking for up to nine vehicles.
"In doing so, we were able to utilize a slope that would have been otherwise unusable. We like that the pool also creates a dramatic element to the back of the house, and is visible from all of the shared living spaces," says Gnatovich.
The main room and master bedroom open directly to the pool.
The original layout of the house was very traditional despite the expansive backyard, so the redesign maximized the connection between the architecture and landscaping.
The large master suite has soaring ceilings and walls of glass.
In reworking the layout, Simo Design opened up the house as much as possible with a U-plan that includes a central atrium.
The wall paneling and living room screens are a waxed white oak.
The main living spaces are located on one side of the atrium, and the bedrooms on the other side.
The commodious master bedroom.
The luxurious step-down ensuite bathroom has a shower, Japanese-style soaking tub, and extensive closet space, plus a vanity.
A dramatic vaulted foyer leads to a formal sitting room flanked by two custom seating areas with built-in day beds and louvered sun screens. The sun-lit space makes for an ideal reading nook.
Adjacent to the entry is a sunroom with white oak screens. These screens set the mood as the light shifts, and create dramatic shadows on the floors and wall.
The floors are an Appalachian wire-brushed white oak with a custom stain.
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Within the great room are a modern kitchen, and generous dining and living spaces with retractable glass walls that open to the atrium and a 68-foot, infinity-edge pool.
Fir used for the wood ceilings and beams were treated with a laborious staining process to get the right "washed" look that would at once leave the grain of the wood exposed, but reduce the natural red hues.
The guest bathroom.
Simo Design allowed emotion to determine finishings. "Our work is based in materiality," Gnatovich says. "We want the materials selected to evoke a feeling of calm, but also be contrasted enough that they are unexpected and exciting. I think that is the goal to timeless design. No tricks, no fads, just a cohesive selection of materials and textures that work well together."
An outdoor poolside shower and toilet.
The home is listed for $6,500,000 through Compass agent Boni Bryant.
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