Dundee House – Complete Renovation of an Existing 1934 Spanish-Style House

Dundee House

Architect: Chet Callahan
Interior Design: Ghislaine Viñas
Project: Dundee House
Location: Los Angeles, California, US
Photography: Art Gray

Dundee House is a 2,600 square foot family home and hillside landscape in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California. This project is the result of collaboration between architect Chet Callahan and designer Ghislaine Viñas. The owners are a young family with two small boys and a modern art collection. The building project is a complete renovation of an existing 1934 Spanish-style house to better serve the owners needs.

The existing square footage is reconfigured to provide a more open plan and add connections to the landscape. Historical details have been preserved, while new interventions to accommodate updated electrical, plumbing, and storage components are rendered with minimal ornamentation as a juxtaposition to the existing features of the home, the vibrant art collection of the family, and the surrounding garden.

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The new layout includes a winter solar room, a skylight in the stairwell, and new operable windows and vents to enhance the building’s passive heating, cooling, and daylighting strategies. New high-efficiency systems and lighting further reduce energy use, when needed. Building materials and architectural finishes were selected for their sustainable sourcing, production, and durability. Furnishings, carpets, and paint colors by Ghislaine Vinas Interior Design.

Dundee House 2The landscape project provides new terraces for living and recreation with improved access to the hillside garden. The decomposed granite surfacing was excavated on the site, stockpiled and reused as an all-purpose zero-water-need topping surface. Colored concrete retaining walls and stairs create new courtyards and platforms to extend the living spaces outside and give two growing boys more space to roam and explore.

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