The Riley Residence is situated adjacent to a well-known architectural community called Crestwood Hills, formerly Mutual Housing Association (MHA). Architects A. Quincy Jones, Whitney R. Smith, and structural engineer Edgardo Contini designed model homes for a community of 350 sites. Approximately 160 of the modernist homes were built in the hillside community of Brentwood in the late 40s. Margaret Riley was very familiar with the community and had good friends living in one of the original MHA houses. Cory Buckner had been a consultant on her friend’s house and was recommended to Ms. Riley when she began her search for an architect. Ms. Riley, a producer, expressed a love of the modernist architecture form and hoped that her newly purchased home could be transformed into a house with a feel from some of the basic elements of a modernist house. Buckner introduced into her design the idea of dissolving the boundary of indoor and outdoor space and exposing the structural system with the use of post and beam construction.
Situated on a busy street overlooking the Getty Museum to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Riley Residence is designed to capture the views on the site and to maximize the enjoyment of a lot filled with California oaks.
The original nondescript house was demolished except for a few remaining walls. All roofs were removed and replaced with an exposed post and beam structure with exposed tongue and groove ceilings, similar to those in the MHA development. Eaves end in a short trellis made of 2 x 2 wood, to provide shade and create an active pattern as the sun travels around the house during the day.
A second story study was added that faces the view of Santa Monica Bay to the south. Vertical louvers were designed to protect the abundant glass from western sun and to create privacy from the busy street below. The angle of the louvers provides a view of the ocean from the Study sitting area while secures privacy from the passing cars on the busy street below.
