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REAL ESTATE VIEWS - BEVERLY HILLS COURIER - APRIL 4, 2003

Beverly Hills has always showcased a variety of architectural styles and architects. We have a significant representation of period Mediterranean and Spanish houses as well as traditional styles dating from the 1920s and 1930s. Our weather, lifestyle and topography lend themselves to these incredible architectural dwellings. More and more, residents have become aware of the importance of preserving and restoring these houses and honoring their architectural pedigree and uniqueness.

Indeed, the architects associated with the period revival style read like a Who's Who in the world of Southern California architecture. Beverly Hills has been the showcase for Wallace Neff’s brilliant Mediterranean houses, Paul Williams' elegant traditional houses, John Woolf's French Regency houses, Gordon Kaufman's exquisite estates, Roland Coate's prolific houses, Gerard Colcord's character traditional houses clad in stone and wood. (Colcord houses have been featured in Architectural Digest over 25 times) and a host of Tudor-style houses. Colonial, Cape Cod and French Normandy, designed by the likes of Marshall Wilkinson, Arthur Kelly, Harry Werner, James McAllister, E. P. Dentzel, Eric Black, Ralph Flewelling, Koerner & Gage, Sumner Spaulding, Elmer Grey, James Dolena, H. Roy Kelly and John Byers.

Houses designed by Paul Williams and Wallace Neff are among the most sought-after residences in Beverly Hills. Each architect was a genius, capable of working in a number of genres yet became famous for their own style. Paul Williams specialized in traditional houses clad in brick and wood, usually two stories high, featuring elegant moldings, swanlike pedimented entry doors, bay windows, and beautiful but simple molding work throughout his houses together with flowing, graceful staircases.

I have yet to see a Paul Williams-designed house which I didn't admire. Wallace Neff, on the other hand, favored Mediterranean houses as his signature style, which featured exposed roof rafters, clay tile roofs, symmetrical facades, egg-shaped arches, indoor-outdoor fireplaces and exquisite wood beams in the public spaces. Neff became famous for his seminal work, Pickfair, designed for Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in the early 1920s. Like that of Paul Williams, Neff's work always reflected a balance of scale, design and architectural integrity. Every Neff-designed house is a work of art worthy of landmark status.

When you consider that Beverly Hills is host to such a special array of period architectural styles as well as great architects, we can all celebrate in sharing this legacy.

Jan Eric Horn is a real estate agent and the Executive Director of Coldwell Banker’s Architectural Division. and has specialized in selling architect-designed houses for the past 21 years. He is a featured speaker on architecture at museums, universities, seminars and radio and television. A member of the Board of Directors of the Beverly Hills Architectural Conservancy, he lives in Beverly Hills and works in the Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills South office on Canon Drive. He can be reached at (310)281-1585.

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