House on Little Balboa Island is a mix of modern and Mission
Modernist architect Irving Gill wasn’t known for designing houses with the main rooms on the second floor, but some touches inspired by his work -- such as a creamy white exterior, the use of natural light and heavily framed windows -- make this custom home stand out on Little Balboa Island.
It’s a hybrid of old and new -- a bit Craftsman, contemporary and Mission-style in appearance.
“Some people call it Southwestern contemporary while others label it California modern, but it’s neither of those,” says Glen Gellatly, who designed the house nearly a decade ago when he was with Bissell Architects. “We didn’t want to copy any one style.”
The two-story home, which sits on a pair of 30-by-85-foot lots, features symmetrical openings and arcaded porches on the front and back.
At the owner’s request, Gellatly designed the living areas on the top floor, creating a sense of privacy and diminishing the need for window coverings. The open plan enhances the flow of the living room, dining area, kitchen, media room, office, master bedroom and a wide covered porch that provides a peekaboo view of Newport Bay and the Grand Canal between Little Balboa and Balboa islands. A stairway off the master suite’s porch area leads to a third-floor sun deck that has 360-degree views.
A long, narrow skylight splits the wood-beam ceiling and stretches from the kitchen across to the living-room fireplace. Using both square and oblong soffits in several rooms, Gellatly mixes a white-textured ceiling with cedar rafters and Douglas-fir beams.
Together with alder doors and oak floors, there’s a subtle color variation among the grains. The heavily framed windows are yet another connection to Gill, who liked to design them in horizontal groups.
Terra-cotta-colored porcelain tile, which complements the wood and gives the house a Mission feel, covers the floors of the porches, bathrooms and game room on the first floor.
To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send high-resolution color photos with caption and credit information on a CD and a detailed description of the house to Lauren Beale, Business, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Questions may be sent to homeoftheweek @latimes.com.