Plenty of curve appeal
Known for its colorful history of bohemians and rockers, the annual country fair, funky cabins and the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga also has cool modern architecture on its list of attributes.
Like the hawks that take wing above the canyon, Jim Hawkins and Lara Parker’s modern hilltop estate off Old Topanga Canyon Road evokes a bird taking flight. Or, to some, the sweep of the surrounding hills.
The home was designed by Los Angeles architect Jay Vanos, who created a number of modern live-work lofts in Hollywood and L.A., as well as Samantha (Kim Cattrall) and Smith’s (Jason Lewis) Malibu beach house featured in this summer’s hit movie “Sex and the City.” It has a sweeping roofline, tall ceilings and a 360-degree mountain view.
“You can stand in different places in this house and see a panorama of shapes,” said Parker, who played Angelique in the gothic sudser “Dark Shadows” in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. “It’s not a box. It has an organic, flowing look.”
About this house: Perhaps the most prominent feature of this secluded property, which was completed in June after three years’ work, is the home’s curved ceilings, achieved with 23 custom-engineered planks -- from 18 to 36 feet long -- that were pressed together, then covered with Southern bald cypress panels.
A space the couple has dubbed the “tower room,” for its perch atop the highest level of the house, can be used for meditation, writing or as a nursery, Parker said. The kitchen and breakfast nook “sweep into the living and dining rooms,” Parker added, creating a large area for entertaining.
Hawkins, a contractor, helped design the spacious workshop on the bottom of the trilevel home. The 1,800-square-foot room, which is lined with storage cabinets and closets, and includes garage space for six cars, could be divided to create a recording studio or artist’s work space, a home office or a media room, gym or recreational space.
The workshop is attached to a guest apartment that has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a full kitchen and a separate entrance.
Asking price: $2.75 million
Size: The house has four bedrooms and four bathrooms in about 7,000 square feet, on 1.87 acres.
Features: The landscaped property has floor-to-ceiling windows; travertine marble and maple floors; swamp cypress cabinets; a kitchen with all-Viking appliances and coffee-colored granite countertops; a deck off the living room with views of Topanga Canyon, the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Santa Monica Bay; a patio; and a fountain.
Location: Topanga
Listing agents: Gary Harryman and Mariline Feron, Pritchett-Rapf & Associates, Topanga, (310) 455-1884, www.garyharryman.com.
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To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send high-resolution color photos with caption and credit information on a CD and a description of the house to Diane Wedner, Real Estate, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., CA 90012. Send questions to homeoftheweek@latimes.com.
