In Echo Park, Rachel Allen design frames the landscape

By Lisa Boone

When Jonathan Williams and Kim Pesenti bought their Los Angeles property in 2004, the couple were drawn to the vibrant street life of the Echo Park neighborhood but envisioned a rural retreat within. They liked a home that responded to the landscape rather than conquered it. “We didn’t want it to be imposing,” Williams says of their house. “We wanted it to be modest.” Though they had a half-acre of land to play with, their house is a smartly designed, 1,700-square-foot family retreat that preserves and meshes with its bucolic surroundings.

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