A Nantucket-Style Retreat in Beverly Hills

Costume designer Donfeld, whose film credits include “Prizzi’s Honor” (1985) and “Days of Wine and Roses” (1962), had ducks and geese and a smaller house on this Beverly Hills-area property when two designers bought it in 1997. Since then, they have expanded and transformed the house into a modern Nantucket-style retreat.

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About this house: Owners Joseph Reilly and Jeffrey Rathaus, who have been rebuilding houses for 30 years, moved to L.A. from New York about four years ago to redo houses.

“After 15 years of building [film] sets [as a production designer], I had learned how to make them stand up for more than two weeks,” Rathaus said.

They sold their first house, in Los Feliz, to a TV reporter. They redid a couple more houses and sold them before finishing this one.

“We move a lot,” Rathaus said.

He and Reilly, who have been living in this house, were the interior designers and project managers. They expanded the 1,800-square-foot house that Donfeld had owned and turned it into a shingle-or Cape Cod-style residence. The original house was built in 1950.

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Asking price: $2,395,000

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Size: The house has four bedrooms, a den and 4.5 baths in about 4,200 square feet.

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Features: On a private knoll in Benedict Canyon, the home, hidden in the trees, has a campanile tower, 45-foot entry gallery, pavilion dining room and country kitchen with a wood-burning fireplace. The master suite has a spa tub, steam shower, oversized palladian window, walk-in closet and wood-burning fireplace. The grounds, about two-thirds of an acre, have several outdoor dining areas, a gazebo, lawns, fountains, a pool and a spa.

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Listing agent: Edward Fitz, Nourmand & Associates, Beverly Hills, (310) 888-3344.

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To be considered as a candidate for Home of the Week, e-mail ruth.ryon@latimes.com.