OCTOBER 2021
House tour:
a mid-century masterpiece in the Hollywood Hills designed by John Lautner
It was pure good fortune that two visionaries with an appreciation for the arts and cultural heritage as ardent as John McIlwee and Bill Damaschke made the unique John Lautner-designed Garcia House in Los Angeles—also known as the Rainbow House, due to its multi-hued windows—their home.
After a meticulous 12-month restoration by Marmol Radziner, which stayed as true as possible to Lautner’s vision, and a detail- driven reworking of the interior by Brown—aside from the Hawaiian lava rock walls and some terrazzo flooring, the only original remnants left after years of overzealous makeovers by previous owners were the kitchen sink, a magazine rack and a toothbrush holder—the home was completed in 2004.
Brown moved onto other projects including McIlwee and Damaschke’s Palm Springs property, the Ford estate (featured in VL’s March/April 2018 edition), but the pull of Garcia House was magnetic. After the addition of a pool then landscaping by John Sharp in 2019, interiors re-jig 2.0 came to life. “I truly love this house,” says Brown, who was introduced to the pair by way of Martha Stewart following a private tour of the home. “And frankly I was drumming up business. I shamed them by reminding them it had been more than 10 years [since the renovation] and we needed a fresher look. And they handed over the keys... John and Bill are showbiz: they like to do things big and loud, and they take risks so naturally we click.”
Photography ROGER DAVIES
Art Direction MICHAEL REYNOLDS
Writer VERITY MAGDALINO