Feature: A Singular Vision
January 1, 2008
When designer Timothy Corrigan bought the stately 1920s brick Tudor house in Hancock Park, it had been stripped down to the studs. "Nia Vardalos and her husband had purchased the house and started a renovation," he recalls. "They had gutted it completely. All the brick had been removed from the facade: It was all unreinforced masonry, which is not a good idea in an earthquake-prone area. The project was just so overwhelming, they gave up."
Having been raised nearby, Corrigan is intimately acquainted with Hancock Park, the aristocratic enclave nestled between downtown and Beverly Hills. As an architectural historian with a background that includes restoring and living in storied properties—a Haussmann apartment in Paris, a Mediterranean-style villa in Montecito and a series of chateaus in France—he quickly recognized the property’s potential.
"The house is on one of the finest streets in the neighborhood," says Corrigan. "It’s near the Japanese consulate, and every house nearby is beautiful." Though the address kept some of its secrets—"There wasn’t much information on this one; I couldn’t even find out the architect’s name," he says—it had just what the designer was looking for. On the brink of selling Los Tiempos, another venerable Hancock Park estate he had restored, Corrigan was seeking a new challenge. He purchased the stripped hulk from Vardalos and rolled up his sleeves, intending to move in once it was finished.
Halfway through the restoration, the house caught the attention of a Univision executive and his wife, recently transplanted from New York and unhappy in their current neighborhood. "They were living in Beverly Park," says Cor-rigan of the gated territory ensconced on a hilltop above the Beverly Hills Hotel, an insular enclave of celebrities and tycoons. "They felt isolated—too cut off from the city."
The couple fell in love with the area, and Corrigan’s work. "When we first walked through, the house was a work in progress, to put it gently," says the wife. "But it was love at first sight. I felt as if we found the heart of Los Angeles." They bought it on the condition that Corrigan would complete its restoration and interior design.
"It’s the perfect family house," he notes. "The rooms flow together, and it’s very large—11,000 square feet. In a house its size, you sometimes lose a sense of comfort. But this one is cohesive." Adding to the balance is the manner in which Corrigan fused the Continental interiors and the Tudor exterior. "Tudor architecture is often dark and somber, and the owners wanted something brighter, filled with light colors," he explains. "Although it’s a Tudor, the house is flooded with light on all sides," adds the wife. "Tim managed to create large, wide-open family areas yet retain the elegant charm of a proper Hancock Park home."
The interiors consist of a clever mixture of French and Italian antiques,
Oriental rugs and capacious soft furnishings. The entry hall is graced with an 18th-century gilt mirror and
console table (once part of fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s Monaco home)
purchased at auction. Beneath it, he placed another auction house treasure: an
antique Mahal rug from India. For the formal living room, the designer laid an
early-
19th-century Tabriz rug on the light wood floor, draped the windows in
silks from Scalamandré and upholstered the sofa and chairs with lush silk
velvet. An 18th-century French grandfather clock of ebonized wood, richly inlaid
with gilt bronze, stands sentinel in a corner.
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