A Modernist Pedigree Preserved by Studio OSKLO in This Trousdale Estate Home

Crisp edges, clean lines, perfect planes. Homes where sweeping surfaces dissolve into breathtaking vistas. Perched high above Beverly Hills—where the Los Angeles grid fades into canyon shadows and city lights—Trousdale Estates remains one of Southern California’s most intact concentrations of Mid-Century Modern architecture. Developed beginning in 1954 by Paul Trousdale, the neighborhood quickly drew Hollywood’s elite and the architects shaping postwar California modernism. Homes here were conceived as horizontal compositions: single-story structures stretching across the hillsides, their flat roofs, glass expanses, and restrained geometries framing expansive views rather than competing with them.

It was within this storied enclave that Studio OSKLO founders Arya and Alex Nazarian discovered what they immediately recognized as a rare architectural specimen: a 1966 post-and-beam residence by Benton & Parks. “Upon first seeing the house, we were obsessed,” the pair recalls. “It was one of the most pedigree specimens of mid-century architecture we had seen in our work or travels.”

For the couple—collectors, designers, and longtime advocates of design history—the goal was never reinvention. Instead, the project became an act of stewardship: preserving the architectural pedigree of the original structure while introducing a contemporary layer reflective of their evolving work through OSKLO.

Spanning roughly 6,000 square feet on a single level, the house unfolds through a sequence of courtyards and long sightlines. Its plan resembles two inverted U-shapes: one framing the entry courtyard and Japanese-inspired atrium, the other wrapping around an angular pool and garden oriented toward the Santa Monica Mountains and the distant glow of Century City. A corridor along the atrium connects three guest suites to the primary bedroom, while an additional bedroom sits near the kitchen alongside a pool bath and outdoor cabana.

Courtyards, glass corridors, and open landscapes form the core of Trousdale’s architectural DNA. Neighborhood guidelines famously required homes to remain single-story to preserve views, creating residences that balance dramatic scale with horizontal restraint. The OSKLO home continues that lineage through its exposed structural steel façade, expansive glazing, and a striking circular standing-seam glass wall in the primary bedroom overlooking the pool.

Remarkably intact—having undergone only one renovation since the 1960s—the home invited a restoration guided by both reverence and curiosity. Original stonework was preserved wherever possible, while new details were modeled on period precedents found throughout the neighborhood. Sculptural urns flank the entry gates, and custom ironwork echoes ornamental elements still visible along Trousdale’s winding streets.

Material choices reinforce the dialogue between past and present. An unfilled silver travertine wall and colonnade frame the approach to the atrium, while restored walnut doors are fitted with Paul Evans Brutalist pulls that lend the façade tactile weight. Inside, visitors encounter the original slab limestone fireplace and a figurative sculpture striding across the south lawn beyond the glass.

Rather than adhering to a single stylistic doctrine, the interiors weave together a constellation of mid-century references. Italian modern lighting from the 1960s hangs above the dining table, while the bar retains a distinctly Hollywood Regency spirit. Millwork and stone vanities in the primary suite nod to British designer David Hicks, and elsewhere subtle echoes of Pierre Cardin, Achille Castiglioni, and Arne Jacobsen appear in custom screens and seating.

The palette evolves from the period without becoming nostalgic. Original saw-cut concrete floors remain, paired with lighter oak that softens the architecture’s structural rigor. Creamy whites and muted earth tones dominate, punctuated by darker plaster finishes in spaces like the TV room and primary bedroom. Fireplaces clad in limestone and travertine mirror the granite hues of the surrounding Hollywood Hills landscape.

Outdoors, the Nazarians introduced one of the home’s most poetic gestures: a stylized Japanese garden inspired by their travels. The central atrium is planted with imported grasses forming a moss-like carpet, punctuated by four sculptural bonsai pines. Seen simultaneously from the living room, dining area, and corridor, the vivid greenery becomes a visual anchor for the home’s circulation.

Other interventions are more discreet. A retractable-canopy cabana forms a hidden outdoor lounge along the lawn, complete with a bar that appears to float within the grass. Inside, an asymmetrical TV room was recalibrated with a travertine partition fitted with pivoting marble screens, concealing a compact library and office behind the media space.

Today the home functions as more than a residence. It houses the first OSKLO House—an immersive design environment where the couple’s Studio OSKLO furniture line lives alongside antiques and artworks collected over decades. Works by Julian Schnabel, Ed Ruscha, Catherine Opie, and the Campana Brothers mingle with furniture by Jean Royère, Adolf Loos, and Viggo Boesen, creating an interior landscape shaped equally by personal history and architectural heritage.

For the Nazarians, this layered approach mirrors the ethos behind their debut furniture release, the Trousdale Collection. Inspired by the neighborhood’s cinematic architecture and its interplay of city views, coastal pines, and decomposing granite hillsides, the collection translates the home’s atmosphere into sculptural forms.

In many ways, the project reflects the lesson embedded in Trousdale Estates itself: great architecture is not something to overwrite, but something to continue. By preserving the bones of a remarkable mid-century structure while carefully extending its story, the OSKLO House proves that architectural pedigree can remain not only intact—but vividly alive.