Smalley Residence by A. Quincy Jones (1969-73)
Photography by Stephen Kent Johnson & Julius Shulman
Located in Holmby Hills rests one of A.Quincy Jones’ largest single-family homes, the Smalley Residence. The 7,500 square-foot house was originally designed for Jones close friends, the Smalley Family. The split-level residence focuses attention to its dramatic cedar walls, cutting through the house and leading to the sunken living room that is only reachable by descending down a magnificent staircase.
The sunken living room is striking with soaring ceilings reaching a height of 25 feet, with expansive windows that bring the luscious greenery from the outside, in. The space is so large in fact, that the current owner, philanthropist and gallerist Shulamit Nazarian, often uses it as a gallery space.
In 2022, Nazarian recruited the help of Pamela Shamshiri from Studio Shamshiri to delicately restore the home through the lens of Jones. Previously, she has only updated the garden, which was originally envisioned by a Walter Gropius-trained landscape architect, Garret Eckbo (1910-2000).
The home is truly a testament to California Modernism with three different interior gardens carefully placed throughout the residence, continuously making the living experience one with nature.
Throughout the entire process of the renovation, it was of utmost importance to both Nazarian and Shamshiri to further emphasis the key features of A. Quincy Jones architecture, to speak his language through today’s current lens.
The most distinct change to the home was the room arrangement. Originally, Jones designed the floor plan to have the childrens bedrooms on the same side of the house as the kitchen and living room while the master bedroom was located on the opposite side. Shamshiri decided to relocate all bedrooms to the private side and revert the old master bedroom into a substantial home office and study for Nazarian.
Included below are original photos of the home from photographer Julius Shulman’s archive.
from the archive of Julius Shulman (1974)
© J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10) via Getty
Read the full story from Architectural Digest, here.
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