The house at 1285 Angelo Drive in Beverly Hills, California started out as a tired looking cliffhanger badly in need of a yard of its own.  Fortunately, the owners Tim and Jill Gerrity had the stamina to stick through months of battles in filing for conditional use permits, variances and sitting through neighborhood hearings to finally secure the permit for an unprecedented new concrete yard and pool structure.  While at it, Gerritys decided to overhaul the residence by asking atelier V to give it a new entry sequence and an entrance tower, a new expanded driveway and whole new Tuscan (Gerritys’ Choice) appearance.  The result is a complete transformation.

You walk into the entry courtyard off Angelo Drive through and old wooden gate into a quaint exterior space with a fountain on one side and the entry stairs to the main residence on the other while at all times getting glimpses of the new yard/pool a few steps below.  The new yard which houses the pools, the Jacuzzi and the exercise room was created entirely on a suspended/elevated concrete structure supported by at least twenty (20) caissons of 5 feet diameter each and rising about 70 feet from the natural grade in the canyon below.   The existing house always enjoyed magnificent views of the LA basin but without a real platform to view it!  Our newley “ Manufactured Yard” gave it the much needed viewing point.

The structure is an asymmetric one with a sweeping curve on one side and a straight line on the other.  The Parti geometry was directly the result of the curvature of the Angelo Drive and the required 20 feet set back.  The infinity edge of the pool forms the straight line on the view side of the yard and was limited by the scope of the structure as constrained by the steeply falling grade below.  Once the concrete structure of the pool was in place, the area between the street and the new structure was back filled to create a new flat grassy yard area further adding to the visual stability of the overall space.  All the pool and mechanical equipment is housed at a level directly below the pool deck.  The original scope of the pool/yard was much more extensive, however,  it was reduced after initial design studies due to budgetary constraints eliminating a cantilevered whirlpool and sundeck directly below the infinity pool edge.

When finally completed in 2009, the new pool and yard addition as well as the entry courtyard and the facelift of the entire house totally transformed the entire experience of the home giving it the much needed strength and visual stability that many hillside homes of similar nature lack.

For additional information and photos of the Gerrity Residence please go to : www.atelierv.com  Projects/Residential/Gerrity Residence

Credits: atelier  V:  Bernadette Jahayo, Project Manager, Vanessa Ablegas, Project Captain

Structural Engineer : Niaki and Associates

Photos : Atelier V and photostudionatalia.com