Gerard Colcord: Pilgrim Throwback in Los Angeles
Author:Philip Ferrato
This knotty-pine extravaganza is perfect for both Pilgrim-themed parties and reenactments of your favorite 60’s sitcoms, and it’s on the market. If you move fast, you should be in by Thanksgiving.
The basics: A three-bedroom, three bath plus a half-bath in Bel Air, asking $3,395,000. Not so basic: it’s an over-the-top re-invention of period houses on the East Coast from Connecticut to Maine by Gerard Colcord, an unsung master of fulfilling the stage-set dreams of his clients. Think of his houses as costume dramas; this one’s in pre-Revolutionary New England. Originally built in 1949, the house burned in the Bel Air fire of 1961 and rebuilt to the original plans a year later. The owner loved it that much.
This being Los Angeles, it’s a lot grander than its ancestors, and basically a one-bedroom ranch house with a huge master suite at one end. There’s another suite over the garage that connects via the kitchen and downstairs, plus a staff bedroom. The living room and master bedroom back up to each other and both open to a huge terrace. There’s a study and a bar room- the house is full of nooks and changes in ceiling heights and great woodwork, if pine and douglas fir’s your thing, but that huge beam over the gated fireplace (in the dining room, below) is actually cast concrete finished to look like timber. The obligatory swimming pool is down below, enclosed by privacy hedges and complete with a board-and-batten cottage for a pool house.
Los Angeles’ neighborhoods are chock-full of houses in various historical revival styles; Gerald Colchord designed many of them. Check out the listing or Curbed LA for more images.
Listing: 11474 Bellagio Road, Los Angeles [Redfin]
