This 1963 Pierre Koenig home atop the hills in Pacific Palisades, California, comes with ocean views right above Santa Monica Bay.
Architect Pierre Koenig designed this Mid Century Modern home in 1963, and it remains largely the same since. The home is currently still owned by the family that originally commissioned the house. Now, the property is being sold by one of the daughters who grew up in the 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2,407 square feet home.
Known as the Beagles House, the home sits on a hillside in Pacific Palisades. While this creates an ideal oceanfront view, it also means the home sits in a landslide-prone area. Knowing the landslide risk, Koenig designed the home with eight caissons, or watertight retaining structures, which anchors the home to the hillside rock and prevents the home, and the hillside it sits on, from collapsing in a slide. In 1964, that’s just what happened. The home withstood a substantial landslide while the surrounding buildings did not.
The Beagles House is rare among Pierre Koenig-designed homes for its stucco siding. Koenig included it at the homeowners’ insistence, but most of his other homes have steel decking.
Famous for his work with steel, concrete and glass, Koenig was able to use the challenging hillside location of the home to create a unique design. Using an inverted plan, the street-level entrance leads directly to the second floor. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls allow for amazing views of the ocean, just a ten-minute walk leading right down to a secluded beach.
The unique mid century home contains almost all the same details it was originally built with, including all original finishes. The exposed structural steel, book-matched cabinetry, hardwood floors and vintage Formica have all been preserved in the home.
The fireplace flue extends from the open living room on the lower level up the open stairway at the center of the house.
The design takes full advantage of the ocean view whenever possible. An outdoor patio off the kitchen extends the dining area outside for classic indoor-outdoor Mid Century Modern living. Also note the Formica and period-authentic finishes.
The fireplace flue extends up the central stairwell, accentuating the home’s height. You can find the listing for the $4.5 million home here.
For more California home architecture, see The Perfect Palette in a 1957 Twin Palms Home. To learn more about architect Pierre Koenig, check out this article about his style and vision.
And of course, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest for more Mid Century Modern inspiration.
