Architect couple incorporates an adjacent home on a Venice walk street to create a multi-generational compound that draws in the neighborhood too.

Love of place more than space rooted Julie Smith-Clementi and Frank Clementi to their 600-square-foot, 1920s cottage and its sociable walk street in Venice.

The architect couple settled here in 1994 and two years later added a second floor, preserving the original footprint and situating the master bedroom to face west, toward the neighbor's huge Southern magnolia, said by locals to be nearly 80 years old.

The Clementis, partners in the Los Angeles design firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios, watched anxiously over the years as experts assessed whether the tree next door could be removed to make room for a larger house. "They measured to see how much it would cost to get rid of," Smith-Clementi said. "There was nothing we could do but hope it wouldn't happen."

Love of place more than space rooted Julie Smith-Clementi and Frank Clementi to their 600-square-foot, 1920s cottage and its sociable walk street in Venice.

The architect couple settled here in 1994 and two years later added a second floor, preserving the original footprint and situating the master bedroom to face west, toward the neighbor's huge Southern magnolia, said by locals to be nearly 80 years old.

The Clementis, partners in the Los Angeles design firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios, watched anxiously over the years as experts assessed whether the tree next door could be removed to make room for a larger house. "They measured to see how much it would cost to get rid of," Smith-Clementi said. "There was nothing we could do but hope it wouldn't happen."

A large plaza of linear concrete slabs with grass and pebble banding spans the two residences. It serves as a gathering place for alfresco meals, such as a family feast on Christmas.

And after years of planning, the Clementis added a two-story wing to the back of their house. The addition, completed in 2012, gives them a three-car garage and a new master suite that links to the rest of the house via a "bridge."

The Clementis didn't want their enlarged home to loom over the neighborhood. They clad the main residence in natural-hued lap siding, in keeping with Venice's bungalow vibe.

The addition is taller but doesn't feel imposing, thanks to the extensive use of glass. The two-story structure is wrapped with vertical raw-wood framing, an inside-out treatment that playfully suggests tree trunks in an old-growth forest, while also serving structural requirements....Continue Reading

> via LA Times