DIY Modernism In Rancho Palos Verdes, $2.3M

Philip Ferrato June 21, 2024

There’s the DIY of assembling that Ikea bookcase, and then there’s the DIY of building an entire house. In both cases, it helps if you are an architect with an enthusiastic partner, both possessed of resourcefulness and skill, like Joe and Marie Michell, who built this of-the-moment Post and Beam in 1960 on a view lot in Rancho Palos Verdes. A graduate of USC’s School of Architecture, Joe created a timeless composition with the simplest stock materials, and the 5-bed, 3-bath home (which includes a 1-bed, 1-bath casita) is now on the market in excellent, almost-original condition, for the first time. And yes, there must have been more than four hands involved in building this, but it’s a perfect example of the aesthetic coming out of the contemporaneous Case Study Houses, deploying stock, readily available materials and techniques to build a new and uniquely California Modernism.

Photo Credit: Sterling Reed

The aggregate entry path leads seamlessly into the front hall, without a threshold—a radical decision at the time, plus there are Chinese and Japanese inflections throughout the home.

Photo Credit: Sterling Reed

Joe and Marie Michell at the site of their first home, built in 1950 in San Pedro shortly after their marriage. Joe’s graduation gift to Marie upon her graduation from UCLA was a cement mixer.

The floating chimney is actually a culvert pipe, set over a polished terrazzo hearth inset with bits of abalone shell; ceiling heights were largely dictated by the height of the stock paneling.

Photo Credit: Sterling Reed

More: Go to the listing for additional images and details plus a short but evocative video. The Michell Residence is an opportunity to own a superb Mid-Century home Rancho Palos Verde, represented by architecture specialists Nate Cole of Modern California House and Charlie Raine of Coastal Legacy Realty Group.

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