The Most Serene Retreat In Montecito Heights, $3M

March 14, 2025

What do you get when an artist and architect collaborate on their home? You could get chaos and strife, but in the hands of this couple, the result is an absolutely serene retreat, the perfect venue for a life well-lived in a 3-bed, 3.5-bath home, arranged around a central courtyard with a deep connection to its surrounding landscape. It just came on the market, offered at $2,995,000.

Photo Credit: Christopher Amitrano/CS8Photo

It’s the home of artist Pae White and architect Tom Marble. A globally recognized multimedia artist, her work has been included in both the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial, as well as large-scale installations and exhibitions around the world. Among his many projects over the decades, Marble, a filmmaker, teacher and architect, designed the Tattuplex, which was included in the sixth edition of Gebhard and Winter’s magisterial An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, where it’s described as “a two-level duplex hanging off a hillside. Notable is the experimental use of an economical, prefabricated, hexagonal steel structure and everyday materials. The impression is of a remote hillside shrine”. While Gebhard and Winter are long gone, their book (first published in 1965) has been continuously updated, and remains the essential touchstone of LA’s architectural history. The dwelling’s location is extraordinary, at the highest point of Montecito Heights and adjacent to the 280-acre Debs Park– in a matchless setting created by the eminent landscape architect Mark Rios, plus an orchard curated by Fruitstitute and a thriving vegetable garden by Urban Farms LA. One approach to the house is through an allée of lemon trees.

Photo Credit: Christopher Amitrano/CS8Photo

Perfectly connected to outdoors, the interiors are impeccably simple, with a literate, Modernist clutter and nods to history. The dining room chandelier was created for the space by White.

Photo Credit: Christopher Amitrano/CS8Photo

The primary bedroom also opens to the courtyard.

Photo Credit: Christopher Amitrano/CS8Photo

Up in the tower, an office looks out over L.A., framed by a painting by White.

Photo Credit: Christopher Amitrano/CS8Photo

Go to the listing for additional images and details, including site and floor plans. An opportunity to own one of LA’s most sophisticated and inspired properties, represented by Tim Durkovic of the Durkovic Group at Christie’s Los Angeles and Greg Holcomb of Carrollwood Estates.