Famous Marmol Radziner architect Leo Marmol’s ‘masterpiece’ home hits the market in Venice for $5.8 million
Award-winning modern architecture firm Marmol Radziner has dominated the Los Angeles design scene for decades, with celebrities, architecture enthusiasts and real estate agents whispering its name in awe.
So when the celebrated Southern California residency was the founding partner Leo Marmol built for itself comes onto the market, it’s a major event, especially if that property still bears all the hallmarks of elegance and luxury that the design legend personally approved of.
The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home is nestled in a green and luxurious setting in Venice Beach, shielded from prying eyes by a large fence, behind which lies a lavish retreat, unlike many other homes in the community.
Mention at Juliette Hohnenby Douglas Elliman, the property is now on the market with an asking price of $5.79 million, down slightly from the original asking price of $5.99 million.
But visitors will find little else about the house that has been ‘downsized’, instead encountering a beautifully illuminated home that combines modern design with natural beauty, creating an unparalleled ‘flow’ between indoors and outdoors.
“Architect-designed homes of this caliber rarely become available, especially homes with such personal provenance,” Hohnen notes. “The craftsmanship, materials and flow inside and out are exceptional: it is a home that feels both deeply refined and incredibly livable.”
Featured in both Architectural Digest and Dwell, this 2,800-square-foot home is described as “an exceptional example of warm modernism, thoughtfully integrated with lush, private outdoor spaces.”
Records show the current owners purchased the home in 2018 for $4.6 million. It appears that Marmol built this particular prefab house for himself in 2009, at a time when his company was focusing on and winning awards for its sustainable prefab designs.
As a result, the house features a number of natural elements, with the emphasis largely on different wood tones that alternate with enormous glass areas that open the house to the outside world.
Glass walls, clerestory windows and skylights illuminate an interior where every square inch has been carefully curated. Walnut cabinetry and paneling, as well as Heath ceramic tiles, create surfaces that feel elegant and modern, yet warm and organic.
The home is accentuated by the many useful, cozy and artistic built-ins, including desks, bookshelves, cabinets, chairs and even a built-in bed in one of the three upstairs bedrooms.
There are numerous comfortable gathering spaces, both indoors and outdoors, including a covered outdoor living room with fireplace and a covered upstairs terrace among the treetops.
The kitchen, with its dramatic double-height ceiling and utility room, provides a comfortable gathering space with its extensive dining peninsula and adjacent dining space. They open onto a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows and comfortable conversation corners.
Additional spaces include a home theater with smart built-in seating and bookcases, as well as a functional office. The owners have made plans for an additional bedroom and this is included in the sale.
Situated on a 5,000 square foot lot with green, mature foliage that provides both shade and privacy, the unique home is just two blocks from the upscale shopping and dining district of Abbot Kinney and just a few minutes from world-famous Venice Beach.
Since the company’s founding in 1989, Marmol Radziner has left a special mark on the neighborhoods of Venice and the Los Angeles West Side in general.
Over the years, the company has expanded, opening a second office in San Francisco’s Mission District and another in New York City. But has also taken on residential and commercial projects in many other parts of the world.
Marmol Radziner has been recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the 25 “Most Influential Interior Designers in LA” and as one of the “10 Hottest Architects Changing LA Real Estate.”
In November 2019, the American Institute of Architects awarded the firm first place in their annual Top 50 Firms in Business list.
Many celebrities are fans of the company, including Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Tom Ford, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Flea, Bradley CooperAnd Ellen DeGeneresall of whom worked with Marmol Radziner on their private homes. Brands such as Vince, Oliver Peoples, Mayfield and James Perse have sought them out for retail projects.
The company also collaborated with a famous architect Tadao Ando at the Malibu beach house that Kanye West all but destroyed after it was completed.
Marmol Radziner has since been working with the most recent buyer of the property, Steven “Bo” Belmontwho has promised to carry out a complete restoration of the building, which West gutted in an attempt to turn it into a modernist bomb shelter.
In fact, Marmol Radziner is also known for his restoration work, having worked on carefully overhauling buildings by architectural legends including Richard Neutra; Buff, Straub and Hensman; Albert Frey, Rudolf Schindler; A. Quincy Jones; John Lautner; And Cliff May.
Perhaps the company’s most prominent restoration work would be the only Case Study home ever created by iconic architect Richard Neutra. The house is known as the Bailey House and is located in Pacific Palisades.
After passing through the hands of “The Simpsons” co-creator and famed fashion designer, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom modern home recently sold for $5.3 million.
All these accolades, achievements and endorsements cannot help but burnish the pedigree of a custom home created by and for one of the iconic company’s founders. While you can’t put a real price on it, the bragging rights alone are priceless.
