Hollywood Regency homes in Los Angeles

What makes it Hollywood Regency

Hollywood Regency, sometimes called Regency Moderne, took pieces of traditional architecture and gave them a modern, theatrical twist. A mansard roof, slim Doric columns, an urn by the door: the parts are old, but the proportions are pared down and the effect is closer to a film set. The style is named for the movie industry that paid for so much of it, and it ran from roughly the 1930s into the 1960s.

From the street, look for a mansard roof, often wrapped around a one-story house, and an oversized front door. The signature version is the tall "Pullman" door, which can rise above the roofline and make the rest of the house look smaller. Oval or round windows, sometimes leaded, are another tell, along with crisp white walls, black trim, shutters framing French doors, and the occasional jolt of color.

Inside, the look is bold contrast: black and white floors, mirrored walls, glass and metallic accents. John Elgin Woolf even designed a "floating" fireplace with glass above the mantel where the chimney would usually be.

How LA got so many

The style grew out of Hollywood's golden era, with studio art directors and designers shaping the look. In their book Forgotten Modern, Alan Hess and Alan Weintraub name four architects as its defining figures: George Vernon Russell, Douglas Honnold, John Elgin Woolf and Paul R. Williams. A few names stand out for buyers:

• John Elgin Woolf came to Hollywood from Atlanta after studying architecture at Georgia Tech. With his partner, the interior designer Robert Koch Woolf, he blended 19th-century French, Greek Revival and modern ideas, much of it in Beverly Hills and Bel Air, and often as remodels of older houses.
• Paul R. Williams (1894 to 1980) designed more than 3,000 structures over his career, including almost 2,000 homes in Los Angeles, according to the LA Conservancy. He worked in many styles, Regency among them. He was posthumously awarded the AIA Gold Medal in 2017, the first African American architect to receive it.
• Douglas Honnold gave a Sunset Boulevard building its Regency facade in 1937. It became The Hollywood Reporter's offices and was named a Historic-Cultural Monument in 2017.
• James Dolena, a Russian-born architect who settled in Los Angeles, designed large houses in Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Holmby Hills. His neoclassical Casa Encantada in Bel Air was completed in 1938, and he later remodeled it in the Hollywood Regency style, according to the Pacific Coast Architecture Database.

The style also spread by remodel. In the 1950s and 60s, owners dressed up plain older bungalows with a mansard roof and an oversized front door, and you can still spot these updates all over West Hollywood.

Where to find them

• Beverly Hills. Trousdale Estates, where construction began in 1954, lists Hollywood Regency among its sub-styles alongside California ranch and mid-century modern, and its original houses were planned as single-story homes. The Beverly Hills Flats have Woolf work too, including a house on North Roxbury Drive. See the full Beverly Hills guide for more.
• Bel Air and Holmby Hills. Bel Air and neighboring Holmby Hills are where Woolf and Dolena did much of their residential work, usually on large lots.
• West Hollywood. West Hollywood has many bungalows and small houses that got the mansard-and-big-door treatment in the 1950s and 60s.
• Hollywood and the hills. Regency houses are scattered through the Hollywood Hills; see the Hollywood guide. Honnold's Regency facade is on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
• The Valley. Toluca Lake has traditional houses on large lots, including a Woolf remodel from the 1950s.

For Trousdale's other postwar houses, see mid-century modern homes.

Buying one: what to look for

Original, remodeled or "Regency-style." Many Regency facades were remodels in the first place, which is part of the history. Others are recent flips with a black door and a pair of urns. Ask what is original (the mansard, the front door, oval windows, plaster moldings, mirrored or paneled rooms, built-ins) and when it was added. The permit history usually tells the story.

Inspection points specific to the style:

• Mansard roofs. A mansard is often steep sloped sides wrapped around a flat or low-slope roof in the middle. The joint between the two and the drains on the flat section are common places for leaks.
• Plumbing and sewer lines. Houses from the 1930s to 60s may have galvanized supply lines and cast iron, clay or Orangeburg sewer pipe. A sewer camera inspection is a good idea.
• Electrical. Older panels and wiring may need updating, and prewar houses can still have some knob-and-tube wiring, which can affect insurance.
• Foundations and earthquakes. Ask whether a prewar house on a raised foundation has been bolted and braced.
• Hillside lots. In the Hollywood Hills and the canyons, look at retaining walls, drainage and the slope below the house. In the City of LA, hillside areas also have their own limits on house size and grading, which matter if you plan to add on.

Preservation rules. Some Regency houses are City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments, and some sit in a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). Either can mean design review for exterior changes. City Planning lists the city's historic districts. Beverly Hills runs its own landmark program and zoning rules, so check with the city before planning changes in Trousdale or the Flats.

The Mills Act. Owners of some qualifying historic homes may be able to enter a Mills Act contract with their city, which can lower property taxes in exchange for a commitment to restore and maintain the house. Eligibility, application windows and limits vary, so this is general information only. Start with the City of LA's preservation incentives page and verify the details with the city and a tax professional.