Description

A. Quincy Jones & Whitney R. Smith, Architects | The Morris & Lydia Gelb House, 1950 | Rehabilitation by Bruce Norelius, AIA, Architect, 2014 | City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1332. Set within the utopian experiment of Crestwood Hills, the Gelb House is a rare, highly intact example of A. Quincy Jones' Mutual Housing Association vision - where architecture was not a luxury, but a disciplined framework for living. Completed in 1950, the house embodies a rigor that feels increasingly scarce. The post-and-beam structure is expressed with clarity - Douglas fir framing, concrete block, and redwood working together without ornament or redundancy. Every decision is economical, never compromised. Sited into the hillside, the plan unfolds with quiet logic: private rooms at one end, living spaces opening outward, and structure doing the work of both enclosure and expression. A concrete block fireplace anchors the interior, while skylights along the ridge beam draw light deep into the plan. Owned by the original family for decades, the house remained largely untouched - preserving the intent of the MHA experiment, a community that reimagined postwar housing as cooperative, modern, and connected to landscape. The restoration by Bruce Norelius Studio approaches the house with restraint. Systems have been updated and key spaces - kitchen and baths - reworked with a sympathetic material palette, while the original structure remains intact. Interventions are legible and deliberately quiet - a careful continuation. On a large corner lot surrounded by mature trees, the flat pad offers potential for expansion, with room for a pool or additional living space. In a market where "mid-century" is often diluted, the Gelb House stands apart as the real thing. Photography: Tim Street-Porter.