A Lovely Robert Byrd Cottage With Views, $3.5M

by Philip Ferrato

With a career spanning decades from the 1930s to the 1970s, Robert Byrd built some of L.A.’s most influential homes, working in a very characteristic style that combined a farmhouse aesthetic, heavily timbered and woodsy, with carpenter interior details and extravagant brickwork. Unlike the classic storybook-style homes his work descended from, Byrd’s homes were both casual and thoroughly modern in a reassuringly American vernacular, making him a favorite architect among the Hollywood elite. They possessed none of the “foreign” connotations of international style architects like Richard Neutra—especially in the politically fraught atmosphere of the 50s. Although not an architect, Byrd (like that other defining Modernist, Cliff May) was a skilled designer, builder and developer, and his influence would go on to pervade far more ordinary tract housing for decades.

Photo Credit: Gavin Cater/Cater Photography

On a view lot on Hollywood Boulevard in an enclave of bespoke properties, Byrd developed on the same street in 1940, this charming and compact 2-bed, 2.5-bath cottage that was originally commissioned by the film noir blonde Lizabeth Scott. Now updated with a new kitchen, bathrooms and a fresh coat of white paint, it was the perfect hideaway for a successful and independent woman.

Upstairs, the primary suite has breathtaking views from Downtown to Catalina.

These days, Byrd’s not without his fans—there’s a website dedicated to him and his son and longtime business partner, Gary Byrd, plus a Facebook page. Below, the new kitchen and butler’s pantry with soapstone countertops.

More: Go to the listing for additional images and details. A unique opportunity to own a pedigreed property, steeped in both Hollywood history and the design heritage of Los Angeles, represented by Elisa Ritt at Compass and Adara Salim at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties.

There’s an Open House on Sunday, June 9 from 2pm-5pm