Tour a Spanish Revival Where the Interiors are as Astonishing as the Views

Elle Decor, October 2024
Written by David Nash
Featuring Hillside Spanish Colonial Revival
See full story: Elle Decor

It’s been said that a friend in need is a friend indeed. If that reliable friend happens to be in-demand interior designer Joe Lucas, even better.

So, when a flair for help shot up over Los Feliz, it’s no surprise the Los Angeles–based designer answered the call without hesitation. “They’re two of our best friends,” Lucas says about homeowners JP Richards and Michael Elder, who landed an incredible 6,100-square-foot Spanish Revival property hidden at the end of a cul-de-sac. “JP grew up in Los Angeles and had always dreamed about having a big Spanish house in the hills.”

Built in 1928, the five-bedroom, four full- and two half-bathroom property, dubbed Casa Vista, offers sweeping views from Pasadena all the way to Santa Monica but, on the inside, required Lucas’s design savvy to make the homeowners’ dream a reality. “When they moved in, it needed a lot of love,” recalls Lucas, who founded his eponymous firm in 2005 and, three years later, opened the first of two Harbinger design showrooms. “The kitchen was out of date and the bathrooms were a wreck, but the bones were really good—and the views!”

“It had been left somewhat dilapidated and poorly renovated in ’60s and ’70s, and almost completely stripped of what made it so special,” adds Richards, an entertainment industry executive currently helming Lionsgate’s worldwide marketing division. “We really wanted to bring it back to its former glory.”

The first order of business was to refinish the floors and slap a fresh coat of white paint on the walls throughout the three-level manse. “After that, they just lived there trying to figure out whether they’d want to spend more time on one side of the house or the other,” Lucas says.

Once the home’s optimal flow was figured out, the designer enlisted award-winning architect Tim Barber to redesign several spaces, including the kitchen and dining room, and immediately got to work himself outfitting the hillside residence.

The couple also joined Lucas on a few European buying trips for his showroom where, occasionally, the designer had to lay some ground rules. “I’d say, ‘Remember I have first right of refusal for Harbinger, otherwise, if you like something, we can buy it for your place,’” Lucas says with a laugh. “Actually, they’re constantly shopping for the house on their own—which is usually a designer’s worst nightmare—but thankfully they have really good taste!”

In the midst of outfitting the home, Lucas’s friends announced plans for another expansion—one that would entail the addition of a nursery. Through the help of a surrogate, and after many heart-pounding months of planning, the couple became first-time parents to twins Jack and Vivian.

“From the beginning, they definitely saw the house as a place to raise kids,” shares Lucas. Now, a year and a half into parenthood—with three dogs to round out the household—the young family is embracing life at Casa Vista thanks to a little help from their friend.

“This house wouldn’t be this house without Joe,” says Elder.