Name: The Courtyard House
Location: Westwood, California
Size: 2,800 square feet
Perhaps some of you remember architect Tom Robertson's Horn House (aka the Courtyard House) from the CABoom architectural tour in 2007. The Westwood residence was designed to resemble a loft, but with the inclusion of a large courtyard space that gives the home its name and most prominent feature. The house is also notable for its green upgrades, including solar panels, radiant heating, sustainable wood flooring and an abundance of colour throughout…
Our favorite feature of the Courtyard House is the pine breakfast nook; we don't usually care for knots in our wood, but somehow the space seems to require some visual quiet with everything else going on and the nook provides that section of calm; the effect and material extends out with sliding panel dividers and bookcases that make the home a book lover or collector's abode. And maybe it's just us, but the dividing bookcase that partitions the stairs from the living room almost looks like a hand shaped into a gun (thumbs up, two fingers out), doesn't it?
A house in which I would NOT feel comfortable!
view mei-ling's profile
I love this home, but...what's with the photos? someone's either gone crazy with HDR or upped the 'shadows' bar in their iPhoto. either shoot in the right light, or allow the shadows to be part of your photograph. i'm not against retouching, but this seems to happen a lot, and it just looks flat and over-doctored. i think the home would actually look much better if we could see the real lighting.
view nikki moore - photography and vintage treasures's profile
What a funny coincidence. I was just leafing through a back issue of Dwell and re-reading their article about this house. What an amazing building. Thanks for posting all these images. It's great to get a more thorough visual tour.
view TammyE's profile
The photos have a retro quality. Odd. But the house is filled with amazing detail if you look close. I think it is great to check it out.
view wormy's profile
I would feel so lonely in such a big house. We moved from a 1,400 sqft townhouse to a 1004sqft (without the addition its 854) and I still feel like I'm wasteing space. How do people fill these mega homes up with furniture, and how can you define any house that has that large of a footprint as green?
view dearly's profile
It's not exactly my style, but I do kinda like it. What I don't like is the knotty pine walls in the kitchen and elsewhere. Some other light wood without the knots would make a huge difference.
view Trish1980's profile