Ome Dezin Revives a Googie-Era Hollywood Hills Home with Milanese Flair

Joelle Kutner and Jesse Rudolph restore the architectural drama of a 1960s Whitney R. Smith residence through sculptural interventions, richly grained materials, and sly references to Villa Necchi Campiglio

or those drawn to midcentury architecture, Los Angeles is a remarkable canvas—something Joelle Kutner and Jesse Rudolph know well. The duo has built their practice, Ome Dezin, around carefully restoring the city’s rich collection of historic residences and fashioning unhurried interiors buoyed with sculptural furnishings and nuanced material palettes that humanize the architecture. That approach underpinned their recent renovation of a distinctive 1960s home, originally by architect Whitney R. Smith of Smith & Williams, tucked into a secluded pocket of Nichols Canyon. The pair immediately recognized the home’s singular character: bold geometries, exposed steel beams, and soaring volumes all channel an entrancing collision of Googie exuberance and midcentury ease. [...]