The old Andalusian Spanish-style house just off University Avenue in Palo Alto was featured in Sunset Magazine in 1962. But Joyce Hoffspiegel could hardly imagine why when she first set eyes on it a year ago.

From the street, the house seemed quite austere with barely a window across the facade. The glorious gardens highlighted in the magazine were long since overgrown and much of the
intricate stone work was hidden beneath dirt and foliage. “I didn’t even want to look at it,” she said.  “We had been looking for our next project and our realtor told us we would love it. But I was not interested at all.”

Months went by and the house was still for sale. She finally agreed to a tour. “The minute I walked in,” she said, “I knew I had to buy it.” Then the real work began.

Joyce Hoffspiegel and David Buchanan are pros at reviving homes. They have a talent for taking something with good “bones and character” and transforming it into something spectacular. Between the two of them they have renovated 12 homes over the last 18 years.

In the midst of a town where erecting big homes that fill the entire square footage of a lot are the norm, this house is historic and sits on just under a half acre. Its story begins in 1931, when locally renown landscape designer Leslie Kiler returned from four months in Spain and was determined to bring Spanish outdoor style back home to Palo Alto.

He commissioned Charles Kaiser Sumner to design a one room artist’s cottage for himself. Four years later, Kiler was ready to expand and asked him to design the rest of the home (3800 sq ft total). But the gardens were all Kiler’s, who had designed landscapes for many of Palo Alto’s elite. But for his own gardens, he laid hundreds of bricks and stones to create the garden paving and a mosaic reminiscent of the Spanish gardens he saw abroad. He created a central fountain and planted olive trees, Japanese maples and star jasmine along the broad, arched veranda.

Nearly 80 years later, this estate needed just the right team with the right resources to bring it back to its former glory. The couple hired contractor/designer Michael Bolton from Monterey, Interior Designer Michael Berg from Napa and Mark Johnson from San Francisco, who, with his painting and glazing expertise, transformed the dark entry hall into a welcoming, golden-glazed space.

The home has a historical designation, so they were not allowed to change its footprint. But within five months, Hoffspiegel and Buchanan renovated a master bedroom suite, refinished the floors and ceiling, cleared overgrown brush, reconfigured a few walls, renovated the guest bath and added more windows to the original artist’s cottage. They had crews of up to 20 people at any given time working on the home six days a week.

The original artist’s cottage remains the main hub of their home and is one of Hoffspiegel’s favorite spaces. It houses the kitchen, complete with fireplace and views of the gardens.

After considering reconfiguring the walls of the master bedroom, the couple decided that this dark room needed higher ceilings — and in a historical home that was no small task. Steel beams were brought in through window opening, essentially building the home from the inside out.

The walk-in closet is larger than most apartments. Designing with the eyes of serial home restorers, they covered the window spaces in the closet with plywood and drywall, so the room could easily be transformed into a small nursery or home office. Another hidden treasure is the “secret” closet within the closet, where the grandchildren find “dress up clothes and create a world all their own,” Hoffspiegel said.

The dining room chandelier was found in the basement, wrapped in newspaper, then restored by Victor’s Lighting in San Francisco.

The extensive gardens were also restored, the olive trees pruned, the fountain rebuilt and the paths cleared to reveal Kiler’s inticate masonry. Hoffspeigel’s grandchildren climb the trees and organize treasure hunts.

Unlike the other homes that Hoffspiegel and Buchanan have remodeled, this one exudes an uncommon peace and serenity.

“We are simply stewards of this home,” Buchanan said, “and hope to do it justice.” It’s a house they both know would be difficult to leave.

Update:

This post is featured in the San Jose Mercury News Home and Garden section here.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 12:25 am and is filed under Architecture, Decorating, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Interior Design, Remodel, Sheila. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.