{"id":560603,"date":"2026-07-21T10:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/560603\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:59:13","slug":"historic-wallace-neff-home-restored-after-hidden-plans-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/560603\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Wallace Neff home restored after hidden plans found"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When restoring their 1925 Wallace Neff-designed home in La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge, Pete and Teri Lauenstein wanted kitchen tile that would make their home period-accurate. They turned to Malibu Tile Works, but the stock colors weren\u2019t right \u2014 too bright, too lemony, not warm enough. So a new earthy yellow hue was mixed and dubbed \u201cLauenstein Yellow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty picky,\u201d said Teri Lauenstein of the couple\u2019s meticulous work over roughly 20 years on the historic Spanish Colonial Revival home that overlooks the San Gabriel Mountains and is emblematic of the famed architect\u2019s grand but intimate style.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Lauensteins\u2019 front entry is shaded by a coral tree that the couple craned in.<\/p>\n

(Public 311 Design\/Public 311 Design)<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The couple uncovered stone paths and benches when restoring terraces behind their house.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The home needed a lot of work when they bought it in 2002 for $1.5 million. Shag carpet covered original terra-cotta floors, high-gloss paint coated nearly every wooden surface and overgrown weeds crowded the yard. They had wanted a historic home with an old-world Spanish feel to match two Renaissance chairs they bought in Granada, Spain, but that dream became something much bigger. Since then, they\u2019ve spent $3.7 million on their four-bedroom, six-bathroom, 4,962-square-foot \u201ctreasure,\u201d as Wallace Neff historian and Realtor Brett Parsons calls it.<\/p>\n

The restoration on the Mills Act Property, which provides tax incentives to upkeep historic homes, has required an ecosystem of experts, including a colorist and curatorial rug merchant. Each has come to know the house intimately. The Lauensteins, who spent years scouring architectural salvage sites for items including wrought iron, hardware, lighting and doors to decorate their home, largely stewarded the transformation, with occasional guidance from interior designers.<\/p>\n

Teri Lauenstein, 64, a healthcare advisor, and Pete Lauenstein, 70, an engineering design manager, consider themselves custodians of history. \u201cIt\u2019s important that people appreciate and understand the vision these architects had,\u201d Teri Lauenstein said. \u201cIt feels special having this time here, raising our three kids in this home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The primary bathroom reflects the 1920s fervor for vivid tile work.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe\u2019re <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not afraid of pattern,\u201d said Teri Lauenstein\u2014as reflected in her primary bathroom.<\/p>\n

(Public 311 Design\/Public 311 Design)<\/p>\n

Their children, now in their 20s and early 30s, have all moved out, but in childhood \u201cwere along for the ride\u201d during renovations, said middle child Julianne Lauenstein. \u201cI don\u2019t remember a time when we weren\u2019t shopping for antiques; it\u2019s what we did on weekends.\u201d <\/p>\n

Neff, with his roster of celebrity clients, designed Southern California homes that seem to forever open. Everything aligns \u2014 front to back, inside to outside. Views through one archway are framed by another, drawing the eye deeper into the home.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeff homes are exceedingly romantic,\u201d said Parsons. \u201cEverywhere you turn, there\u2019s a flourish, a nuance, a detail. There\u2019s a bold statement that makes you sit and contemplate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off the entry and through an archway, the architectural heart of the century-old home soars upward: the living room\u2019s open-beam, 25-foot ceiling with its original deep teal stain. Substantial double-arch sliding glass doors that pocket into walls are mirrored on east and west walls. The arrangement creates a breezy walk-through from the front yard to the rear terrace. Cast-stone columns with ornate capitals bisect the thresholds.<\/p>\n

At either end of the room: a large cast-stone fireplace and a hand-painted opera balcony \u2014 the latter, a Neff riff on medieval churches, along with those columns.<\/p>\n

Neff\u2019s genius includes extending the living room\u2019s pitched ceiling outward over a covered loggia, linking the inside-outside rooms in stellar Southern California fashion. The Lauensteins have thematically used the teal color on other ceilings, along with a similar hue on the exterior trim.<\/p>\n

\"Mother <\/p>\n

Mother and daughter Teri and Julianne Lauenstein sit before the cast stone fireplace in the living room.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Within a year after moving in, the couple discovered the original house plans that had been secreted away. \u201cThere was this weird vent, a furnace return, and a tiny cabinet with a door above it,\u201d said Pete Lauenstein. \u201cThe rolled-up plans were inside.\u201d The plans revealed the kitchen\u2019s original breakfast nook, which the couple later reinstated.<\/p>\n

On the kitchen walls, the \u201cLauenstein Yellow\u201d tile cascades down into polychrome patterns. The couple also sourced period Moorish floral and geometric tile patterns from books, now piled in their library. Echoing that signature yellow hue: a walnut island, a hammered barrel-vaulted copper hood, a copper farmhouse sink and replicated 1920s cabinetry painted \u201cMatchstick\u201d by Farrow & Ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrepare to get dizzy,\u201d said Teri Lauenstein, revealing the primary bathroom, a riot of teal, orange, cream and yellow. The relentless look is based on tile work in Montecito\u2019s Casa del Herrero<\/a>, the 1925 estate of industrialist George Fox Steedman. \u201cWe have expensive taste in tile; it was a big chunk of our budget,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Arches <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\"Teal <\/p>\n

1. The Lauensteins\u2019 kitchen with its signature \u201cLauenstein Yellow\u201d shade of tile, which was especially created for the homeowners. 2. Wallace Neff favored setting arches within arches, as seen in this view looking from the entry to the dining room. 3. The primary bathroom\u2019s shower stall. The couple spent \u201ca big chunk of our budget\u201d on tile, Teri Lauenstein said. (Public 311 Design\/Public 311 Design) <\/p>\n

The ceramic work in other bathrooms is calmer, but the backyard amps the look with the pool\u2019s fountain and spa. It\u2019s backed by a mission-style silhouette tiled with an urn overflowing with foliage. The Tunisian factory that makes the pool\u2019s braided-pattern waterline tile, popular in the 1920s, hadn\u2019t fired it in decades.<\/p>\n

That level of period detail extends to Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper, ball-trim swag valances and wall air vents laser-cut in Moorish patterns. Most of the home\u2019s antiques are Spanish and Peruvian, with some French, Chinese and English pieces; one weighty armoire had to be craned in.<\/p>\n

Those elements round out Neff\u2019s romance-driven design, which includes wrought-iron rejas that cast dramatic shadows worthy of the noir classic \u201cDouble Indemnity.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are, in fact, very few places where the 21st century intrudes, save for a flat screen TV or two and the kitchen\u2019s plumbed, built-in Miele coffee system.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

The backyard is anchored by a pool and spa with fountain at one end, and a free-standing fireplace and sitting area at the other.<\/p>\n

(Public 311 Design\/Public 311 Design)<\/p>\n

The garden level holds a media room, guest room, laundry room and a cedar-lined 636-bottle wine cellar carved from one of the home\u2019s original eccentricities: a secret tunnel. It ran from the side of the home into the chauffeur\u2019s bedroom, accessed through a disguised panel in a shower wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d play Capture the Flag, running through the tunnel; there are a lot of great hiding spaces in the house,\u201d said Julianne Lauenstein.<\/p>\n

The Lauensteins\u2019 last major effort was the backyard, finished in 2022. The pristine look, edged by Japanese boxwood, is a world away from the ragged stretch that greeted them when they moved in. The inspiration: 1920s Southern California estate gardens created by A. E. Hanson.<\/p>\n

Sentinels stand on the plot\u2019s four corners: kousa dogwood, favored for its red accents. A towering freestanding fireplace and sitting area flanked by olive trees anchor one end, and on the other, the pool area. Terraces descend \u2014 illuminated by suspended Moroccan lamps \u2014 planted with oaks, fruit trees (\u201cPete\u2019s produce\u201d), camellias and azaleas, all set amid stone paths and benches.<\/p>\n

The couple takes the Mills Act obligations, such as maintaining their home\u2019s historic character and adhering to design guidelines, seriously. The property has been on the annual La Ca\u00f1ada Spring Home Tour and has hosted various sister city events. The home is one of just two Wallace Neff residences in La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When restoring their 1925 Wallace Neff-designed home in La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge, Pete and Teri Lauenstein wanted kitchen tile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,236921,62486,5999,308,2083,93,1328,61,60,20327,236920,236919,236918,145952,479,236922,12549,236917,742],"class_list":["post-560603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-cast-stone-column","tag-ceiling","tag-couple","tag-design","tag-door","tag-entertainment","tag-home","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kitchen","tag-kitchen-tile","tag-lauensteins","tag-neff","tag-pete","tag-plan","tag-rear-terrace","tag-room","tag-teri-lauenstein","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}