Architectural Elements Found in Luxury Homes in Pacific Palisades

The luxury real estate market in Southern California is full of beautiful properties that accentuate the area’s natural beauty with fine attention to detail and luxury appointments. Throughout the area, you’ll find a wide variety of homes that bring together the homeowner’s personal design style and beautiful, high-end features. Some of the most popular design styles in luxury homes in the Pacific Palisades include:

Craftsman Homes

The Craftsman design style was born of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. Today’s Craftsman homes are known for their workmanship, attention to detail, and a focus on simple forms. Southern California is famous for its many beautiful Craftsman homes that also derive inspiration from Spanish missions, including features such as tile roofs and rough cut stones.

Craftsman style luxury homes in the Pacific Palisades typically feature overhanging eaves, large front porches with columns, and low slung gabled roofs. These homes are also known for a mix of materials including wood, stone, and brick which give the structure a simple, organic feel. The homes’ interiors often boast large rooms, extensive built-in furniture, stained glass windows, exposed beams and rafters, and natural finishes on wood trim, doors, and window casings.

Mediterranean Homes

Mediterranean homes are one of the most popular design styles in Southern California and are seen throughout luxury homes in the Pacific Palisades. Mediterranean style architecture is based on traditional building techniques that aim to keep the home feeling breezy and cool in hot climates. This is ideal for the Pacific Palisades area because the building style helps to highlight the beautiful surroundings and desirable climate.
One of the most iconic design elements of Mediterranean architecture is the roof. These sloping and shallow roofs are made of bright terra cotta tiles and overhang the walls to provide shade. A courtyard is often featured in this design style and helps bring elements of the outdoors in. Large windows, open arches, and tile flooring used throughout a Mediterranean home to promote an open feeling and a breezy, cool lifestyle.

Modern Homes

Modern houses became widespread after World War II and have changed and adapted to include new technology and materials. Today’s Modern homes feature many classic elements while embracing updates to the design style throughout the last 75 years. Modern luxury homes in the Pacific Palisades take advantage of the design style’s focus on sleek sophistication to provide minimal detailing and simple lines.

The exterior of a Modern home is functional, sleek, geometric, and often features a low-pitched or flat roof. This roofline emphasizes the curved walls or unusual angles typically found in the design style. The Modern home’s interior likely boasts an open floor plan that provides flexibility to the homeowner. Fewer enclosed rooms make the home feel like one continuous living space. Windows are used to primarily flood a Modern house with natural light and connect the interior with nature outside.

These three design styles are just a few that you’ll find within the luxury home market in the Pacific Palisades. What makes this area unique is that there a wide range of design styles represented and many homes mix elements from different styles to create a one-of-a-kind home.