RESIDE Blog

On one of the most coveted streets in historic Hancock Park, this elegant 1926 Tudor home stands as a unique reminder of its neighborhood’s distinguished pedigree and stylistic refinement while forging a path toward the future with its abundant modern comforts and conveniences. The area of Los Angeles known today as Hancock Park has a long lineage, with the singular La Brea Tarpits serving as a reminder of a history that stretches back thousands—even millions—of years. More recently, the region traces its roots to the first two decades of the 20th century, when multi-industry pioneer and philanthropist George Allan Hancock donated the acreage that became his namesake park and created a collection of residential estates. On one of the neighborhood’s most coveted streets, this striking Tudor home—which itself dates to 1926—is a testament to the area’s distinguished pedigree while forging a path toward the future with its contemporary comforts and conveniences. Los Angeles, California| Neyshia Go, The Go Group, Sotheby’s International Realty – Beverly Hills Brokerage A timeless character and an air of bygone refinement are readily apparent in the home’s quintessential Tudor roofline, striking leaded-glass and bay windows, classic black-and-white floor tiles, paneled walls, coffered ceilings, dazzling chandeliers, ornate fireplace mantels, and decorative columns. A painstaking renovation retained the aura of Golden Age glamour and an undeniably grand scale while adding virtually every amenity expected in a home of this caliber and in this storied locale. Nearly every room is filled with a glorious natural glow, and views of the enveloping greenery serve as dynamic art. A sitting room, a formal dining room, a lounge, a sunroom, and a library afford versatile spaces that serve equally well as spots for quiet contemplation and venues for festive fêtes. Both the modern chef and the entertainer will appreciate the handsome kitchen, which features richly hued hardwood floors, top-tier stainless-steel appliances, striking marble slab countertops, custom millwork, and fixtures and fittings by Waterworks. The adjacent scullery and butler’s pantry allow for discreet storage, prepping, and plating. A theater—practically de rigueur in any Los Angeles home—with an adjoining snack bar allows for cinema-worthy screenings in pure privacy. A regal retreat, the owner’s bedroom gazes out across the grounds and opens to a sunny terrace; two expertly outfitted walk-in closets and two spa-inspired baths complete the lavish suite. Each of the additional bedrooms boasts a distinctive aesthetic and stylish en suite bath. The nearly one-acre grounds have been carefully maintained and nurtured, resulting in a true oasis that belies its urban setting. The front lawn’s charming path, colorful flowering plants, and perfectly positioned trees and lighting create a delightful introduction to the estate, while manicured hedges and other flourishing flora create a curtain of privacy. A picturesque pavilion with an alfresco kitchen encourages lounging and entertaining beside the refreshing swimming pool and spa. Emerald lawn rolls toward a terrace tucked beneath a towering shade tree, the guesthouse, a koi pond, a putting green and sand trap, and diverting championship-style tennis courts. Garaging for at least three cars and a generous motor court will please the auto enthusiast. The overall sense is one of a moment in history captured, nourished, and updated for the decades ahead, all enclosed in a lush, idyllic, private tableau. Discover luxury homes for sale and rent around the world on sothebysrealty.com

The duo behind this summer’s celebrated Serpentine Pavilion in London discuss the sensuality of bricks with Harriet Thorpe default " src="https://www.sothebysrealty.com/extraordinary-living-blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Serpentine-Pavilion-2026_Aerial-View_Photo_Iwan-Baan.jpg" alt="aerial photo of Serpentine Pavilion in London's Hyde Park" class="wp-image-347314" srcset="https://www.sothebysrealty.com/extraordinary-living-blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Serpentine-Pavilion-2026_Aerial-View_Photo_Iwan-Baan.jpg 2500w, https://www.sothebysrealty.com/extraordinary-living-blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Serpentine-Pavilion-2026_Aerial-View_Photo_Iwan-Baan-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.sothebysrealty.com/extraordinary-living-blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Serpentine-Pavilion-2026_Aerial-View_Photo_Iwan-Baan-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://www.sothebysrealty.com/extraordinary-living-blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Serpentine-Pavilion-2026_Aerial-View_Photo_Iwan-Baan-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.sothebysrealty.com/extraordinary-living-blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Serpentine-Pavilion-2026_Aerial-View_Photo_Iwan-Baan-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://www.sothebysrealty.com/extraordinary-living-blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Serpentine-Pavilion-2026_Aerial-View_Photo_Iwan-Baan-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://www.sothebysrealty.com/extraordinary-living-blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Serpentine-Pavilion-2026_Aerial-View_Photo_Iwan-Baan-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" The Serpentine Pavilion 2026, designed by Lanza Atelier, in London’s Hyde Park. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy Serpentine. A “crinkle-crankle” wall has popped up in London’s Hyde Park, its snaking line softly organic, despite being built from rational, rectangular bricks. Referencing an 18th-century British style with ancient Egyptian origins, it forms part of the 25th annual Serpentine Pavilion, one of architecture’s most prestigious commissions, which this year showcases the vision of Mexico City-based team Lanza Atelier. “Our work finds beauty in how things are used, constructed and experienced,” says Isabel Abascal, who founded the studio in 2015 with her partner, Alessandro Arienzo. “The Serpentine wall carries a lot of sensuality, but it uses less material than a straight wall. So, in this case, beauty lies in the refined cleverness of the structure.” Isabel Abascal and her partner Alessandro Arienzo founded Lanza Atelier in 2015. Photograph: © Pia Riverola Brick walls are rarely considered sensual. Conceptually, they’re symbolic of border divisions, abrupt endings and creative blocks. Yet Lanza Atelier’s pavilion design is consciously permeable: soon to be animated by the colors of nature, the movement of people, and the dappled light that will stream through vertical strips of space between each stacked column. “It reveals the power of walls not to divide, but to bring us together,” says Arienzo. This same vitality is evident in the studio’s Casa Jajalpa (2019), a family home in a pine forest near Mexico City, constructed from tactile bricks that change color with the seasons. Rather than being monolithic, the micro-modularity of this material adapts to nature through curved and lattice forms—a contemporary house, yet embedded in its environment like the millennia-old brick structures of Mesopotamian civilizations. Lanza Atelier’s Casa Jajalpa, a sustainable family home near Mexico City. Photograph: Dane Alonso. Courtesy Lanza Atelier Brick is enjoying a resurgence in residential architecture, thanks to its green credentials as much as its historical reference points. Certainly, Lanza Atelier’s adaptive designs and context-responsive materials bring a sense of timelessness, drawing lines between past, present and future. For their pavilion, the studio chose a familiar red brick—sourced from Wienerberger’s 100-year-old factory in the Surrey village of Ewhurst—echoing both the English garden tradition and the nearby Grade II-listed Serpentine South Gallery, originally a 1930s tea house. Their Casa Caracol (2024) in Cancun, meanwhile, was built from a concrete aggregate, with spiraling sea-snail shells from the local beach folded into the surfaces of the house. Inside Casa Jajalpa: the entire house was built from locally-produced tabique blanco bricks. Photograph: Dane Alonso. Courtesy Lanza Atelier This functional poetry aims to blend craft and innovation in the face of rapid, homogenizing urbanization. “In the midst of a planetary climate crisis, we trust raw local materials to create a more sustainable balance with the high-tech,” says Abascal, before adding: “Both are important.” For the duo, this is a lived understanding: the couple reside in a renovated adobe ruin in Mexico City with thick earth walls that are thermally insulating and acoustically softening, but they actively participate in the beautiful friction of the metropolis. Similarly, their Serpentine Pavilion offers visitors the chance to rediscover a sense of balance: a space to readjust perceptions, meditate on time and absorb the sculptural energy of place. As Arienzo says: “The ability to perceive—and marvel at—beauty is, for us, even more relevant than beauty itself.” Brick is back: read more about the luxury design material that never dates Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by Lanza Atelier is open until October 25, 2026 at the Serpentine Galleries, London.

Our monthly series asks: How do you bring color into luxury design? Terracotta is warm and grounding, writes Jill Krasny Cascais, Portugal | Portugal Sotheby’s International Realty Some homes make a lasting impression while others quickly fade from the mind. Almost always, the design and color scheme is a factor. Green, yellow and lilac all work in homes with a period feel, while turquoise can pop in contemporary and traditional spaces alike. Terracotta—which our series on color in luxury design turns to next—is similarly versatile, having been deployed in a range of indoor and outdoor spaces for centuries. “The use of terracotta goes back millennia, originating from the ancient Mediterranean, where it was used particularly for roof decoration and monumental sculpture,” says Joa Studholme, color curator for British paint maker Farrow & Ball. “Its baked-earth color became popular in homes in the 19th century, and now—in our increasingly digital world—it feels warm, comfortable and grounding.” Ibiza, Spain | Spain Sotheby’s International Realty Terracotta is indeed having another design moment, thanks to these historical reference points and modern applicability. “Light terracottas are soft and subtle, still brimming with warmth, and are a wonderful alternative to white if you’re looking for something cozy but not too colorful,” says Studholme. “They work in both contemporary and traditional homes, particularly when every surface and space is painted the same hue.” Los Olivos, a sprawling equestrian estate in San Rafael, Ibiza, features the kind of traditional floors most people associate with terracotta and sun-drenched Mediterranean settings. “This color responds so well to light,” notes Studholme, adding that it somehow feels richer as day turns to night. Pairing it with rustic details like exposed-beam ceilings and wood paneling imbues the rooms with a welcoming, lived-in ambience. Patagonia, Arizona | Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty A contemporary ranch home in Patagonia, a scenic, rural town in Arizona, feels just as inviting with its terracotta interiors and exteriors. Studholme cautions against using darker versions of the color excessively, noting “its nuanced red-brown pigment can feel a little flat and muddy if underlit.” Nor is it suited to homes with cool lighting, she adds. But here, peppering terracotta in little decor notes throughout makes the rooms feel extra comfortable, while the muted floor tiling pulls everything together. “Layering several shades of terracotta together creates a harmonious, seamless scheme that flows effortlessly,” says Studholme, as evidenced by a custom-built luxury residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Set in the exclusive Monte Sereno community, its interiors feel calm and pair well with the earthy palette outside. Santa Fe, New Mexico | Sotheby’s International Realty – Santa Fe – Main Downtown Brokerage A new-build family home in Cascais, Portugal, a coastal resort just 20 miles west of Lisbon, combines the earthy hues of terracotta with the greens of nature: both the pine trees surrounding the property and the additional planting built into its design, with foliage tumbling from the upper terraces of the house itself. Large glass panels maximize the natural light, and all three floors are accessible by elevator. On the other side of the Mediterranean, terracotta transforms some Moroccan homes into living postcards thanks to a skillful pairing with splashes of bright turquoise. From soaring arched ceilings to sizable tiles, with distinctive trellis-patterned borders, the color helps to create what Studholme calls a “jewel-like atmosphere.” Further proof that a color “plucked from nature,” as Studholme puts it, was made for pairing with lush greens and warm neutrals. Explore our Color Chart design series, from bold red, joyful pink, zingy orange and natural lilac to classic green, calming white, crowd-pleasing blue, versatile turquoise and uplifting yellow

Custom and architecturally created by a noted interior designer, this waterfront estate was carefully designed for a consummate coastal lifestyle, featuring a delightful blend of enduring classicism with contemporary touches. An air of the Caribbean—timeless shutters, vibrant colors, light-filled view-focused interiors, and captivating outdoor spaces beneath swaying palms—pervades this waterfront home on desirable Everglades Island in Palm Beach. Veteran interior designer Scott Snyder brought his trademark refined style—beautifully balanced and impeccably detailed—to this island-inspired villa, which was carefully created for consummate coastal living and features a delightful blend of enduring classicism with contemporary touches. A gracefully curving spiral staircase with a decorative iron railing, regal coffered and tray ceilings, French doors, Venetian plaster walls, and marble and hardwood floors abide alongside top-caliber stainless-steel appliances, a convenient elevator, a glass-walled wine room, a superior security system, a whole-house generator, air-conditioned garaging for three cars, and Snyder’s sophisticated modern décor in minimalist ocean-echoing hues. Palm Beach, Florida| Carole Koeppel, Brett Koeppel, Sotheby’s International Realty – Palm Beach Brokerage Highlights include an open living and dining room that encourages festive fêtes, a handsome library with built-in shelving and a wet bar, and a cook’s kitchen with an island, thoughtfully chosen tile accents, and plentiful counter and cabinet space. The kitchen flows effortlessly into a family room with a casual dining area, ample space for lounging, an airy pitched ceiling, and tones that bring to mind both the sea and the sky just outside. French doors open to the emerald lawn, while a wall of windows folds back, giving way to the poolside loggia. One of five bedrooms—found on both of the home’s two levels—the owner’s suite is a serene aerie with a soothing cloudlike palette, a generous sitting area, French doors to a private covered balcony overlooking the water, two walk-in closets, and two luxurious baths, one with dual vanities and a freestanding soaking tub. Each of the additional bedrooms is peaceful in its own right and appointed with an aesthetic befitting its seaside locale. Linked to the main residence by a breezeway is a charming guest cottage offering a secluded bedroom and bath. A life lived outdoors is paramount to the Palm Beach experience, and this estate accommodates in exceptional fashion with a breezy loggia—outfitted with a stately fireplace and Old World detailing—a dazzling swimming pool and spa, a sun-washed waterside deck, swaths of lush lawn, and a private dock, all on the brink of Lake Worth Lagoon and the “blue highway” of the iconic Intracoastal Waterway, which is inextricably woven into the history and life of Palm Beach. Discover luxury homes for sale and rent around the world on sothebysrealty.com