How Michael Palumbo Surfs His Way Forward in Los Angeles – Part 2

How Michael Palumbo Surfs His Way Forward in Los Angeles – Part 2

Surfing on the Break

Palumbo Design’s capabilities are amply on display in a house designed by Michael Palumbo in Beverly Hills at 1201 Laurel Way, now under construction. Approaching the house on a sun-drenched California spring day, Palumbo pulls his car around a line of a dozen tradesman’s trucks waiting to enter. Inside the neighborhood, one finds what one expects—large California-style houses—and something rather unexpected: a low, abstractly geometrical form with crisp, planar surfaces rendered in rammed earth. Virtually windowless where the house faces the view, at its entry side the house expands as the grade falls away, cracking its obscure shell to reveal broad walls where floor to ceiling glass will be that bound this private home with a 300 foot infinity moat surrounding it. This amazing one-of-a-kind moat will be connecting to the swimming pool on opposite ends, so even when one is swimming, the view is always available.

The house is large—the total square footage will be 1 acre—but that number is made practically moot by the boldness of the design and by a combination of technology, material, and dexterity utterly unique in the residential sphere. This is the first high-end spec house Palumbo has seen in a while and it is poised on its own peninsula, north of Sunset Boulevard, a perfect place to build a luxury home - one of the best locations in Beverly Hills. Palumbo was able to increase the square footage of the house by creating flat areas of the house that compliment the amazing infinity moat. “When that moat is lit,” says Palumbo, “It will be amazing.”

Another beautiful feature in the home - Super Thassos - pure white recycled glass that does not stain unlike regular Thassos. Super Thassos does not stain. “Very few people can install it,” says Palumbo, “It takes a special technician and it will be phenomenal in this house.”

A great deal of structural steel was removed since it was blocking the view that would allow Palumbo to provide his signature indoor-outdoor feel. Additional features include pocketed doors throughout the house. Palumbo added pocketed doors so the doors could remain hidden throughout the house. The biggest challenges were adding more square footage and dealing with a guesthouse that was so deteriorated that it could have fallen down. The city of Beverly Hills did not want it torn down, but now the guesthouse will have views that are just as good as the main house. Palumbo states this project is an advancement and refinement of his designs done in the past – a combination of the best from all the homes.

The project is a godsend when the pipeline of work slowed to a trickle, and when projects in hand turn to sand overnight. To provide a glimpse at the latter scenario, Palumbo fondly remembers a trophy home in another upscale subdivision, the ‘Bird Streets’. Lined with celebrity sightings throughout the neighborhood and open to the elements, the house has been on ABC’s “The View” and was 'thee' house of glamor in the 4^th season of HBO’s coveted TV series “Entourage”. Designed by Palumbo, the home has ‘jetliner’ views and a patio the hangs over a cliff.  The house, located on Oriole Drive, is the highest selling home per square foot in both Beverly Hills and the Bird Streets.