5,693 square feet.

This primarily one-story Spanish Colonial Revival home was originally designed by Richard Requa in 1927 for Judge Gray’s family.  The residence is a “U” shaped floor plan around an interior courtyard. The original residence was designed with open portal walk ways as the circulation access to the bedroom areas. The design followed common theories for “healthy” living with natural air flow.  However, one of the portals was never built causing the access to the fourth bedroom to be through the master suite.  The one built portal was enclosed by prior owners who found it inconvenient to go outside to go to their bedrooms.

Solution:

The new design built the long missing portal correcting the deficient circulation and added a fireplace to the interior courtyard.  The new portal compliments the original enclosed portal while still referencing the once open configuration. The design is a mix of original details, strong visual axes, and indoor–outdoor living.  The rehabilitation design created a new kitchen, breakfast room, master bath, pool, entertainment cabana and pool bath. The entire home was designed to take full advantage of the site, views and give the young family outdoor areas to play.

The inner courtyard now has the visual focus of a fire place. The fire place design compliments the historic design of the home. The fireplace is accented with encaustic tiles and flanked by traditional “banco” benches. With this design, the delineation between exterior & interior spaces is obscured.

The unique kitchen design opens onto a large dining porch with views to downtown San Diego. The cooktop end wall accents and grounds the space.

The master bathroom design emphasizes rich sculptural tile.

The poolside entertainment cabana with dining, nearby barbecue and siting area extends the outdoor entertainment options. The new design compliments the original house. The tile spillway, from the spa to the pool, pays homage to Richard Requa’s Persian Carpet water fountain in Balboa Park.