1950s Beverly Hills Bungalow Embodies the Stealth Wealth Trend – DIRT

It’s quite common across Beverly Hills and Los Angeles (and across the country, really) for modestly proportioned older homes to be razed to make way for much larger residences that crowd the edges of a parcel’s building envelope. Serial entrepreneur Adam Bernhard, founder and former CEO of the members-only flash retail site HauteLook, took a much less heavy-handed approach, however, with a 1951 midcentury ranch house set on a roomy half acre deep in L.A.’s swanky Benedict Canyon.

The veteran fashion exec scooped the place up more than 22 years ago for $1.175 million, per tax records. And, rather than rip it down and build a flashy new house or expand it beyond recognition, things were kept pretty much as they always were but sensitively spruced up in a manner that allows the house to remain true to its humble size and architectural roots. It aims not to be more than what it is but instead to be the timeless best version of its original self.

Painted a fashionable matte black and set atop a rustic stone foundation and a two-car garage, the single-level home is hidden from the road behind a towering hedge. The double-gated horseshoe drive will accommodate upwards of eight or ten cars, a notably nice feature given that there is no street parking allowed along this stretch of canyon road.

The house, measuring just a stitch over 1,500 square feet, is substantially smaller than the average American home and probably even smaller than the primary suites in a lot of the ritzy neighborhood’s surrounding mansions. Probably not suitable for a large family but perfect for a smaller household, there are two bedrooms and one full bathroom, plus a powder room for guests.

In many ways, the house is the embodiment of the current lifestyle trend toward “stealth wealth.” Dispensing with conspicuous markers of money—the glass-encased wine caves for showing off collectible vintages, the excessive square footage that includes bedrooms no one will ever see let alone sleep in, and the subterranean spas with salt-walled meditation rooms, for example — everything here is understated, relaxed, approachable, and manageable without an army of domestic workers yet still thoroughly considered, luxurious, and of high quality.

The elevated front porch and slender entrance hall give way to the fireside living room. Vaulted and beamed ceilings provide airness, and massive picture windows on opposite walls flood the room with natural light. Eschewing the trend of opening up kitchens to living rooms, the separate eat-in galley kitchen isn’t particularly large, but it is well thought out and fitted together like a jewel box that showcases open shelving, custom white oak cabinets, and high-end appliances. Making maximal use of the dining area’s small footprint, there’s a cushioned banquette built into a windowed bay beneath a vaulted ceiling.

Both bedrooms have built-in white oak dressers and wardrobes, and in the slightly larger main bedroom, a cushioned built-in window seat looks out to a wall of greenery. The elegantly simple main bathroom, with a soaking tub and separate shower stall, is dressed up with brass-toned fixtures, and the powder room, with its vaulted ceiling, is clad entirely in slim strips of white oak.

Nestled into the precipitous and thickly treed hillside, there’s a spacious basket-weave brick patio that runs along the back of the house. At one end is an outdoor fireplace set into a stone retaining wall, and steps that lead up the hillside. Alongside the house, a plunge pool and spa are set into a sunny, mountain-view clearing and surrounded by more brick terracing, along with a bit of evergreen fake turf and mounds of sculpted boxwood plantings.

Of course, this kind of understated luxury does not come cheap, certainly not in Beverly Hills or, as in this case, the Beverly Hills Post Office. Listed at just under $3.6 million, the property is available through Branden Williams, Rayni Williams, and Conrad Adamczak of The Beverly Hills Estates.

Bernhard previously owned a home just above the Sunset Strip — it was sold about two years ago for $4.8 million — and records indicate he still owns a 2,500-square-foot 1970s contemporary in a discreet and coveted gated enclave in Malibu that he picked up about seven years ago for $3.3 million.