This article originally appeared in the March 2013 issue of Architectural Digest.
Given musician Sir Elton John and film producer David Furnish’s reputation as savvy collectors of contemporary art, one could be forgiven for assuming that the swing set on the front lawn of their new Los Angeles house is actually some installation by an up-and-coming artist—perhaps a discovery made during John’s recent concert tour. But it’s a mistake to assume anything about this pair. While the home may present certain earmarks of rock-icon fabulousness (a swank Beverly Hills address, breathtaking hilltop views), in both scale and design this modernist dwelling was chosen with one overriding goal in mind: to create a comfortable West Coast base for the couple and their expanding family, which includes a two-year-old son, Zachary, and a newborn son, Elijah, who arrived just as this issue went to press.
What the two men envisioned when they began looking for a new home was a manageably sized house from the 1960s, a period that epitomizes their shared ideal of California indoor-outdoor living. They wanted a place where their children could move around freely and have access to “a front and back garden and some fresh air,” John says. Those were qualities their previous L.A. abode—a sleek jewel box perched on the 20th floor of a residential tower—simply did not offer. The search didn’t take long. On the first day of hunting, Furnish found the nearly 5,000-square-foot, single-story structure, built in 1966 in Trousdale Estates, a neighborhood famous for its midcentury architecture. “It’s quintessential L.A.,” Furnish says. “I remember walking to the front door and saying, ‘It’s perfect.’”
And the one-story thing is so great for Zachary,” John adds. “He just charges through the house like a little firecracker!
Still, fashioning a child-friendly environment with the visual pizzazz of their former home would require some fancy footwork, and for this they turned to renowned designer and longtime friend Martyn Lawrence Bullard . Since the Trousdale property had recently received a thorough overhaul, an initial walk-through convinced Bullard that no major structural changes were needed. He notes that the floor plan, distinguished by open living and dining areas that flow naturally into a large eat-in kitchen, “gives the couple wonderful opportunities to entertain in the way they want to, yet also have really intimate family experiences.” So once a short list of basic improvements were made (lighting and hardware upgraded, a state-of-the-art sound system installed, windows replaced with UV-resistant glass), the work of layering the interiors could begin.
As with all of the couple’s homes—they also own homes in Atlanta; London; Windsor, England; Nice, France; and Venice, Italy—“everything is centered around the art,” John says. For starters, Furnish and John identified key pieces to move to Beverly Hills, from paintings by Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, and Philip Taaffe to a group of Richard Caldicott’s vividly hued photographs of Tupperware. “Certainly there was a family slant in the art we chose,” Furnish says. “We focused on things that are colorful and positive and celebrations of life.”
Decisions about the art provided Bullard with a road map for materials, color palette, even furniture placement. No piece better exemplifies this than the kaleidoscopic digital print by Jeremy Blake the couple hung above the living room mantel. In its central position, the work served as a kind of template for colors used throughout the home’s public areas, evident in everything from the living room’s glossy sherbet-pink cocktail table to the shamrock-green family room sofa to the royal-blue Paul Evans dining chairs. “I love that photograph very much,” remarks John. “Though I didn’t expect it to inspire the decor of the house.”
As a backdrop for the art, Bullard covered a number of walls in white lacquer, a high-gloss finish that’s as sleek and polished as it is child-friendly. Ditto the leather and outdoor fabrics used for much of the seating. Corners were rounded for safety, and stone surfaces were treated to protect against stains. “Nothing’s too precious for children to touch,” Bullard says.
Well, almost. An avid collector of glass, John included a sampling from a trove that he estimates numbers around 6,000 pieces. “There’s a Frank Gehry vase we often display on the dining table that’s beautiful and extremely valuable, but in the other house it was in the loo, so it was a little wasted,” he jokes. “I find glass to be an underrated art form. I just love all kinds of glass things on the table and on the shelves and in the bookcases.”
Bullard says that while “David has a less-is-more eye, Elton loves, you know, more-is-more.” At the Trousdale house, these differing approaches find a happy balance, producing a light and airy vibe that’s contrasted with striking elements such as the black-lacquer partial wall dividing the living and family rooms; one side displays a neon artwork by Tracey Emin and the other a large flat-screen television, where John indulges another of his passions: watching soccer. The shiny black is echoed in the dining room’s strié wall covering, which provides a dramatic ground for lively paintings by Haring and Wang Guangyi, works on paper by Willem de Kooning, and several William Eggleston photographs. “There’s major art in that room—in different genres,” Bullard says. “The black unifies it.”
From the public areas the house transitions gracefully into the private. The suitably glamorous master suite, which opens onto the terrace, is notable for its alpaca rug, vintage Vladimir Kagan chairs, and streamlined bed upholstered in white ostrich leather. It’s a space of serene theatricality crafted to give breathing room to a showstopping focal point: 15 Robert Mapplethorpe color photographs of flowers that line the walls and are reflected in the silver-Mylar ceiling. “On a sunny day,” says Bullard, “it’s truly spectacular.” And a reminder that family-friendly need not be staid.
In the first part of the year, John and Furnish plan to spend a lot of time on the West Coast—Furnish producing a sequel to the hit animated film Gnomeo & Juliet and John working on his next album, in addition to hosting the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s Academy Awards viewing party, an annual event that has raised millions for the fight against HIV/AIDS. Being in L.A. also keeps John close to Las Vegas, where he’ll be performing at Caesars Palace in April and May. The musician happily acknowledges that the Trousdale home, despite its family focus, has a trace of the ’70s decadence of the couple’s previous L.A. abode. “I’d have to say the house is still a bit Boogie Nights,” he says. “It’s just much lighter and brighter.”
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