Set back from the street and veiled by tall hedges, this stately 1930s Hollywood Regency-style brick house was an anomaly in Highland Park, a fashionable Dallas suburb where demolition often follows sale in short order. When the preservation-minded owners approached PPA about reimagining the house for their present-day needs, they had already lived there for over a decade; they understood and valued its character, which wove through shared family memories. Maintaining the house’s economy of space, PPA designed a new symmetrical wing to the existing L-shaped footprint opening the kitchen to the family room, which was moved from the formal center of the house to a more appropriate place at the end. Off the family room, a new screened porch with plaid patterned terrazzo floor creates an indoor-outdoor connection between the main house and the pool cabana. The added space improved the organization of the expanded primary suite and resolved the endless corridors of the existing plan with rhythmic enfilades of vestibules and rooms.

Working with interior designers Avrea & Company, PPA drew out the latent Hollywood Regency motifs throughout the interior. In the entry hall, intersecting groin-vaulted ceilings, strapping, and panelized systems work with the geometric pattern of the marble floors to rationalize the space and align the central axis. Proceeding through the verre eglomise doors by artist Miriam Ellner, are the three entertaining rooms—lounge, living room, and dining room—connected by antique, carved pocket doors that are original to the house. PPA designed a distinct architectural language for each room but maintained a nuanced and subtle exchange of design elements from one room to another. The restraint of fluted plaster mingling with classical geometry and Chinoiserie influences: Hollywood Regency’s exoticism and glamour well-tempered for a beloved family home.