In 1999, Ken Crerar and his husband Peter Garrett lucked into finding their forever home in the Palisades. The renovated and expanded 1927 dwelling ?was warm and inviting,? Crerar reflects. Years went by and the couple welcomed two sons into the home, but they never got around to giving it their own update?until the whole place went up in flames.
They received the call while on vacation in January 2017. ?The fire was pretty intense,? recalls Crerar, CEO of a trade association. Though they were able to salvage and restore most of their furniture and art and ceramics collections, the damage was severe.

Architect Carib Daniel Martin and project designer Gabriela Leniz were invited to tour the site and survey the aftermath. After discussing possible approaches, the owners hired the husband-and-wife team to orchestrate the next iteration of their beloved home. ?Ken and Peter wanted to do some things that would take the house in a new direction,? explains Martin. ?But they also wanted to maintain the spirit of the original?not fully abandon it.? Inspired by homes they?d visited on trips to Portugal and Italy, Crerar and Garrett gravitated to Mediterranean style. They wanted to recreate their home?s stucco exterior and salvage its massive limestone fireplace, built during the 1980s by stonemasons renovating the National Cathedral. ?And we loved the grandness of the two-story living room,? says Crerar.
A careful study determined that two-thirds of the structure would have to be...