A meticulously-restored Bixby Knolls mid-century modern gets found in the details

PHOTO by EILEEN PUGH

It was as if they were restoring a killer 1954 Cadillac Coupe deVille. Virtually every metal component was pulled apart and hand-dipped in liquid alloy, the carpet was stripped and replaced to look exactly the same and anything worn was sanded clean and buffed like new. Not an inch was neglected.

But Nick and Eileen Pugh’s vintage classic from the year the feds gave Oppenheimer the boot isn’t a car.

It’s a home—a six-bedroom, 3.5-bath, mid-century ranch modestly tucked away in Bixby Knolls.  The house is quintessential California Modern, highlighting the organic, democratic design elements of its genre—family-friendly open floor plans, sleek post-and-beam construction and epic floor-to-ceiling clerestory “walls of glass” that breathe the outdoors in. The 3,308-square-foot residence survived five decades and three previous families with almost 100 percent of its original toilets, sinks and fixtures, making it an extremely rare find—just what the Pughs wanted. “We searched for a house that was totally intact, that hadn’t been changed or remuddled at all,” Nick says.

He and Eileen purchased the home shortly after they wed in 1999 and began a meticulous restoration—no remodel or overkill. Their goal was to enhance its fundamental mid-century appeal without blurring its original essence. In the end, the most conspicuous modifications were the addition of a mid-century Palm Springs-style sunken pool and fresh coats of rich exterior and interior paint that contemporized the home’s entire color palette. They also knocked out a wall between two small bedrooms to open up a flexible space that serves as a library, family art room and home office.

The natural-light-bathed walls are decorated with a mix of retro cocktail- and tiki-themed paintings, abstract canvases, blown-up digital doodles from the couple’s 5-year-old daughter and Nick’s own fine and commercial art (he’s a visual effects artist and concept car designer). The furnishings and décor comprise predominately vintage and reupholstered 1950s modern originals or reproductions, mostly purchased locally (Retro Row’s Xcape is a favorite). Miscellaneous family heirlooms—including an illuminated expanse of stained glass that was pieced back together after Nick accidentally chucked a baseball through it as a boy and the white crib Eileen slept in as an infant—soften the home’s futuristic Jetsons edge.

If the house feels familiar, it’s because we’ve seen it before: The family room can be seen in a recent Kellogg’s breakfast bar commercial, and the Pughs’ birch-cabinet-lined kitchen provides the backdrop for a T-Mobile “Fave 5” commercial that’s been watched 75,000 times on YouTube (and counting). Doug Kramer, a Long Beach real estate agent specializing in mid-century moderns, suggested Nick and Eileen post their home on LBLocations.com as a film location. In the years since, set designers have spray-painted the Pughs’ grass, blotted out the brand name on their coffeemaker with a Sharpie and even loaded the kitchen sink with fake “dirty” dishes. The couple doesn’t mind, just as long as someone else cleans up.

You can also find hints of the house’s airy, liberated architectural language echoed downtown at the Burnett Branch public library. Paul Tay, the same architect who drew up the plans for the Pughs’ house, designed the building in 1969. (Tay—who still practices in the Mendocino area—isn’t as well known as other California Modern era designers and builders, but as people gain an appreciation for the California Modern style, Tay’s work is becoming more valued.)

“We weren’t concerned with who the architect was,” Eileen says. “That’s not what we were after. It was just that it was a pure house, a custom-made house, and it has so many amazing facets. Every year our family appreciates it more and more.”

“Right,” Nick agrees. “There’s nothing like this house. It’s a one of a kind.”

Tags: living, Long Beach, mid-century modern, paul tay, ranch houses, Shelter