We Asked Frank What Makes a Home Architectural. Here Is What He Said.
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
What Does It Actually Mean for a Home to Be Architectural?
Someone asked me recently what makes a home truly architectural, and I realized I had to sit with that question for a while before I could answer it.
I brought it to Frank, who is our resident expert on all things architecture, and what he said stopped me in my tracks. Some of the mid century modern homes we love most, the ones we would all agree are deeply architectural, were not designed by architects at all. They were designed by visionaries who never passed the AIA exam, never held a license, never carried the official title. And yet what they created is undeniably extraordinary.
That reframed everything for me.
Because the inverse is also true. An architect, by every technical definition of the word, can design a box. A perfectly permitted, structurally sound, completely forgettable box. We see them from the 1950s all the time. Mid century in era, unremarkable in every other sense.
So what is the difference?
I have come to believe that an architectural home is not about the credential of the person who designed it. It is about the vision behind it. The intention. The willingness to ask not just how a space functions but how it feels, how it moves, how it responds to the land it sits on and the light that passes through it. An architectural home has a point of view. You feel it the moment you walk in, before you have consciously registered a single detail.
The title does not make the home. The vision does. And in our experience, the homes that carry that vision, regardless of who drew the plans, are always the ones that hold their value, attract the most intentional buyers, and stay in the memory long after you have left.
2027 Design Predictions
Watch Frank's answer on Instagram →
We spend a lot of time talking about vision and intention when it comes to homes. But what does that actually translate to in the market? New research analyzing over two million home sales this year puts some numbers behind what we have always believed.
The features commanding the biggest premiums right now are not the ones you might expect. Outdoor kitchens are adding 4.4% to sale prices. Outdoor showers 4.3%. Outdoor fireplaces 2.8%.
The pattern is clear: buyers are paying a significant premium for homes that blur the line between inside and out. On the Westside, this is not a trend. It is simply how we have always lived.
In the kitchen, quartzite countertops are outperforming every other surface, adding 5.3% over comparable homes. Not quartz, not marble. Quartzite specifically. The natural, irreplaceable material. It tracks with everything we know about what resonates with intentional buyers.
But the finding that stopped me is this one. Homes described as custom in their listings sold for 3.2% more than comparable properties. And homes described as fixer-uppers sold for 14% less. That is the single largest gap in the entire study.
What buyers are paying for is exactly what we were talking about in the opener. A home with vision. With decisions made deliberately rather than by default. The market has always known this. Now there is data to prove it.
The Best Way to Spend a Late October Evening?
If you have not yet discovered Cinema by the Sea at the Regent Santa Monica Beach, this weekend is the perfect time to start.
The outdoor film series has been running all summer on the oceanfront, and it is closing out October with two of the best choices. This Saturday October 24th they are screening Hocus Pocus, and on Halloween night (October 31st) the lineup ends with Practical Magic. There is genuinely no better way to spend a late October evening on the Westside.
The Regent Santa Monica Beach sits at 1700 Ocean Ave, and the screenings begin at 8pm. Bring a blanket, order something from the bar, and settle in.
Some things about living here never get old.
Vision over credential. Intention over trend. And a movie on the beach to close out the month. That is October done right!