Property of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Davies, Belvedere, California | Architects: Campbell & Wong

The secret heart of the house is the garden court, a sheltered contrast to the outside terrace by the water's edge. The privacy of the court is guarded on all sides, partly by a wall, partly by the house itself. Yet the glass doors, the patterned concrete floor and the planting help to create an open, rather than boxed-in, look. With radiant heating the courtyard can be used much of the year in the mid-California climate. Behind glass wall at left is master bedroom; behind the one at far end, the living room. The textured wall in between, like the outside walls of the house, is horizontal redwood boarding, stained black, with battens at three-foot intervals.

Indoor and outdoor space is inter- woven in a fashion that makes use of every inch of the site, as you can see by the plan below. It provides privacy where essential, openness where it is most desirable. Every room in the house has direct access to outdoors. Yet not a single window looks out on the street from which you can see only the solid walls of the garage and the end of the boys' bedroom wing. A long covered walk. leads from an off-street parking area to the front door. On one side of hall that divides house are study, living room and dining-kitchen, all with glass walls facing the lagoon. On other side are the bedrooms, all looking out on the court.

Indoor seclusion is to be found in the study with its corner hearth. In spite of the glass wall and door leading to one end of the terrace, there is comparative privacy from the goings-on outdoors, because of the solid wall of the living room that projects forward at the front of the house. At other end of study is a whole wall of storage.

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source: House and Garden Magazine | August 1959