Louisa Van Leer Architecture

Louisa Van Leer Architecture Louisa Van Leer Architecture is a Los Angeles based design practice with a range of project types sp

Progress Update: Altadena fire rebuilds – We close out the year excited for progress and honored that Altadena families ...
12/23/2025

Progress Update: Altadena fire rebuilds – We close out the year excited for progress and honored that Altadena families have entrusted us with their fire rebuilds.

As of now, we have two homes moving through the LA County permit process with a third home close behind. Construction starts are just around the corner. Two are custom designed homes and the third is our Manzanita Pre-designed home. Our resilient, amazing clients are all committed to building back right and honoring the character of Altadena, Hurray!

If you or someone you know is seeking an Architect for their custom or pre-designed rebuild, please reach out / DM. We would love to help!
 
Images of the design process unfolding with our lovely clients, Amy and Matt, who are building a Manzanita Pre-Designed Home:

1-4 : West Altadena - Site walk with a prospective contractor

5-6: Front door shopping at Taylor Brothers

7-8: Exterior and interior color session
 
Info on the Manzanita Pre-Designed home:
For families needing to rebuild, having a pre-designed home can save time and money. Our Fire Rebuild design can be adapted to suit many standard lots and features a light and airy mid-century inspired 3 bedroom / 2 bath home with detached garage.
The Manzanita is inspired by our favorite So Cal midcentury modernists and their designs for highly livable, affordable housing.

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Arches! Balancing historic and contemporary styles with shape and silhouette. More from our Atwater Village Spanish Rev...
12/18/2025

Arches! Balancing historic and contemporary styles with shape and silhouette. More from our Atwater Village Spanish Revival remodel…

Special thanks to:
Styling: .la
Artwork (wall):
Ceramic Artwork: Photos: .la Custom Millwork:
Tile:

Our new Atwater Village remodel - super excited about this one. We lucked out with a wonderful client who loves color as...
12/04/2025

Our new Atwater Village remodel - super excited about this one. We lucked out with a wonderful client who loves color as much as we do💛.

More Images to come.

A very special thanks to:
Styling: .la
Photos: .la
Custom Millwork:
Project design staff:

Say no to boring windows! Work in Progress- our Atwater Village ADU and home remodel is nearing completion. The play of ...
07/01/2025

Say no to boring windows! Work in Progress- our Atwater Village ADU and home remodel is nearing completion. The play of window shapes and skylight forms has been a real joy on this project. Stay tuned for more pics! Thanks Taylor Brothers Windows.

A long time coming … we are honored to design the basement conversion for this stunning midcentury hillside home. The la...
12/23/2024

A long time coming … we are honored to design the basement conversion for this stunning midcentury hillside home. The landmarked “Coughlin House” by James Allen Walter was built in 1965 and is LA Historic Cultural Monument No.1107. It is an exceptional example of Los Angeles hillside modernism.

Our basement conversion design plays off the subtle facade solid to void shifts in the original Walter design. We also resurrect the long hidden, massive post and beam timber frame that supports the upper floor. We have the best clients too!

The project will add a primary suite and family room for some much needed space. Can’t wait to break ground!

Presenting our latest ADU project!! Extra pleased with the built-ins and quality of light that turn a 260 SF micro ADU i...
10/15/2024

Presenting our latest ADU project!! Extra pleased with the built-ins and quality of light that turn a 260 SF micro ADU into something super special.

The tiny ADU is a partial conversion of a historic alley garage in the Highland Park-Garvanza HPOZ. We had great, supportive clients and a lovely contractor, Jose Mejia, who went the extra mile.

Special thanks to our photoshoot team:

Amazing styling by Emily Mast, The Feel: .la

Featuring stunning work by LA artists: ._.hertz

Photography by:

Special thanks to project design staff: and Catalina Maysles

Fun fact!
Emily Mast and I met 17 years ago at an artist residency in upstate Maine & we now live just 2 blocks away from each other.

We are excited to add a new project to our Low-Rise housing portfolio! Design just started on the La Paloma Annex, a new...
06/14/2022

We are excited to add a new project to our Low-Rise housing portfolio! Design just started on the La Paloma Annex, a new four-unit project in Highland Park! It is gratifying to be part of the housing solution to densify Los Angeles while working hard to preserve neighborhood character.

The brand new, 4,000SF duplex with multi-ADU’s will take advantage of a beautiful hillside site in the middle of the Highland Park-Garvanza HPOZ (historic district). Our design draws inspiration from the neighboring, historic 1907 “La Paloma Residence,” paired with classic California Architecture by Maybeck, Greene & Greene, Irving Gill, R.M. Schindler, Neutra and Buff & Hensman.

Spanning the eras, we see a unique California through line of indoor-outdoor garden living, residential human scale, natural light, use of natural materials, post and beam construction and the ever-wonderful bungalow court.

Shout out to a great client and to Esther McCoy’s 1960, “Five California Architects.” Two LA classics :) who continue to inspire us on our journey into the great California architecture experiment!

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Our Farmers Market concept got shortlisted!Check out this years 2x8 exhibition sponsored by the AIA & AC-LA. https://www...
11/06/2021

Our Farmers Market concept got shortlisted!

Check out this years 2x8 exhibition sponsored by the AIA & AC-LA. https://www.ac-la.org/2x8-exhibit-design-winners-2021

Concept: The pop up exhibit space taps into the existing network of beloved Farmers Markets from Highland Park to Crenshaw. Farmers Market brings diverse groups of people together under a big tent around themes of Architecture and Community.

Special thanks to the everwonderful CalPoly Pomona interns and !

Congrats to POROcity -Ting Chuang , Assoc. AIA; , Assoc. AIA; Men ; and Eun Park

And other shortlisted teams

and Hirschman.

Thanks & Carolina Miranda , who really gets it with “Density - done in an LA way.” She writes about our first place co...
05/30/2021

Thanks & Carolina Miranda , who really gets it with “Density - done in an LA way.” She writes about our first place competition entry:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Green Alley Housing “puts a row of duplexes along L.A.'s ubiquitous alleyways, turning them into intimate, inhabited lanes."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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"The proposal was inspired by a 2014 study published by the Trust for Public Land and UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation that showed L.A. is home to approximately 900 linear miles of alleys — an area about twice the size of New York’s Central Park. Yet they are often neglected and therefore frequently the site of nuisance crimes such as graffiti and dumping."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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"'If there are no eyeballs on a street, no one will care about it,' says Van Leer. 'But as soon as you put front doors, it’s a place that has been invested in, people start to value it.'” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We are honored that our "Green Alley Housing" proposal was awarded First Place in the Subdivision Category of the⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
"Low-Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles" Design Competition Organized by the Mayor Garcetti's Office and Christopher Hawthorne, the Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles. May 2021 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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www.lowrise.la⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Thank you for showing Green Alley Housing some love! and Thankyou to journalist, Lucy Wang!Dwell featured our winning ...
05/27/2021

Thank you for showing Green Alley Housing some love! and Thankyou to journalist, Lucy Wang!

Dwell featured our winning design and Micro-Enterprise concept ! Green Alley Housing transforms underused public alleys, into vibrant pedestrian/bike friendly connectors that support micro-business/home business uses. Our duplex design features alley facing carports (shown above) and mini storefronts that can be converted into weekend home restaurants, art spaces or other small-cottage business enterprises.

Dwell Magazine:
https://www.dwell.com/article/los-angeles-low-rise-design-challenge-winners-1e31dae1

"The project, called Green Alley Housing, proposes a network of public spaces made from underutilized public alleys. The alleys would be pedestrian-friendly, and would serve as the connective tissue for adjacent duplexes. This would build a sense of community, and improve foot traffic to the duplexes, which could be converted into weekend restaurants or other micro-enterprise ventures."
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Thanks for inspiring taco
Thanks for sponsoring
Thanks for supporting

Louisa Van Leer Architecture is overjoyed to announce a First Place design award for Green Alley Housing in the“Low Rise...
05/27/2021

Louisa Van Leer Architecture is overjoyed to announce a First Place design award for Green Alley Housing in the
“Low Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles,” ideas competition sponsored by Mayor Garcetti’s Office with Christopher Hawthorne, Chief Design Officer.   https://lowrise.la/

Special thanks to Carolina Miranda She has written a great piece to go with it for the LA Times. And our project is the feature image! (See above)

“Green Alley Housing” proposes to convert underutilized public alleys in the historic neighborhood of Garvanza to sensitively add new housing. Our design process included early outreach and feedback from our community partners in the neighborhood. With our proposal, old public alleys can be reimagined as pedestrian friendly Green Alleys that foster a sense of community and promote micro-enterprises in a small-scale live/work environment. The proposal points to a way to add housing density while preserving historic fabric.

Special Thanks to our community partners!: , Garvanza Improvement Association
And thanks to
for sponsoring the competition. .la



To help combat climate change, more resilience would be built into the community via Net-Zero designed infill housing with EV infrastructure and Solar Battery backup systems. Reimagined pedestrian friendly “green alleys” with permeable paving would capture stormwater runoff and help reduce air and water pollution.  The Green Alley Housing concept would lead to greater, more equitable home ownership opportunities, more affordable housing and could be replicated in other neighborhoods over Los Angeles’ whooping 900 linear miles of public alleys.

Project Team members include:
Urban Planners Antonio Castillo and Galen Yolles and Cal Poly Interns Ang Castillo, Galin Aghkyan and Don Chavez

More progress on the Silverlake Garden project - a new canopy takes shape.
01/21/2021

More progress on the Silverlake Garden project - a new canopy takes shape.

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