Architect Reveals Inspiration for Rustic Canyon Home

By JACQUELINE PRIMO | Reporter

Rick Leslie has been a practicing architect for 45 years and began Rick Leslie Architects in 1980. Leslie told the Palisadian-Post that although his business has consistently focused on commercial properties, he has always done “unusual residential homes” as well. This particular passion of his was most recently expressed in the design and construction of his own family’s stunning residence in Rustic Canyon.

Inspiration Coast to Coast

“The house has seven levels and is expressive of different spaces,” Leslie told the Post while on a tour of his home on a brisk New Year’s Eve Day.

Leslie described his home as contemporary with elements of mid-century modern. The three-bedroom, 5,200 square-foot house has a library, large office and playroom in addition to an in-ground pool, outdoor spa, sunken garden and multiple balconies.

The East Coaster said his emotional inspiration for the home came from being raised in New England where the “additive quality” of older houses is prevalent.

“Houses were made up of the big house, little house, back house and barn,” Leslie said, referencing the classic New England connected farms.

So when Leslie bought the property in 2004, on which sat one of the original Uplifters Ranch cottages from 1923, he took four years to design and build his passion project that honored the classic connected farms of New England while remaining modern and truly one-of-a-kind.

The open entryway divides the public and private sides of the house with Scarpaletto stone flooring, a material that stretches back to the rear yard door.

“The kitchen is large because both Laura and I do a fair amount of cooking and entertaining,” Leslie said of the spacious kitchen boasting a stainless steel island counter and Caesarstone countertops.

Leslie said his wife Laura’s favorite thing about the house is the built-in banquette made of recycled glass with a resin base. The space doubles as a homework station for their 16-year-old son Harrison.

A gallery transition space leads from the dining room to the living room where a sliding panel made of clear vertical grain Douglas Fir, a wood which the first floor cabinetwork is all made up of, hides the wall-mounted living room TV when not in use.

The living room is built down from the kitchen and dining room levels, and a “floorlight” lights the darkest corner of Leslie’s office downstairs.

A steel spiral staircase with matching steel bridge leads you down to the basement where a foyer separates the playroom from the office. And like every kid dreams of, Harrison’s bedroom has a balcony and an upstairs secret loft area for reading or just hanging out.

The master bedroom in the back of the house is pushed into the hill, one wall of which is actually a retaining wall made of burnished concrete block—a material that repeats throughout the house.

And in what Leslie calls an “homage” to the original 1923 structure, the door to the guest room on the seventh level is that of the cottage that was once there.

Aside from features unique to certain rooms of the home are components found throughout. including bamboo flooring with radiant heating, two-story exposed steel “moment frames” for stability during earthquakes, solar hot-water heating and photovoltaic panels on the roof to produce electricity.

But ask Leslie what one of the most charming elements of the Rustic Canyon home is and he’ll say it’s the location.

“The Palisades is a gem of a place,” he said.