Inside a Restored A. Quincy Jones Home in Brentwood, California

Some homes will be announced soon. Others ask you to slow down. Benmore Terrace, hidden behind Brentwood gates and layers of greenery, belongs to the latter. Getting to this house isn’t as easy as walking inside, passing through a series of landscapes, lights, and quiet intentions until the architecture is revealed. Designed in 1960 by A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons, the house feels less like a moment preserved in time and more like an ongoing conversation between structure and nature.

Originally commissioned by developer Sarah Jane Lappin, Benmore Terrace was designed to value movement rather than spectacle. Set on nearly an acre of land, this home reconfigures the traditional concept of front and back, bringing you inside with expansive glass, hillside views, and a waterfall that feels integral to the home rather than an added feature. Here, light and openness guide daily life, blurring the lines between indoors and outdoors, and retaining a modern feel.

For investors and real estate agents claire o’connor When she came across this property, she wasn’t looking for a project, she was reacting emotionally. “Benmore wasn’t the home I was looking for,” she says. “It was a house I entered by chance, but over time revealed its layers.”Even after years of renovation have dulled its voice, the house’s original architectural DNA remains intact: restraint, clarity, and a way of prioritizing nature over display. Rather than reinventing the house from scratch, Claire saw an opportunity to become a manager.

Why is preservation important?

What ultimately set Benmore Terrace apart was not just its setting, but the fact that its architectural intent was still legible. This home captures a clear vision of what modern life in Los Angeles feels like: open, grounded, and deeply connected to the natural world.

“When you know that Sarah Jane Lapin commissioned the Jones and Emmons house, there’s a responsibility,” Claire explains. “You’re not just updating a property; you’re managing an idea of ​​what modern living in Los Angeles feels like.” The bones of the house were solid, but renovations in the 1990s blurred that clarity, adding layers of finishes that muted the architectural voice.

In collaboration with Jesse Rudolph and Joel Kutner, Ome DiginThe restoration began with subtraction. The outdated elements have been removed and the original gestures of the house – light, proportion and flow – can once again be read. The goal is not nostalgia, but to restore the architectural intent while enhancing functionality for modern living.

Design with nature

At Benmore Terrace, nature was never treated as an accessory. Extensive fixed windows frame the greenery of the hillside, providing light into the home throughout the day, and the presence of a waterfall supports daily life.

That philosophy guided the interior. Ome Dezin warmed the space with natural wood and underlayed it with stone (particularly travertine in the kitchen and bathroom), working within a neutral palette designed to distance. These materials are not competing for attention. They create tranquility. “Nature was not treated as decoration,” says Claire. “We were treated like collaborators.” The result is a home that feels deeply attuned to its environment, with its interior serving as a backdrop to what is unfolding behind the glass.

Edit with purpose

Deciding what to save required both respect and restraint. The home’s fixed glass, skylights, and key glass areas that are central to its identity were non-negotiable. Where new elements were introduced, they were approached as translations rather than reinventions.

Custom details throughout the home are designed to accommodate its scale and rhythm. It feels seamlessly integrated, with built-ins, mirrors, and powder room doors. In the dining area, a custom table and chairs designed by Claire’s friend Ben Willett fit so naturally into the architecture that they feel inevitable. “With a home like this, value is about more than just the level of finish,” Claire says. “It’s about preserving the architectural story.”

find someone at home

In a market driven by broad appeal, Claire resists the idea of ​​designing for everyone. “Homes aren’t for everyone,” she says. “It’s for someone.” Interestingly, Benmore Terrace challenged assumptions about who that person is. Although the team initially envisioned a design-forward buyer, the home ultimately found a young family.

This result reinforced the core belief that when a home stays true to itself, it creates a space for true belonging. Benmore Terrace doesn’t try to cater to everyone. It offers something more unusual: a sense of arrival.

Conservation as a responsibility

After losing her own home in the Palisades fire, Claire’s relationship with conservation became very personal. “When you lose your home, your understanding of what home is changes,” she reflects. “A lot of it is not just materials and square footage, but memory, daily life, and shelter.”

In cities where erasure is rapid, stewardship takes on new urgency. Preserving a house like Benmore Terrace is not about freezing it in time, but about honoring the ideas embedded in it and ensuring that it endures. By choosing preservation over reinvention, Clare has allowed this singular home to remain in dialogue with nature, history, and the people who now call it home.

takeout

Benmore Terrace reminds us that clarity comes not from adding things, but from paying close attention. When a home is true to its architecture, environment, and history, it creates space for something deeper than design trends or market appeal. At its best, preservation is an act of care for place, memory, and the life that unfolds within it. By choosing restraint over reinvention, Benmore Terrace shows how respecting what already exists can be the most enduring form of modern life.