{"id":631745,"date":"2026-08-11T14:08:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/631745\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:08:27","slug":"couple-adds-adu-that-complements-their-midcentury-modern-home-in-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/631745\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple adds ADU that complements their Midcentury Modern home in L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joshua Leibner and Katherine Henninger consider themselves big fans of living below their means.<\/p>\n

\u201cJosh will drive across town to use a Groupon,\u201d says Henninger, a college English professor at Louisiana State University. \u201cArt is the only thing he doesn\u2019t mind spending money on.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when the couple decided to add an accessory dwelling unit<\/a>, or ADU, next to their home in Northeast Los Angeles, the price tag stunned them.<\/p>\n

Looking back, Leibner admits they were naive. \u201cWe thought it would cost about $300,000,\u201d he says. \u201cIt ended up costing closer to $600,000. If we had known it would cost that much, we would not have gone through with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

Vaulted ceilings and clerestory windows make the 400-square-foot studio feel open and airy.<\/p>\n

\" <\/p>\n

Joshua Leibner and Katherine Henninger and their son Marlowe Leibner with the Los Angeles skyline behind them.<\/p>\n

The couple looked into adding an ADU seven years after buying their 1,300-square-foot Midcentury Modern<\/a> home for $615,000 in 2011. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were so fortunate to be able to do that,\u201d Henninger says of the 1950 home, which features a striking semicircular floor plan similar to a John Lautner design<\/a>. \u201cBut then again the house had been on the market for 10 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

They liked the idea of an ADU because it would offer flexibility, whether for them, their family or a tenant, Leibner says. \u201cWe wanted to do something that would give us a place to be as well as a place that other people could be. And ideally, it would be an artistic experience as well as a comfortable place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s three-bedroom home sits on a dramatic ridgeline, with Eagle Rock on one side and Highland Park on the other. This left them with few options, so the only place they could build an ADU was where their two-car detached garage stood.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A sleeping loft above the bathroom.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

The large central space has views to the north and south, and the windows are strategically placed to create a soothing cross-breeze.<\/p>\n

When the couple saw the work of architects Brennan Buck and David Freeland of FreelandBuck<\/a> at the Smithsonian\u2019s Renwick Gallery<\/a> in Washington, D.C., they reached out to them in 2018 to design an ADU for their family, including their son Marlowe, now 15. Seeing the architects\u2019 work in a gallery helped them, as Henninger puts it, \u201cappreciate them as artists,\u201d which was exactly what they wanted for an accessory dwelling unit to complement their home.<\/p>\n

Because the existing house has a semicircular floor plan, the architects thought a typical square structure would not suit the property. Instead, they created a vertical studio on a slab above the garage, with a pitched roof that, as Freeland says, \u201cfloats over the shared space between the two homes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Two tall adjoining trapezoidal forms help define the living areas inside. The architects also added terraced decks connecting the two houses, giving the family space to dine, barbecue and garden.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Windows allow for cross ventilation. <\/p>\n

The studio is just 400 square feet, but it features several niches that define the living spaces, including a kitchenette, sleeping loft, living room and bathroom. The large central space has views to the north and south, and the windows are strategically placed to create a soothing cross-breeze on hot Los Angeles days. A table and futon are sized so the space can work as a small office, dining room or living room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems small, but the high ceilings make the place feel so much bigger,\u201d Leibner says. \u201cThe architects made it something incredibly special, and it\u2019s really quite an aesthetic experience to be in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s artwork, featuring pieces by \u201cMissionary\u201d Mary L. Proctor, Robert Rauschenberg and Frank Romero, make the ADU their own. A one-of-a-kind pendant light made from zip ties, which they picked up in Cambodia for $100 while working for a nongovernmental organization two decades ago, adds further drama in the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was in the garage forever,\u201d Henninger says with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like we had to build a place just to have a place to put that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A fireplace in the main home blocks views of the ADU. <\/p>\n

A thin, translucent band of windows runs along all four exterior walls, highlighting the roof\u2019s shape. \u201cWhen you\u2019re inside, the band of light diffuses the light inside. And at night, it glows, and you get the sense of the floating planes of the roof,\u201d Freeland says.<\/p>\n

Although the houses are close and connected by the deck, their orientation gives each one privacy. \u201cThe original house is similarly oriented, so when you\u2019re inside, the fireplace facing west hides the ADU,\u201d Leibner says. \u201cYou can\u2019t really see the ADU from inside the house. The same is true for the ADU. You can\u2019t see inside our house from the house or deck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project ended up costing much more than the couple expected, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cWe started designing with FreelandBuck before the pandemic,\u201d Leibner says. During the pandemic, supply chain problems sent window and lumber prices soaring. Accessing the site was also challenging.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

The kitchenette includes a two-burner induction range-top, toaster oven and refrigerator.<\/p>\n

\"A \"Bright <\/p>\n

Colorful tiles the couple found in New Zealand brighten the shower. \u201cI carried them around for 25 years, and then, finally, we had something to do with them,\u201d says Henninger. <\/p>\n

With restaurants closed during the pandemic, they were able to hire commercial contractor David Bond, who was available. He said he could finish the project in three months for $315,000. \u201cWe were scandalized,\u201d Leibner says. \u201cThat was so expensive. We thought, \u2018How are we gonna do this?\u2019\u201d Ultimately, they paid Bond about $350,000.<\/p>\n

As prices went up, the couple decided to subcontract a few projects and do some of the work themselves, like tiling the kitchen and bathroom and handling finishes. When their garage needed to be demolished and redone, they handled it as well, posting, \u201cFree garage and the concrete it sits on,\u201d on Craigslist and Buy Nothing groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople came and took the old-growth redwood siding, roof timbers and window. Someone was building an artist studio in the desert \u2014 studs. Someone was building a deck \u2014 light fixtures, shelving, wiring and bent garage door for scrap metal,\u201d Henninger says. \u201cI did hire a crew to take what little remained down, and David Bond finally had to break up the concrete. We were really happy that almost nothing besides concrete had to go to the dump.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move impressed the architects who viewed it as an interesting way to think about community and its connection to the neighborhood. \u201cThe build is something that both the homeowners and community are engaged in,\u201d Buck says.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Even the shower has a view overlooking Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

Due to family health issues in Virginia, the couple is renting their home and the ADU while they care for relatives during the school year. Leibner, a screenwriter and high school English teacher, and Henninger hope this will be their last year on the East Coast, where they are originally from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our home,\u201d Henninger says. \u201cWe have spent a lot of time and money and excitement and love in making it the place where we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds Leibner: \u201cOne of the positive things about adding the ADU is that we have a source of income to help pay for the darned thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joshua Leibner and Katherine Henninger consider themselves big fans of living below their means. \u201cJosh will drive across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[266984,11098,365,362,363,364,5737,266987,147348,366,18,117,1652,61836,2598,25844,19,17,266986,266985,86059,23609,451,30335],"class_list":["post-631745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-adu","tag-architect","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-couple","tag-david-freeland","tag-deck","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-family","tag-garage","tag-home","tag-house","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-joshua-leibner","tag-katherine-henninger","tag-living-room","tag-place","tag-space","tag-window"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117077273994519002","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}