Julia Morgan Awards 2024: Congratulating Tucker & Marks and Skurman Architects
Photo: Roger Davies
The biennial Julia Morgan Awards announced the 2024 winners, and both Tucker & Marks and Skurman Architects won for the French neoclassical Pacific Heights estate they restored and reimagined. Bliss & Faville built the five-level, 12,000-square-foot mansion in 1905 for businessman John D. Spreckels in the English taste. Architect Albert Farr extensively remodeled it in 1930, giving it a French aesthetic that Thomas Church echoed in the Francophile gardens. The house boasted a period Art Deco ballroom, a concealed Prohibition-era bar in the library club room, and requisite views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, and the Marina.
Photo: Roger Davies
COUPAR'S client, Van Acker, acted as the project's general contractor and construction management firm. The current owners wanted the interiors reconfigured for the 21st century while maintaining the residence's historic significance. Van Acker shored the existing structure to excavate underneath, then took it down to the studs while retaining the architectural integrity of the façade and exterior walls. They reconfigured every room to showcase the homeowners' extensive modern art and period antique collections. Collaborating with interior designer Suzanne Tucker and architect Andrew Skurman, the builders oversaw the installation of neoclassical design elements.
Photo: Roger Davies
Skurman designed a spiral staircase that winds ribbon-like down the structure's core with a bronze stair rail made in Paris by Les Ateliers Saint-Jacques and surmounted by a bronze domed oculus window to illuminate the house. Referencing the Francophile architecture, the team installed Louis XVI-style paneling, molding, and millwork throughout the home. Floor patterns and vestibules signal room transitions. In the living room, 18th-century Parquet de Versailles floors define the space. Tucker sourced antique fireplace mantels or commissioned reproductions. Enfilades unite the public rooms to the grand foyer, taking advantage of the views. It took five years to complete the meticulous top-to-bottom rebuild.
