Local homes featured in new book

To be invited into the home of an architect is a bit overwhelming to say the least, but to be the guest of two architects is even more intimidating. Or, is it? The home in question is that of noted local architect Michael Burch and his wife, architect Diane Wilk. Their former home is featured in the new coffee table book “California Romantica” by Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton. The book was released just before Christmas, and features only two new projects — both by Michael Burch Architects — of Spanish Colonial /Mediterranean Revival architecture.

Keaton is an architecture aficionado who discovered Burch and Wilk when they were working on the house featured in her book. She was filming in the house across the street and, because of her concern that these Spanish-style houses were being destroyed due to the rapacious real estate market, she took an interest in the proceedings. She was invited in to view the renovations and was relieved and impressed that the house was being lovingly and painstakingly renovated without losing any integrity.

As Wilk said, “We want to renew these houses, but not to their detriment. The beauty can be restored using new, modern materials keeping true to the original architecture and design and can benefit from modern updates, such as moving walls, doors or adding bathrooms.”

Burch added that, “classic Spanish homes in La Cañada are disappearing, to be replaced by Mediterranean ‘McMansions’ and classic architecture is not being taught anymore. We would like to see homeowners doing more classic renovations instead of stripping the homes of what made them popular and sought-after in the first place.”

Burch and Wilk met while attending Yale although both are native Californians. Burch is a fourth generation Southern Californian and Pasadena native, while Wilk was born and reared in Studio City. Burch’s grandfather was a contractor who built many of the noted Spanish-style buildings of the 1920s, including his own Spanish Revival home in Hancock Park, designed by renowned architect Arthur Kelly. In fact, the Burch/Wilk home was Kelly’s own home.