Mutuo's Wonderland Laurel Canyon House Lists for $1.495 Million

One of the three interconnected houses that make up Mutuo's Wonderland in Laurel Canyon is for sale at $1,495,000. The Los Angeles firm completed the project in 2019, converting a single-family house into three homes that share outdoor green space, and the design won the 2021 AIA California Residential Merit Award.

The listed unit is a two-bedroom residence spanning three levels. It shares a communal garden and exterior terraces with its two neighbours, an arrangement the source sums up bluntly: just make sure you like your neighbours.

What does the design do?

Mutuo drew on Laurel Canyon's historic row houses and reinterpreted them in a contemporary register. The material pairing is specific: Victorian scalloped shingles sit alongside board-formed concrete, a combination that reads as both period reference and present-day construction.

Zoning requirements pushed the design to optimise outdoor space. The house answers with a front-facing exterior terrace and a rooftop observation deck oriented toward the San Gabriel Mountains and the sunset views the site commands.

How is the interior organised?

The main entry level holds the bedroom suite, with a walk-through closet and adjoining bathroom, plus a guest bedroom with its own bathroom and a laundry area.

An open-tread staircase connects the levels, lit by a skylight that speckles light across the floors. The stair's undercarriage is carved into the living room ceiling. The ascent leads to the dining area, the outdoor terrace and an open kitchen.

The source characterises the result as a rare new construction that feels plucked out of the 1950s, with Wonderland blurring contemporary and modernist design.

Why it matters

For practitioners, the project demonstrates one workable model for densifying a single-family lot in a hillside zone with strict zoning: three attached homes, shared gardens, and terraces substituted for conventional yards. The listing at $1,495,000 gives that model a market test. Buyers can enquire at moderncaliforniahouse.com.