The large Disco addition, a tall, flat roofed, pink stucco structure with Art Nouveau details dominated the massing. Other areas of the original house had also been remodeled in an Art Nouveau style, to compliment the rock star’s decorative arts collection. The Stair Hall had been redone with a black and white marble floor, matching the Disco’s, and its cast stone details had been painted white. The upper rear of the Disco Wing housed a Master Bedroom with fully mirrored ceiling, silver drapes, silver shag carpeting and Pre-Raphaelite stained glass Bathroom windows. The challenge was to satisfy the client’s requirement to keep the added square footage and make a cohesive composition, while respecting and restoring the original structure.

The Architect suggested the Disco Wing be removed and the house restored to its original condition. The client then asked the Architect what he would do with the wing if he wanted to continue on the project. The Architect made the unsympathetic addition blend seamlessly with the original. The client’s desire to maintain the Disco’s double height sliding glass doors overlooking the swimming pool posed a particularly difficult design problem. The main gallery of a Venetian Palazzo suggested a classical model for dealing with such a large glazed opening. A three-story mahogany frame with leaded glass windows, constructed around steel tubes was inserted within a steel moment frame. The new Ballroom’s floor is Venetian style terrazzo, poured without control joints, over a thickened concrete slab to prevent cracking. New cast stone columns, pilasters, door surrounds and a stenciled boxed beam ceiling complete the detailing.

Another major challenge was the renovation of the long, narrow Kitchen. The solution was a series of vaulted spaces, terminating in a new Family Room (former Maid’s Rooms), reminiscent of the ground floor utility area of an Italian Palazzo.

The original George Washington Smith facade was severely compromised by a flat-roofed elevator addition from the 1940s, which the client also desired to keep. The elevator was re-imagined as a Campanile to enhance the composition of the facade. Similarly, the Pool House and Swimming Pool were remodeled to be in keeping with the style of the original architecture and included reconstructing the pool with Venetian glass tiles. Finally, non-original features and finishes, including doors, windows, pink exterior texture coating, and site work were removed and restored to the original, per George Washington Smith documents archived at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The work including the restoration of the damaged and deteriorated garden cascade by landscape architect A. E. Hanson.