By Barbara Thornburg
Walter Hubert, the florist and event planner behind Silver Birches in Pasadena, purchased a large lot studded with fragrant eucalyptus in the foothills of Altadena, near Angeles National Forest. Inspired by the property’s natural beauty, he built an Old California-style home without disturbing about 20 trees, all nearly 70 years old. “We built the house around the trees and worked it into the slope,” he says. “It’s why there are so many elevation changes in the house.”
The result of the home’s unusual terracing: Six outdoor living spaces, allowing the kind of indoor-outdoor living that has come to define Southern California. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
A dramatic eucalyptus — part of the grove that Hubert fell in love with when he first saw the property 20 years ago — shades an outdoor terrace he built above his painting studio. A small latticed structure on the terrace houses his cymbidium orchids that he grows and places throughout his home. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
Hubert, right, and partner Mark Saltzman, a former opera singer who’s now cantor of Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, talk on the terrace, which overlooks the pool and the house beyond. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
Hubert installed a 56-foot-long lap pool between his Wallace Neff-inspired home and his painting studio. It also serves as a reflection pool, mirroring the trio of cypress he planted 20 years ago. Originally 4 feet tall, the trees have grown to nearly 25 feet. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
The outdoor space off the living and dining rooms features a dramatic 27-foot-tall fireplace made of stucco and salvaged concrete. A 16-foot-long, 4-foot-deep koi pond runs the length of the outdoor room. Hubert built the koi pond twice. “The first time it was too shallow,” he says, “and the raccoons had sushi for dinner.” (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
The view from the dining room: complete indoor-outdoor living. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
Hubert stands next to one of his beloved eucalyptus trees. The surrounding hardscape is more broken concrete scavenged from old driveways and sidewalks around town. “When I see something being demolished in the area,” he says, “I send back my truck to pick it up.” (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
A small garden off Hubert and Salzman’s yoga room features a large granite stone set in a raised bed. “It took eight people to get that rock in there,” Hubert says. “It was so heavy I ended up building a garden around it.” The rock is surrounded by scabiosa, verbena, salvia, lantana and sweet alyssum — and is a favorite of Max, the Birman cat. The wall and trellis are fashioned from salvaged concrete and terra cotta roof tiles cut into thirds. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
Surrounding the Jacuzzi are beds of perennials, succulents and dwarf palms. A pair of Brown Jordan metal chaises from the 1960s sit under the trellis planted with wisteria and crimson red passion flowers. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
An antique sconce from London. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
A small enclosed garden next to the screening room has a table and chairs from Mexico. Hubert planted wisteria along the house that blooms dramatically in March, and spring remains his favorite season. “It’s kind of like heaven when you walk around the house in early spring,” he says. “There’s a musty smell of roses, then sweet jasmine and the orange blossoms that carry on until the first part of June or longer — depending on the heat — although there’s something in bloom and smelling good all year round, really.” (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
The little garden’s fountain has a lionhead spout from an antique store in Pasadena. The vintage tiles are from the Mexican colonial city of Dolores Hidalgo. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
Along with his other flowers, Hubert fills a dozen 24- and 36-inch pots around the property with rosette Echeveria succulents (pulvinata, agavoides and x imbricata) that come in an array of grays, chartreuses, peaches and reds. “They are very colorful,” he says. “In the winter they get more burnished. In spring if they’ve gotten too leggy, I remove the brown leaves, cut them from the bottom up and replant them so they are low and tight again.” (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)
Hubert lounges in his cushioned bench by the home’s front entry, overlooking a vintage fountain. “I like to sit here in the evening when the sun is setting,” he says. Saltillo tiles provide the hardscape, while iceberg roses are planted around the water feature.
If you like this gallery, check out our look at four homes on the Venice Garden & Home Tour earlier this year. You also can see how one designer turned a small, unsightly backyard into a colorful oasis with hints of India and Morocco (and a fountain that flows into a fire pit). Or if you simply want to see how architect Lorcan O’Herlihy created a movable sunshade for one client’s outdoor room, click here.
Plus there’s our blog, www.latimes.com/home, and our ever-growing archive of Southern California house, condo and apartment tours, www.latimes.com/homesofthetimes. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)