Douglas Honnold

Douglas Honnold, born in Montreal, studied at Berkeley and Cornell. He married Elizabeth Gillman.

The award-winning architect and interior designer worked principally in Califonia, his work entwined with the glamour of Hollywood and its stars.  He designed a Pacific Palisades home for MGM art director Cedric Gibbons and silent-screen actress Delores Del Rio, as well as the ‘Stars Dressing Rooms’ for 20th Century Fox and the Westwood Music Centre.

In 1934 he was asked by Samuel Goldwyn Snr to create a home for the movie mogul and his wife Francis and family. The stunning six-bedroomed property included tennis courts a theatre and lavish garden and is today the home of Taylor Swift. In Goldwyn’s time, the house is said to have been used from time to time as collateral to finance films including Wuthering Heights.

John Lautner and Douglas Honnold became business partners in 1945 for two years, collaborating on projects such as the iconic hangouts ‘Coffee Dan’s’ and whilst they went their separate ways for a variety of reasons they did remain friends.

Honnold collaborated with John Lautner on the Embassy Shop, George Vernon Russell and Arthur W Hawes. As well as designing the Hollywood Reporter building for William Wilkerson and the Beverly Hills Athletic Club, the Anderson House in Bel Air and the 1983 Edward Albert Tink Adams House with John Leon Rix in Silver Lake.