Back to The Past

From around 1980 to 1987, an Italian design collective initiated by Ettore Sottsass and based in Milan led one of the most definitive and short-lived design movements of the 20th century. Incorporating bold colors-cobalt blue, flaming orange, Barragán pink—and manipulated materials like plastic laminate, terrazzo and Lucite, Memphis design is as synonymous and identifiable with the '80s as hair spray, shoulder pads and Marty McFly.

Recall the early days of MTV, Pee-wee's Playhouse, Esprit, Max Headroom, Saved by the Bell-Memphis design permeated pop culture and helped visually define the era. (Prominent collectors even included Karl Lagerfeld and David Bowie.)

You can see glimpses of its current-day revival in the renewed interest in Sottsass' Ultrafragola mirror that might be featured prominently in selfies flooding your IG lately, and you'll definitely see elements of it here, in this 5,700-square-foot home, originally built in 1987 and reimagined for this era by Chet Callahan (chetcallahan.com) for his clients, screenwriter Hadley Davis Rierson and television executive Lee Rierson.

The Hollywood Hills residence occupies more than half an acre and is one of four lots that once comprised the ranch of Errol Flynn. The home was originally designed by architectPhilip Brown, but the interiors had become a casualty of their era. Carpet had been glued to the living area's granite floor; the light oak floors had taken on a yellowish tint; and it was hardly up to date for modern living. However, the current owners, who purchased the home in early 2019, saw the potential.

"We started falling for the house before we even stepped foot inside," says Davis Rierson. "We drove onto this quiet, private, tree-lined street and pulled up next to this sublime structure. I think by the time the oversize pivot door elegantly swung open we already viscerally knew it was meant to be our home."

With the exception of a lower-level screening room that had been added in the '90s, the home had been largely untouched for 32 years. Callahan immediately started researching design of its original era, referencing the work of Sottsass, Andrée Putman and Ricardo Legorreta, to get a feel for the scale and materials appropriate to the era.

"We had to jump in and appreciate the home for what it is: a late-modernist expression with '90s vibes, but also elements of modernist tradition," says Callahan. "The dominant column in the living room and the prominent use of square patterns throughout made us think about theMemphis movement, but then we also looked at what other prominent designers were doing in other parts of the world at the same time and came up with our own aesthetic."

Perhaps most significantly, this blending of influences comes through in the dining room, where Knoll Cesca chairs surround a 12-foot-long custom table designed by Callahan that includes a terrazzo top with asymmetrical powder-coated Lego-like legs in blue and pink. Above it hangs a bronze-colored glass chandelier from Roll & Hill, while a wall of Flavor Paper x AndyWarhol Foundation Marilyn white wallpaper adds monochromatic energy. (Monroe was said to be a frequent guest at Flynn's Hollywood parties.) "We had to shake things up-but also make the house feel 'now," says Callahan. "Otherwise, it would be very neutral and even."

A pair of lounging spaces just off the dining room take a definitive design direction. In the main living room, double-height windows look out to the 38-foot-long pool and gardens, bringing in an abundance of light. A mustard-yellow chair and an orange Lucite vase punctuate the space, which also features Pierre Paulin's Pumpkin chairs upholstered in fabric by Raf Simonsfor Kvadrat, a limestone coffee table and a Modernica sofa reupholstered inZinc Textile. A gallery wall coordinated by Shannon Timms Art Advisory includes lithographs, etchings and screen prints from Man Ray, Brice Marden, James Rosenquist, Ellsworth Kelly, Jasper Johns,Ed Ruscha, Julie Mehretu and Raymond Pettibon. The palette of black and beige is a juxtaposition to brighter pieces in the home, including a vibrant abstract painting by MoniqueVan Genderen in the entryway and a giant popsicle piece in the breakfast room entitled "Here today, gone tomorrow" by Tim Berg and Rebekah Myers.

Missoni-carpeted stairs lead from the living room to an adjacent family room, where a custom octagonal leather sofa nestles within a bookcase wall that was adjusted to accommodate Rierson's beloved media collection. "He's a total audiophile and collects records as well as CDs and cassette tapes, which we created storage for in drawers beneath the sofa,"says Callahan.

Indeed, functionality is a key component of the home. "It's big, but not so big that any rooms are unused-or that we can't still yell to one another!" says Davis Rierson, who also appreciates how it's become pandemic practical. The centrally located laundry chute catches a constant flow of dirty clothes. The dumbwaiter that runs from the garage to the kitchen hauls up incessant Instacart and Amazon deliveries.

Upstairs, the highlight of the master suite is Davis Rierson's closet, featuring a smoked glass system from Porro. "Virginia Woolf said, 'A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.' I am a writer, and with my husband working remotely and occupying our 'shared' office, my closet-the one space in the house that is entirely mine has become the place I hide with my laptop and my own thoughts,” she says. “During the pandemic,I've also referred to my closet as a museum, with my wardrobe hanging behind glass like relics from another era when there were plans and parties."

On the lower level, a former screening room has also become a sanctuary for the homeowners and their children during the pandemic.As Callahan explains, the original homeowners were members of the Century Club, an exclusive movie club with strict prerequisites to join in order to screen movies, which were shown from actual film canisters in their own projection room. "In order to join the group, you had to not only build a theater that would also accommodate a film projector room, but it had to have its own entrance to the outdoors, its own minibar, a lobby and a bathroom," says Callahan, who also notes that the1,850-square-foot space now allows for a variety of new family spaces."

We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to inhabit this house during the pandemic-and that it was finished just as the world was locking down," says Davis Rierson. The family's16-year-old son has his own refuge, giving him independence while being in lockdown with his parents, while the former projector room was turned into a gym, where Rierson takes virtual yoga classes with a teacher in India and Davis Rierson uses the ballet barre to take classes online with an instructor in New York.

"Although Lee and I are in the entertainment business, a screening room was never on our bucket list, but now we can't quite imagine our quarantine without family movie nights watching everything from Hitchcock to Pixar," says Davis Rierson. "Endlessly stuck in this house, we've found that it isn't just beautifully designed to look at, it's beautifully designed to live in."