Legend has it that Beach, an avant-garde musician and composer commissioned Farquhar, one of California's premier classical architects, to build the residence after a villa in Asolo, Italy which had been occupied by the poet Robert Browning. With its formal facade, grand entry, and plan built around a central interior courtyard, the residence today affords the aesthetics, style, comfort and luxury only...

Sited at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, and created during Farquhar's mature period, which also encompassed his work on the Pentagon, the residence reflects a refinement of program and detail honed by a lifetime in architectural design. A classic Italian Villa is the theme, but the notes are modern, space and details are simplified. Rather than exuberance, there is discipline, calm prevails. Public...

This historic gem sits on a tree-studded one-half acre commanding ocean, canyon and mountain views. Farquhar conceived his first residence as a peristyle hacienda in poured concrete wherein the main rooms share a tiled courtyard with a wood-beamed loggia providing cover for alfresco living. The Murphy restoration created a published Bulthaup kitchen with glass atrium dining & family room with steel...