The Novogratz Make a Starry Home for Themselves in Hollywood

It’s ready for its close-up. Befitting their status as the celebrity interior designers known as the Novogratz, Robert and Cortney Novogratz selected a 1931 Spanish Modern villa in the Hollywood Hills famed Bird Streets enclave—once home to Elizabeth Taylor and Katherine Hepburn, as the location for their home and its subsequent rebuild. 

“Originally the idea was to bring it back to its original charm, but unfortunately, we had to bring it down,” Cortney Novogratz says. “We rebuilt the house, doubling its size but kept the same spirit of the original house with the layout and of course made the original courtyard as the focal point of the entire home.”

Spanning over 7,200-square-feet, the white stucco house has a terra-cotta tile roof, steel-framed windows, and white oak floors. A central, open-air courtyard is tiled in red and white and leads to a great room with cathedral ceilings and a custom-made fireplace mantel. Each room of the home is designed with white oak floors and oak accents against cream-colored walls, creating an airy Italian villa–inspired look, all centered on that quaint courtyard. “We looked for a house with a courtyard,” Robert Novogratz explains. “A lot of people have pools but how many people have a courtyard?”