Case study, nº 06
A residence on Helena St.
The Garden Estate · Brentwood · HR Development Inc.
The residence
Helena St, Brentwood
The Garden Estate
- Configuration
- Two stories over a basement, with a detached ADU and garage
- Typology
- New construction
- Lot
- About 15,963 sf · 0.37 acre
- Residence
- About 10,775 sf: 7,173 sf above grade + 3,602 sf basement
- Bedrooms
- 6
- Building height
- 29 feet 3 inches
Helena is a true estate property. Beyond the two-story main house sit a detached accessory dwelling and a garage, set in resort grounds: a thirty-seven-foot pool and spa backed by a sheer-descent water wall, a built outdoor kitchen, and a designed landscape behind a high front wall.
Inside the main house, a grand hall under a glass-roof skylight with ornamental iron staircases sets the register; a home theater, sauna and steam suite, wine cellar, and library serve the lower floor, and a primary suite with a sitting room and dual walk-in closets occupies the upper level. The new ADU brings its own kitchen and bath to the compound.
The engineering
HR Development built the main house, the ADU, and the detached garage, and delivered a resort-scale exterior: the pool and spa with its concealed-equipment water wall, the framed outdoor kitchen, rain-harvesting infrastructure, and a site-wide hardscape and lighting program, all finished to one standard across a multi-structure compound.
The estate
A compound finished as one estate
Helena is a multi-structure property on a third-of-an-acre Tuscan-style lot. The main house carries a full interior program from grand hall to theater to wellness suite; the grounds add a resort-scale pool, spa, water wall, and outdoor kitchen; and two new structures, an ADU and detached garage, complete the compound.
Main house interiors
- Grand hall with glass-roof skylight and ornamental iron staircases
- Home theater
- Sauna and steam suite
- Wine cellar
- Library
- Primary suite with sitting room and dual walk-in closets
- Additional bedrooms and guest room
- Maid's quarters
Grounds & outdoor living
- Pool, 37 by 17 feet, with spa
- Six-foot sheer-descent water wall (conceals equipment)
- Framed outdoor BBQ kitchen
- Loggia
- Full hardscape and landscape program
- Site lighting
- Rain-harvesting tanks
New structures
- New one-story ADU with kitchen and bath
- New detached garage
The build sequence
How it came together
The order the work was solved — from the structure outward to the final finish.
Three structures together
The main house, the ADU, and the detached garage carried together.
Resort-scale exterior
A thirty-seven-foot pool and spa with a concealed-equipment water wall, a framed outdoor kitchen, and rain-harvesting infrastructure.
Site program
A site-wide hardscape and lighting program delivered across multiple plan revisions.
One finish standard
Fleetwood glazing, marble baths, custom ironwork, and the grand-hall skylight finished to a single standard across the footprint.
Nº 01Exterior Architecture
The Tuscan compound
High walls, arched openings, and a designed landscape frame an estate that reads as a single composition from the street.
Nº 02Loggia & Outdoor Living
The shaded loggia
A colonnaded loggia extends the principal rooms into the garden, the estate's transition between interior formality and open grounds.
Nº 03Landscape & Hardscape
The designed grounds
Stone terraces, fountains, and mature planting compose a resort-scale landscape behind the high front wall.
Nº 04Kitchen
The family kitchen
A warm stone kitchen finished to the estate's standard, opening to the informal heart of the main house.
Nº 05Living Spaces
The grand hall
A glass-roof skylight and ornamental iron staircases define the entry hall and set the character of the public rooms.
Nº 06Library
The book room
A quiet, wood-detailed library off the principal rooms, a private counterpoint to the grand hall.
Nº 07Wine & Bar
The wine cellar
A dedicated wine room and bar serve the lower level, finished in stone and iron like the rooms above.
Nº 08Entry & Foyer
The threshold
An arched, stone-framed entry opens to the skylit hall, establishing the estate's register at the door.
Nº 09Staircases
Ornamental iron
Hand-worked iron balustrades carry the stair through the grand hall as a piece of architectural craft.
Nº 10Skylight At Grand Hall
Daylight overhead
A glass-roof skylight floods the grand hall from above, the gesture the whole interior is organized around.
Nº 11Primary Suite
The owner's wing
A private suite with sitting room and dual walk-in closets occupying the upper floor.
Nº 12Bedrooms
The guest rooms
Additional bedrooms and a guest room finished to the same material standard as the principal suite.
Nº 13Bathrooms
Marble baths
Marble baths with ornamental detailing and backlit stone throughout the house.
Nº 14Closets & Dressing
The dressing rooms
Fitted walk-in closets with integrated millwork, planned as rooms in their own right.
Nº 15Sauna & Steam
The wellness suite
A sauna and steam suite on the lower level, engineered into the estate's mechanical program.
Nº 16Theater
The screening room
An acoustically treated theater on the lower floor, part of the estate's private entertainment level.
Nº 17Detailed Iron Railing
The ironwork
Custom ornamental ironwork, hand-detailed and carried as a signature thread through the estate.
