Emily may be in Paris, but Lily Collins is in East Los Angeles. She lives in a mid-century house surrounded by sycamore trees in a part of town so quiet that a friend calls her in the middle of her Vogue photoshoot, alarmed at the number of cars parked outside. (“I was like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a planned thing,’” she tells me, laughing, after she hangs up.) On Sundays, she and her husband, Charlie McDowell, like to go on long walks with their dog, Redford. Then, they’ll get some breakfast at one of their favorite spots, like Kumquat Coffee or Amara Kitchen. Charlie orders a breakfast burrito, Lily an avocado toast: “With some chili flakes? Call it a day!” she says. Afterwards, if they feel like it, they’ll browse a local flea market. Other times they just want to spend the whole day at home. “It is this safe, secluded oasis,” she says.
Lily and Charlie always knew this wasn’t just any house. The National Register of Historic Places plaque outside the door made sure of that: They live at a Case Study House, one of a handful of homes built as a rare residential experiment in the postwar era, where the top architects of the era were asked to build inexpensive model homes for the millions of soldiers returning from the front. (The most famous examples? The Stahl House in West Hollywood, as well as several properties by Ray and Charles Eames.) Yet, on a rainy day in 2021, when the newly engaged couple walked in the door for the first time and saw a roaring fireplace, they knew it was their house. “We looked at each other, and it was just this overwhelming emotional experience where we didn’t need to say more,” she says. They immediately put in an offer.
Photographed by Justin Chung
