Inside a rare 1980s Frank Gehry home with unique geometries

A rare home by Frank Gehry has changed hands, after a local buyer with architectural passions purchased the property in Thousand Oaks, California. 

The Sirmai-Peterson House was, to that point, still owned by the original client, Mark Peterson, the asbestos plaintiff’s attorney who commissioned Gehry to design the home.

Completed in 1988, the Sirmai-Peterson House explores a fragmented approach to residential design. Commissioned in 1983, the 2-bedroom, 2-1/2-bathroom project marks a significant moment in Gehry’s early domestic work, extending ideas of formal autonomy and composition into a single-family dwelling.

Set within a secluded, oak-covered hillside, the 4,512-foot residence is organized as a series of discrete volumes rather than a unified structure. Individual rooms are expressed as separate forms, each with distinct geometry and material treatment. Th...