Paradise Lodge, Los Angeles, California property

Paradise Lodge in Los Angeles, California

September 23, 2026

Architecture: Steven Fernandez, AIA

Location: Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles, Santa Monica Mountains, California, USA

Photos: Neue Focus

Paradise Lodge sits on a 2.1 acre lot in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Topanga Canyon, a wooded stretch of the Santa Monica Mountains between Los Angeles and the coast.

Designed by Steven Fernandez, AIA, and completed in 2021, the house is a study in rustic modernism, a quiet, well built home that answers to its landscape rather than competing with it.

The most immediate feature is the corrugated metal exterior, which does two things at once. It gives the house its clean, agricultural-modern character, and it is central to a design where fire safety runs through the whole build rather than sitting on top of it.

In a canyon where fire is a constant consideration, that thinking shaped the material choices and much of the quality of the construction, from the envelope inward.

The house faces west, so the main spaces open to afternoon light and the long canyon sunsets.

Privacy is generous across the 2.1 acres, and the grounds were landscaped by Suzanne McKevitt with an emphasis on native planting, which keeps the setting in step with the surrounding hillside and supports the fire-conscious approach.

Beyond the main house, the property includes a newly built ADU with a workshop, along with a restored Spartan Trailer, giving the site a layered, lived-in quality that suits its history in one of Topanga’s original neighborhoods.

Paradise Lodge in Los Angeles, Southern California, USA – Property Information

Architect: Steven Fernandez, AIA
Project Title: Paradise Lodge
Client: Robert Tonkin
Architect: Steven Fernandez, AIA
Site area: 2.1 acres
Gross floor area: Main Residence – 2,723
Guest House – 630
Garage – 648
Location: Cheney Drive, Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles, California, USA
Status: Completed
Project completion date: 2021
Landscape design: Suzanne McKevitt (native landscaping)
Photographer: Neue Focus

Paradise Lodge, Los Angeles, California images / information received 230926

Location: Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles, Southern California, United States of America.

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