How to Renovate a Midcentury Bathroom (Without Sacrificing Its Soul)

"Though the new owners were committed to preserving as much original detail as possible, the primary bathroom was on the small side. To keep the structure intact while providing more space for the bathroom, Escher and GuneWardena made ingenious use of a previous renovation: Mrs. Williams' personal hair salon. Though not a feature that every postwar modernist home is likely to have, in this circumstance it provided the perfect bridge to a new, historically-minded interaction for the home's second floor."

"Williams had a talent for designing the personal spaces in a home that guests usually don't see: dressing rooms with fitted cabinets at exactly the right height, generously-sized bedrooms, and colorful bathrooms with sophisticated artistic details. When approaching the renovation, architects Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena of Escher GuneWardena Architecture in Los Angeles found themselves faced with a puzzle on the home's second floor."

"Williams was known for his deft use of color throughout his residential work. Rather than defaulting to the whites and chrome that reads generically as 'midcentury,' Escher and GuneWardena pulled from the chromatic sensibility already present in the house. The result-rose and gray-veined marble, aqu"

Renovating midcentury bathrooms requires balancing preservation of historical character with contemporary functionality. A 1952 Los Angeles home designed by Paul R. Williams demonstrates this approach through thoughtful restoration. The architects preserved original details while expanding limited bathroom space by incorporating an adjacent hair salon area. Williams' signature design elements—including sophisticated color palettes and artistic details—guided the renovation decisions. Rather than applying generic midcentury aesthetics, the team drew from the home's existing chromatic sensibility, using rose and gray-veined marble and other period-appropriate materials. This strategy shows how respecting the original designer's vision and utilizing existing architectural features can create bathrooms that honor postwar modernism while functioning effectively for contemporary living.

Read at Architectural Digest