First things first: The weird and wonderful Los Angeles home of interior designer Brigette Romanek, her husband, director Mark Romanek, and their two young daughters is not the Harry Houdini estate. Every day, Hollywood tour buses pull up to the imposing mix-and-match Mediterranean-style manse at the top of Laurel Canyon and the amplified voices of clueless cicerones can be heard waxing rhapsodic about the property’s alleged pedigree. “They say that Houdini cooked up his most famous escape acts here, his mistress is buried here, the house has 22 bedrooms—crazy stuff,” Brigette says.

Such mythology becomes less far-fetched when one considers the evidence that Houdini did in fact live nearby in the 1920s. And then, of course, there’s the residence itself, which is pure magic. The original 1925 house that stood on the two rambling acres burned down in a massive conflagration in the ’50s, but the structure was rebuilt a few years later atop the remains of its stately forebear. Architectural pentimenti that survived the fire—chunky stone foundations, secret passageways, garden follies, meandering outdoor stairways with neoclassical balustrades—lend the place a decidedly mysterious, cinematic aura. “A lot of people claim this house is haunted, but I’ve never seen a ghost,” Brigette says, laughing. “Mark knows what a chicken I am, so he didn’t mention the haunting thing until after we were settled in.”





1 / 16 Chevron Chevron Ten-year-old Willow Romanek climbs a rock wall in the playroom.

The couple acquired the home two years ago from their friend Rick Rubin, the music mega-producer, who had utilized it as a recording studio and rock-and-roll dormitory for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Marilyn Manson, Maroon 5, and LCD Soundsystem, among others. Those artists only added more tang to a seductive story that already included whisperings of a murder (one occupant is rumored to have tossed his lover off a balcony); an Errol Flynn residency in the ’30s; and visits by the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Mick Jagger in the ’60s and ’70s, when the place was first used as a recording studio.

“Even though we had to redo practically everything—mechanical, electrical, the floors and walls, the kitchen—I was determined to honor the history of this place,” Brigette says. “I appreciate patina and texture, spaces that look lived in, moldings with missing sections. This house wouldn’t be so perfect if I tried to erase all the imperfections.”

Like so many designers, Brigette began her career doing homes for her own family and then moved on to working with friends who admired her idiosyncratic taste. In May she announced the formation of Hancock Design, a new partnership with her friend fashion stylist Estee Stanley. “We’re always talking about projects we’re working on, amazing things we’ve seen, our kids,” Brigette explains. “So it felt natural to support each other in a more official way, especially after she contributed so many great ideas to this house.”