A Journey Home: Mandy Moore's Altadena Restoration

Sometimes, a house finds you. That's what happened to Mandy Moore and her husband, musician Taylor Goldsmith, in June 2020 when they toured a 1931 Spanish Colonial Revival home in Altadena on a whim. "We walked in and were like, 'Whoa, is this our next move?'" Moore recalls, curled up on the velvet sofa in the living room, with a five-year odyssey of renovating and rebuilding behind her.

They immediately called their architect Emily Farnham, who assured them, "This is a lot, but we can do it." The property had a mismatched kitchen renovation, a coyote den in the yard, and an air of faded glamour. But they saw potential: the back house would become a music studio for Goldsmith, cofounder of the band Dawes, and the romantic main house was where they would raise their future family.

The Dream Team Reunites

Moore and Goldsmith reunited the same team that transformed Moore's bright and sleek midcentury home in Pasadena, featured on Architectural Digest's cover in 2018. This included interior designer Sarah Sherman Samuel and the landscape design firm Terremoto.

"Mandy wanted color and pattern and soft edges. Her taste is sophisticated but playful. They're both so creative. I like to say it's a very grown-up house but with a little sparkle," says Samuel. "They let us run, creatively."

Farnham's sensitive remodel featured velvety plaster walls, grand arches, an expanded kitchen, restored stenciled beams in the barrel-vaulted living room, and a new ADU with a garage that complemented the classic architecture. Samuel worked her magic on the interiors with bold tile, deep color, and plenty of her own textiles and curvilinear furniture.

A Family Home Realized

By the time they moved in in November 2023, they were parents of two toddler boys, Gus and Ozzie, with a baby on the way. The family-friendly garden and pool were in place. The designer brought in a photographer to immortalize the picture-perfect rooms for her first book, Sarah Sherman Samuel: The Intersection of Art and Design, with Moore writing the foreword.

For a little while, they lived the dream life they imagined. Then one evening last January, a fire reached their side of town. They evacuated with their kids, pets, and harrowing memories. While the music studio and ADU were lost, the house, miraculously, survived. The structure and hard finishes like tile and light fixtures were salvageable, but the soft goods were destroyed by smoke.

Rising from the Ashes

"We were...I don't want to cry," Moore says, pausing for composure. "But our sweet neighbor said that if anyone's house made it, he was glad it was ours, because we had been working on it for so long."

Samuel and Farnham were devastated but determined. "I know basically everything in their house because I have it all cataloged," says Samuel. "Aside from Taylor's lost vintage instruments, I knew it was all replaceable."

For four months, the house sat like an ash-covered time capsule. Then slowly, they began to put the pieces back together. "Mandy told me 'I am 100 percent happy for you to buy the same things and replace them, or for you to get creative and make different choices,'" says Samuel. They found some new fabrics and rugs, and similar replacements for vintage pieces, but everything else remained the same.

A Community's Spirit

All of the clothing, textiles, and furniture were thrown away. A "surgical" remediation process involved making incisions into walls to replace duct work and the HVAC system. By September, they were back, and more connected to their cherished foothills than ever.

"It was gutting to be up here before the lots were cleared and you saw the degree of the loss," Moore says. "But I think because there are pockets that are untouched, and so much rebuilding is happening in patches around town, it's clear that people still want to be here. There's an undefeatable spirit."

The work is not over. Their ADU is wrapping up construction, and they're breaking ground on the new studio. But the play structure is up, the roses are in bloom, and they're quietly cheering on neighbors as they trickle back, with shared determination to rebuild.

"It's so delightful working with them," adds Farnham of her longtime clients, "But it would be nice if they had some calm years ahead. I want them to have no need for me. At least for a while."