A restored classic gets a second chance.
After years of idyllic getaways in the Bay Area, a Michigan couple began dreaming of making Northern California a more permanent part of their lives. Their first step was a pied-à-terre in San Francisco. Around that time, the husband’s twin brother acquired a lot in Atherton and commissioned architect Robert Swatt of Swatt + Partners to design a modern residence. Inspired by the results, the couple approached Swatt to create a similarly contemporary home—this time in Tiburon, on a hillside overlooking the San Francisco Bay.
“We had looked at so many locations, but none appealed as much to us as Tiburon because of its location, beauty, and serenity,” recalls the husband. “It has water, mountains, and its very own ecosystem.”
Their wish list was concise but ambitious: panoramic views of the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Mount Tamalpais. The couple found their ideal setting high on a ridge in Old Tiburon, where a 4,700-square-foot midcentury house—marred by years of awkward renovations—stood ready for reinvention. Swatt proposed a sensitive remodel rather than a full rebuild. “We kept the best elements of the original structure and reworked the rest to achieve a cohesive whole,” he explains. “It now feels, in every respect, like a brand-new home.”
Swatt’s design embraces the site’s sweeping vistas with walls of glass that stretch from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, drawing the outdoors inward.
Working with Stroub Construction, he selected a restrained palette of materials—warm gray Windsor limestone, white integral-colored stucco, and greige-stained Western Red Cedar. Each serves a precise architectural purpose: limestone for vertical anchoring, stucco for horizontal flow, and cedar to connect the home’s geometry with the surrounding landscape. Cantilevered decks enclosed in glass railings extend the living spaces outward, heightening the home’s dialogue with the terrain.
A bridge from the street and garage leads directly to the upper-level entry. To capture the best views, Swatt and the clients inverted the floor plan—placing the living, dining, and kitchen areas, along with the primary suite, on the top floor. For the interiors, they turned to Matthew Leverone of Leverone Design, whom they discovered online and admired for his restrained, consistently modern aesthetic.
“They wanted an interior that felt both engaging and serene,” Leverone says. “With views as extraordinary as these, everything inside needed to honor rather than distract from the landscape.”
Leverone echoed the architectural palette with a soft, monochromatic gray scheme. A gracious foyer opens to a light-filled living area, where Swatt introduced a floating ceiling plane of stained cedar boards for warmth and definition. Two nested coffee tables by Egg Collective anchor the seating arrangement, centered on a nine-foot silver linen sofa facing the bay. A curved-back daybed in graphite mohair and a pair of ’70s-inspired Thierry Lemaire armchairs round out the composition, while a black, meditative painting by James Austin Murray adds a striking visual punctuation.
In the adjacent dining area, a chandelier from Ochre—its hand-blown glass drops suspended like dew—hangs above a rectangular taupe-finished Studio Piet Boon table. Eight Italian leather tub chairs invite long, convivial meals. Above a wall-mounted oak console hangs Prairie Skies, a landscape by Sahba Shere from the couple’s contemporary art collection. A gray silk ombré rug grounds the space, and beyond the glass doors, Swatt’s minimalist deck—furnished with midcentury-inspired pieces—beckons for sunrise coffees and sunset gatherings.
Despite its transformation, the home retains the soul of its original site. “For my wife and me, exterior beauty and interior function are equally important,” says the husband. “Robert created an extraordinary structure, and with Matthew, a serene, livable interior. Together, they blended inside and out into a seamless whole. Our home now embodies the essence of living in Marin County and the North Bay.”
Photos by Matthew Millman
