Step Inside an Art-Filled Los Angeles Home by Ernest de la Torre

Built in 2010 by architect Steve Giannetti, the ultracontemporary Pacific Palisades residence features expanses of glass, a half-barrel-vaulted ceiling, a shallow indoor pond, and extensive white walls that are ideal for displaying large works of art. For Morgan, it was a coup de foudre. “I fell in love with the house the minute I walked in the front door,” he recalls. “The main-floor layout was perfect for my lifestyle and art.”

Overseeing investments for a clientele that includes Hollywood elites, Morgan has amassed an impressive collection that spans decades, from postwar icons like Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol—whose series of flamboyantly hued Mao screen prints adorns a towering column above the living room fireplace—to contemporary stars such as Anish Kapoor, Takashi Murakami, Beatriz Milhazes, and Walton Ford. Looking for bold, tailored spaces to complement that muscular hoard, Morgan brought in de la Torre, who has a special knack for creating striking rooms decorated with panache.

Plus, de la Torre is in his element working on a grand scale, whether it’s a 20-bedroom house in the Bahamas, a 10,000-square-foot governor’s mansion, or a luxurious apartment in the Aman New York complex. His singularly modern vision will be on display in his first monograph, slated to be published by Rizzoli in 2025.

Here, his first objective was to infuse some swank into the stark interior, with its pale plaster walls and stone flooring. “Everything was white, white, white,” explains de la Torre, who set about deploying strategic chromatic hits. At the far end of the entry, he placed a multicolor Memphis-style armchair by Alessandro Mendini for Cappellini (conjuring Louis XV style on steroids) next to a punchy Mel Bochner text painting, helping to draw the eye in. The high-impact entrance has proven so powerful that actor Jim Carrey is not the only guest to have stumbled into the water feature after coming through the front door.

De la Torre sheathed a nearby hallway in glossy cobalt-blue laminate material, a magnetic backdrop for a recessed neon-pink light installation by James Turrell. The designer used a rich navy blue for the velvet curtains and wallpaper in the cocoon-like media room, where the sexy nightclub vibe is accented with black-and-white photographs of rock-and-roll legends such as Mick Jagger and John Lennon.

In the living room, de la Torre sought to create some coziness under the sky-high ceiling. To take the chill out of the large space, he pulled the colors from the Warhol silkscreens scaling the fireplace wall. Plexiglass cocktail tables by Yves Klein (one filled with the artist’s signature blue pigment, one with glittering gold leaf) are paired with deep Holly Hunt sofas and custom-made armchairs upholstered in a gilded green fabric, all above a striated rug in shades of blue. “I like dark, colorful rugs in light rooms—it grounds the space,” de la Torre says. “I sometimes get pushback because people are afraid of dark colors. Dark walls can make things dark but not rugs.”

Perhaps the most challenging area to decorate was the massive glass-walled dining room, which measures 18 by 42 feet and is asymmetrical to boot. De la Torre went for a spartan yet glamorous look, lining the curved space with diaphanous curtains that diffuse the California sun and laying a beige rug with “a hint of millennial pink” whose ethereal pattern resembles dappled light. A dozen Brazilian curved-back chairs upholstered in an earthy terra-cotta-pink fabric surround an oval table by Dutch designer Dirk van der Kooij that’s crafted from a slurry of pigments and recycled plastics to create a resin effect.

“I could have done a dining room for 20 in there,” de la Torre admits, “but when that many people come over, they eat on the expansive terrace.” On the dining room ceiling, he mounted a pair of vintage 30-inch-diameter light fixtures by celebrated Murano glass studio Barovier & Toso, made with gold-leaf glass in the shape of curved leaves. “The speckled glass gives a beautiful glow without being too much,” says de la Torre.

The designer reminded Morgan of the power of sprinkling in some standout pieces that are “a little old,” as he puts it, hanging an Isamu Noguchi lantern designed in the 1950s in the breakfast area and installing 1930s Pierre Chareau chairs in the family room. “Not everything,” de la Torre adds, “should be made ten minutes ago.” It’s an electrifying recipe from a design maestro who has put his imaginative stamp on this spectacular sanctuary for contemporary art.

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Collectors Issue under the headline “Snap Crackle Pop.” Subscribe to the magazine.