Tichenor & Thorp Architects, Inc.

The husband-and-wife team of M. Brian Tichenor and Raun Thorp founded their namesake, multi-discipline, Los Angeles-based design practice in 1990. Since then, they and their talented, dedicated staff have completed more than 350 projects nationwide. In 2017, Vendome Press published the pair’s first book, Outside In: The Gardens and Houses of Tichenor & Thorp.
Tichenor and Thorp emphasize craft. Licensed architects and AIA members, they are fluent in all aspects of the building arts, history, and precedents of American architecture. Widely recognized for original, artful residential and commercial designs that beautifully integrate large-scale structures and surrounding landscapes, the partners deftly parlay traditional Mediterranean and American vernaculars and the modern forms of the California Tradition into gracious, supremely functional, luxuriously detailed environments. Equally adept at both historic preservation and restoration, they also undertake the occasional interiors project.
Major commercial projects include the expansion of NantWorks’ Culver City headquarters, a contemporary, three-story structure with more than 62,000 square feet of space for offices, research and development, and laboratories, plus a separate five-story garage; campus development for NantWorks in El Segundo, incorporating The Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Medicine at Mariposa: a recently completed cutting edge immuno-therapy cancer clinic. The firm has also developed new gardens and a re-envisioned exterior for two award-winning apartment complexes, Villa Del Mar in Marina del Rey and The Aspens in Santa Ana, CA. Other commercial projects of note include interiors for a Gulfstream aircraft and the firm’s own offices in a converted mixed-use structure that encompasses Venue 66, a flexible events space and professional kitchen in the former La Cachette restaurant building near Century City. Currently on the boards are large-scale commercial endeavors in Culver City, the South Bay, and San Diego County, as well as residential projects in Carmel, Malibu, Laguna Beach, Pebble Beach, Santa Barbara, and the Santa Ynez Valley.
Tichenor & Thorp gained an early reputation for sensitive, highly informed restorations of historically significant houses and landmark commercial structures by such noted California architects as Paul R. Williams, Gregory Ain, Roland Coate, John Byers, H. Roy Kelly, and Harwell Hamilton Harris. Memorable projects in this area of expertise include the Cecil B. DeMille residence (recently purchased by Angelina Jolie); the former William Powell Estate (now owned by decorator Kelly Wearstler and her husband, Brad Korzen); and Hollywood’s landmark Capitol Records building and grounds.
Among its recent accolades, Tichenor & Thorp Architects received Big Sunday’s distinguished honoree award at the non-profit’s Second Annual Gala in 2017. One of The Robb Report’s Top 30 Architects, Tichenor & Thorp has had work featured in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Architectural Digest, Town & Country, House Beautiful, and Elle Decor, as well as on various television shows. Completed projects have also appeared in more than 20 published books, including Fisher Weisman’s Artful Decoration, Douglas Wood’s The California Casa (Introduction by Brian Tichenor) and Classic Homes of Los Angeles, Paul R. Williams: Classic Hollywood Style, and Suzanne Rheinstein’s At Home.