As part of a larger series on Master Architects of Southern California: 1920-1940, this book highlights the work of Roland E. Coate, using vintage photographs. 

In a remarkable career that spanned more than three decades, Roland E. Coate produced hundreds of exceptional designs from Santa Barbara to Bel-Air, Hollywood, Hancock Park, and Pasadena that ranged from quaint bungalows to grand mansions. Coate's ability to work in a variety of styles from English Tudor to Monterey Colonial with equal grace made him a favorite with those seeking the very best. His client list-with names like Doheny, O'Melveny, Hoover, and Hertz-reads like a 'Who's Who' of the most important and influential figures of the era.

Yet Coate is best known today as an 'architect to the stars,' a much sought-after designer for the elite of Hollywood with a stellar array of commissions from such legends of classic cinema as Darryl F. Zanuck, Barbara Stanwyck & Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper, Irene Mayer & David O. Selznick, Frank Capra, William Wellman, Pando Berman, and Myrna Loy. Other celebrity residents of Coate-designed homes have included Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Kenny Rogers, Danny Kaye, and fashion icon Tom Ford. The Coate-designed mansion in Hancock Park of aviator/film producer/oil magnate Howard Hughes remains one of the most famous houses in Los Angeles.