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 the second volume in its series, ROLAND E. COATE, the authors focus on one of the most admired and influential residential architects ever to practice in Southern California. 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.