In Los Feliz, Past and Present Converge in a Hillside ADU

Michael Urban has always been a bit of technophile.

When he and husband Dean Anes moved into a 1947 stucco home in the historic Franklin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, he noticed there was a lot of unusable space in the property’s hillside yard—and saw an opportunity to embark on a project that was part-technology, part-design.

Michael, who is a screenwriter and teacher, had recently stumbled upon an article about Los Angeles-based startup Cover, a backyard home/ADU company that promised to streamline every step of the home-building process—from design and permitting, to manufacturing and installation.

"This was a very big fun gadget for me," says Michael. "We figured when we moved in that this is something that we were 10 to 15 years away from building, and it just started happening much, much faster than that."

The couple knew first and foremost that they wanted to keep the ADU feeling separate from the main property, but, from there, imagined a variety of use cases for the addition: an art gallery for Dean; a space for aging parents or visiting friends and family; or even temporary lodging for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

"We wanted people who were staying here in the ADU to really feel like they were in their own residence, and that’s why it is completely separate," Michael says. "It has its own parking garage, people can come and go, and they don't need to feel like there’s somebody observing them."

In addition to the Wolf Sub-Zero appliances, and fixtures and finishes that come standard with a Cover home, Michael and Dean chose to install Level Home smart locks to further their guests’ sense of autonomy and their own technology-forward thinking.