Though the architect Matthew Goodwin was based in New York for a decade, his internal compass has always turned towards California where he was born and raised. Which may explain why when the old Surfrider Motel on Malibu’s Pacific Coast Highway came onto the market, he snapped it up. Built in 1953, the low-slung building’s bones were perfectly preserved, but Goodwin, his wife Emma Crowther, and business partner and entrepreneur Alessandro Zampedri saw a chance to reimagine the iconic Californian beach house.
In the hands of Crowther’s creative direction, the 20-room Surfrider redux is very much of its place – a calm oasis of pastel hues, Belgian linen, rough-hewn timber surfaces, teak beds, woven grass rugs, and pitched ceilings, that has been crisply dressed with Hans Wegner chairs and Picasso prints. The best rooms in the house are upstairs with outdoor terraces, whilst the suites, awash with the legendary Malibu light, feature hammocks and an unending vista of the surf-lined horizon.
With the Surfrider beach just metres away, in-house diversions are confined to a library, a rooftop bar with views of Malibu Pier and First Point, and a restaurant whose menu channels Californian sensibilities with liberal slashes of Meyer lemon oil, micro greens and chipotle cashew cream.
