These 12 Guesthouses Are a Visitor's Dream
One of the perks to owning a home is the chance to host out-of-town guests comfortably. With the addition of a guesthouse, your visitors can feel more welcome than ever in their own expansive space. Here, we’ve gathered some of the most memorable guesthouses featured in the pages of Architectural Digest, all designed to beautifully complement their setting. An eight-bedroom guesthouse on the coast of Maine, a petite Hamptons cottage accessed through a manicured garden, and a chic carriage-house apartment in Atlanta are premier examples of how homeowners have created stylish and inviting quarters for their family and friends. If you’re looking for inspiration for how to accommodate company, check out these elegant spaces—many of which would make an equally suitable full-time home.
Photo: Mary E. Nichols1/12Hollywood producer Alan Ladd Jr. and his wife, Cindra, called on interior designer Thomas Callaway to redesign the interiors of their Beverly Hills home. The three-room guesthouse sits adjacent to a rose garden and is nestled amid landscaping designed by Jerry Hritz.
Photo: Pascal Chevallier2/12Along with designing the main buildings on fashion legend Pierre Bergé’s Normandy property, Jacques Grange transformed a Romany caravan into a tidy guesthouse. Inside, custom-made pine beds stand on a checked kilim, and the green curtains are made from an antique William Morris fabric.
Photo: Roger Davies3/12At film producer Steve Tisch's refined yet relaxed Beverly Hills home, the neo-Regency poolhouse, designed by Appleton & Assoc., also functions as the guest quarters.
Photo: Mary E. Nichols4/12For a client’s guesthouse and studio/library on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, architect Roderick Ashley designed two pavilions. A marble-and-steel sculpture by the project’s landscape architect, Robert Murase, and his son Scott leads to the guesthouse.
Photo: Peter Aaron/Esto5/12Homeowners in Maine acquired a neighboring waterfront residence that is now used as an eight-bedroom guesthouse. The ten-acre site includes a recently renovated 100-year-old beach house, center, a gathering hall, right, a tennis court, and one other guesthouse.
Photo: Saylor Durston6/12The guesthouse of a Hamptons home designed by Andrew Pollock is accessed through a manicured garden.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn7/12At Suzanne Kasler’s Atlanta home, the first floor of the William T. Baker–designed guesthouse serves as a garage.
Photo: Robert Reck8/12Visitors have plenty of room to kick back and enjoy the view in the guesthouse living area of an Arizona property designed by Edward M. Jones.
Photo: Jonathan Pilkington9/12The 1906 Rose Cottage serves as a guesthouse for the Walter F. Mills–designed Bovey Castle in Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England.
Photo: Erhard Pfeiffer10/12A courtyard separates the guesthouse from the main house of this Steven Ehrlich–designed California property, as seen in the first-floor plan.
Photo: Andrew Twort11/12A serene bath in the guesthouse of a summer home in Turkey designed by Hakan Habif gives visitors the spa treatment.
Photo: Scott Frances12/12The dramatic ceiling height of the Allan Greenberg–designed guesthouse’s great room on the grounds of this Connecticut estate, allowed interior designer Scott Salvator to choose large-scale pieces—a 19th-century clock face and 84-inch-diameter chandeliers—to complement the space. The sofa and club chairs are from Avery Boardman, the ottomans are from Linda Horn Antiques, and the candelabra is Ralph Lauren Home.
