Five years ago, word swept through town like a wildfire in Malibu about the Oscar Niemeyer house in Santa Monica. Who even knew there was a Niemeyer house in North America? Just in case you’re not up to snuff on your midcentury cool, Oscar Niemeyer was—wait—is the great master of Brazilian modernism. (He’s still alive and kicking at 99 years old.) The genius behind Brasilia, he was barred from entering the U.S. due to his Communist sympathies. So it would make sense that there wouldn’t be a Niemeyer house here. Except Los Angeles doesn’t make sense, and so there you have it.

In 1963, Joseph and Anne Strick (their son Jeremy is director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, in Los Angeles) commissioned Niemeyer to design a house for them. They sent him aerial views of the land, soil tests, topographical plans, and some notes on what the family needed. And without ever setting foot on American soil, Niemeyer orchestrated the creation of their home.

In 2002 the house was bought by a developer who planned to level it and build a McMansion. The City of Santa Monica Landmarks Commission blocked the demolition, and a friend contacted Michael and Gabrielle Boyd, the husband-and-wife team renowned for rescuing architecturally significant houses. They had just sold Paul Rudolph's home, on Beekman Place in New York, which they had recently restored. “Some are good experiences and some aren’t. The Rudolph house was beautiful, but it didn’t function for us,” says Michael. “Like a museum conservator, 1 follow a simple routine of minimal invasiveness—never replace what can be revived—and exhaustive attention to detail. I like to swing a hammer and find the layers of years.”

The Boyds, both native Californians, finished restoring the Niemeyer house three years ago. They are crazy collectors known as “modern hunters,” and they’ve been chasing modern for 25 years—scouring flea markets, secondhand shops, auction houses, collectors’ homes. Their love of houses and furniture grew out of a love of art. Their house—its architecture, landscaping, and interior design—and their jaw-dropping collection of modern furniture, paintings, silverware, ashtrays, and books (they have 10,000) are the subject of a new book. Modernist Paradise, written by Michael Webb and photographed by Tim StreetPorter, out this month from Rizzoli.

This Niemeyer house is the sixth house the Boyds have adopted and surgically enhanced, creating a better version than what had existed when they arrived on its doorstep. The Boyds say no more moving. This is the mother ship. Gabrielle reflects, “By embracing modern we have found the right balance between art and function. There is a great quote from Le Corbusier about ‘life is always right.’ Houses need to morph. You are your lifestyle; you can’t get too uptight. We like finding the balance in both worlds.”