By Katherine Clarke

In the L.A. wildfires of January 2025, real-estate developer Ardie Tavangarian and his family lost their Pacific Palisades home of more than 30 years, along with most of their belongings.

"My peace of mind was basically pulled from under my feet," said Tavangarian, who currently lives in a rental with his wife and 28-year-old twin daughters, Nila and Emila, who had been living at home before the fires.

Since then, Tavangarian said, he has refocused his professional life on a new mission: creating an extremely fire-resistant home to serve as a model for rebuilding. "I realized that it didn't make sense to continue to build these defenseless structures when this could potentially happen again," he said.

He has just finished building Versa Villa, a roughly 4,200-square-foot, four-bedroom home for Nila and Emila on the grounds of the family's Palisades estate. Versa Villa is designed to resist an active fire for up to six hours. Tavangarian, who will soon start rebuilding his own home, said he hopes it will demonstrate how communities like the Palisades and nearby Altadena can rebuild efficiently and safely.

"What he's done is the model," said fire-protection engineer Nate Wittasek, who has toured Versa Villa. Its features exceed the requirements of the new California fire code "by at least a factor of two, and in many cases substantially more," he said.

To build Versa Villa,Tavangarian said, he traveled the world and researched materials and systems to make L.A. homes more fire resistant. The idea, he said, was to create a noncombustible building envelope with backup systems, such as generators and water sources, enabling the house to defend itself in case municipal systems fail.

He said it cost between $3 million and $3.5 million to build the house. While that is likely too expensive for many Angelenos to replicate, some of its features could be incorporated in other homes, Wittasek said.

"If you take a version of it, you can still get something that is an order of magnitude more resilient than what we have right now in most houses," Wittasek said.

Tavangarian said he is hoping that home-insurance companies will begin to broadly recognize the kinds of fire-resilience features he has incorporated into Versa Villa. He spoke to numerous insurance companies about securing coverage for Versa Villa and was initially quoted a rate of more than $7,000 a month. He was ultimately able to secure a policy at about $1,000 a month after detailing the fire features.

Versa Villa's fire resistant features -- and their approximate costs

Fire-detection system: $325,000

The autonomous system uses satellites, heat sensors and AI-powered cameras to detect fires near the property. If fire is found, the system can tap in to tanks containing water and other fire suppression materials. Controlled remotely by the homeowner, the system can douse the home's exterior even if municipal water and power fail.

Frame: $300,000

Instead of a traditional wood frame, the house was built with 30 tons of highly fire resistant precision structural steel.

Walls: $400,000

The home's 12-inch-thick walls are made of stone, magnesium oxide, sulfate boards and gypsum panels. The composite can resist an active blaze for six hours.

Windows: $300,000

The windows are made from borosilicate. A durable, heat-resistant glass that can withstand extreme temperature changes, it is typically used for laboratory equipment and high-end cookware. Each of the windows is also framed by metal shutters that can be closed remotely.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2026 06:00 ET (11:00 GMT)

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