One Hundred Sycamore

One Hundred Sycamore is HCM 858 in the City of Los Angeles. This stately twelve-unit Art Deco apartment building was designed by the Arthur C. Wright Company in 1929. It is located at 100 North Sycamore Avenue. It enjoys the benefits of the Mills Act.









Van Dekker House

Rudolf Schindler designed the Van Dekker House in 1940 and it looks unlike many of his other structures. The house was made an HCM (quickly, to guarantee it continued time on earth) while it was in the process of being sold after decades of ownership by its long-term owner and finally placed in the Mills Act program so that the maximum amount of cash could be poured into restoring it.

The ground plan is for the original, much larger than today's, plot. The parcel originally ran from Lubabo Avenue to Penfield Avenue, but is now about a third of its original size.

The original ground plan.

Here is an original exterior shot of the home, at that point, somewhat in the middle of nowhere in the San Fernando Valley.

The original house in isolation.

A closer view.

The original dining room and end of the living room.

The sloped ceilings and the living room fireplace.

The house as it now appears, under restoration.

There is hope...



Harry J. Wolff House

The Harry J. Wolff House was designed by Rudolph Michael Schindler in 1938 and is a Historic-Cultural Monument in the City of Los Angeles and has been approved for the Mills Act.

The parcel at the beginning of its grading to receive the house.


The parcel viewed to the northeast.

Here is an elevation for the house.

As imagined by Schindler.


The house during the construction process.


A portion of the south elevation.




The west facade as originally built.

The completed house c. 1939.



Since that time a portion of the land has been sold. The residence now appears thus.

The Harry J. Wolff House today.







Happy Thanksgiving!

I have no idea what home this beautiful dining room and breakfast room may have been shot in. But, I do believe that C. C. Ganahl took this photograph, since it was found in one of his photographic albums and is shot in his style. Imagine your Thanksgiving dinner spread on the table, break front and tea cart with the children's table in the breakfast room. Enjoy this very special day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Potential Good News for Mills Act

It is far from finalized, but Councilman Huizar has introduced a measure to add an additional one million dollars in tax discounts to the current Mills Act budget. Write/e-mail/phone your Councilperson or all of the Councilpersons encouraging him/her/them to vote for Councilman Huizar's measure. The Mills Act is the only means of financially supporting historic preservation of properties in the City of Los Angeles.
The next deadline is May 25, 2012.  The Mills Act has a once-a-year drop-dead time limit. Should you be interested in the tax benefits of the Mills Act for your property or business property, contact me now at 310-650-2143 or at historichomesla@aol.com to learn if your property qualifies and to answer any other questions you might have about the Mills Act.

A. C. Martin Designs Home for His Sister and Her Husband C. C. Ganahl

This is the hero of our tale, Constantine Christian Aloysius Alexander Ganahl--C.C. for short--Connie to his family. He was born August 27,1884, the same year his family moved to Los Angeles from St. Louis, and purchased the Bryson Lumber Yard (a yard formerly owned by Mayor Bryson)and changed its name to the C. Ganahl Lumber Co.

C. C. as a young traveler

C.C. loved photography and his first job was with a photography supply company in downtown Los Angeles. He also, as did his parents, loved to travel the world.

In June of 1912 C. C. Gahanl united with his sweetheart, Margaret Mary Martin in marriage.

Oh Happy Day: June 12, 1912.

In 1913 A. C. Martin designed this STOIC Prarie home for his sister Margaret Mary and her husband C. C. Ganahl. It united what were to become two of Los Angeles' most durable businesses--A.C. Martin Partners,the legendary architectural firm founded by A. C. in 1908, and the C. Ganahl Lumber Company,the most prosperous lumber company in the State of California, founded by C.C.'s father, Christian Ganahl, in 1884. Both firms survive today, run by third generation family members.

The first surviving photo of the front of the house is from 2010, when the house went on the market for sale to a non-family member.

C.C. Ganahl House, 2010.

Below are early photos of the house, taken by C.C.

  

Dining room

 
 





Batchelder fireplace in living room




Living room

 






Verandah and pergola at the rear of home.

At some point C.C. purchased this car which he was obviously proud of as he parked it in front of the home to snap a photo. If anyone knows the brand and year, please contact me!

That car...

Beginning around 1913 C.C. joined the lumber company as Secretary and over the years worked his way through his phalanx of brothers (of whom he was the youngest) to become President of the C. Ganahl Lumber Company and the many branches started by his father and expanded by himself and his brothers.

The company had a large presence in the port at Redondo.

Early photo of receiving port and lumber yard at Redondo.

The Ganahl Lumber Company currently has eight locations with a ninth scheduled to open in Pasadena, CA during the first quarter of 2012. The Ganahl locations are 1220 E. Ball Road, Anaheim, CA; 6586 Beach Boulevard, Buena Park, CA; 34162 Doheny Park Drive, Capistrano Beach, CA; 1275 S. Bristol, Costa Mesa, CA; 150 W. Blaine Street, Corona, CA; 1765 Laguana Canyon Road. Laguana Beach, CA; 23132 Orange Avenue. Lake Forest, CA; 10742 Los Alamitos Boulevard, Los Alamitos, CA. And now back to the C. C. Ganahl House which is currently making its way through the process of becoming a Historic-Cultural Monument in the City of Los Angeles. 

A current photo of the C. C. Ganahl House





 

The Schneidman House in Crestwood Hills

The Schneidman House in Crestwood Hills has been nominated as an Historic-Cultural Monument in the City of Los Angeles.

This is how it appeared when purchased by the current owners.

The home is part of a housing cooperative formed by four musicians in 1946. The Mutual Housing Association was originally to be a cooperative in which the members owned the land cooperatively and their homes individually, but the owners from whom they were purchasing the land had a restrictive covenant in their paperwork and would not budge. Therefore, the members of the Mutual Housing Association had to give up one of their ideals (some withdrew from the cooperative) in order to purchase the over 800 acres of land in the hills to the north of Brentwood, but held to most of the remainder of their ideals.

There was also a nursery school--which survives and is operated still, and the architect's office and sales building which has been converted to a private home. They also have a park and a community building built on land donated to the City of Los Angeles. The members began a members-only credit union. There was also to be a service station and grocery store, but building the houses became enough of a challenge and those accessory buildings were never constructed.

The members of the co-op chose A. Quincy Jones and Walter Smith, architects and Edgardo Contini, architect/engineer to be their engineer because he would reconfigure the wooded hillside the least in order to site the homes.



The cover of the Mutual Plans booklet.

The first homes were completed in 1950.

There is no extant portrait of the completed home from 1950. There is, however, a very long shot of it from that time.

The house, in the distance, in 1950
.

Here is a photograph, from the archive, of the home from 1962.



The house in 1962.

A recent photo of the Schneidman House:

  

The Cultural Heritage Commission inspected the home on November 17, 2011 and voted positively on it an HCM on December 1, 2011. It must next go to the Planning and Land Use (PLUM) committee of City Council for a vote.



Estate of Robert Marsh

This estate once existed at the southwest corner of Westchester and Country Club in Country Club Park.

The Historic-Cultural Monument that Wasn't to Be

Much to my amazement The SITE of the Jessie Benton Fremont "Retreat" failed to become a Historic-Cultural Monument in the City of Los Angeles. Located at the corner of West 28th Street and Hoover Street (1101 West Twenty-eighth Street) it was the first documented work of archtiect Sumner P. Hunt in the City of Los Angeles and it was documented by the New York Times. How many other works constructed in Los Angeles in 1891 were accorded such an honor?

Following are some photos of the Jessie Benton Fremont "Retreat."

Stay tuned for a book...



All-Electric Josef Kun Residence #1
Architect: Richard Neutra ~ Collaborator: Gregory Ain ~ Built: 1935-1936

This is a fine example of Neutra's work and filled with "firsts.".

It is Neutra's first all-electric residence--and one of the early all-electric houses in
the City of Los Angeles.

The residence is the first one to be photographed by Julius Shulman:

I went along with this young man to one of Neutra’s houses (the Kun house, 1936) that he was working on and took a few snapshots. I didn’t know that what I was photographing was a “Neutra House.” I gave this fellow the photos which he showed to Neutra who loved them and wanted to meet me, which we did on March fifth, 1936. The date is indelibly imprinted in my mind. Neutra ordered more pictures and had me meet Soriano, who was doing his first house. I became a photographer that day. I had never met an architect before in my life, let alone Neutra of all people.
                                                                                                                 ---Julius Shulman

Neutra won two awards for Kun House #1.

The first was from the journal Architectural Forum in April 1936. It was a national award for one of 52 architect-designed homes costing $5000 or less.

The second one was from the French government. This time the work was identified as the Gertrude Kun (Josef's wife) residence in Hollywood. A bronze medal in the residential architecture division of the photographic exhibition was awarded to Neutra for photographs in the United States Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition of 1937.



This Neutra residence became a Historic-Cultural Monument in the City of Los Angeles on
November 15, 2011.

Own an official historic property*

in the City of Los Angeles and want to save $$$?

*That would be either a Historic-Cultural Monument or a contributing feature to an established

Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.

The way to save $$$ is to apply for the 2012 Mills Act program.

That's a process through which (if you meet all the prerequisites) you can save up

to 70% on the base line of your property tax bill.

Call this Architectural Historian and Realtor.

  I'll answer  your questions about qualifying for the program -- for FREE.

And I'll fill out your application for a FEE.

The next deadline is May 25, 2012.

That sounds like a very long way off--trust me--it's not.

Anna Marie Brooks

historichomesla@aol.com

310-650-2143