After Jousting With Neighbors, Couple’s Home Can Be a Castle

A man’s home is his castle--and if he can get the job done in 180 days, he can build it himself, the Irvine City Council decided Tuesday.

After months of attempting to speed up a remodeling job that has taken four years so far, the council voted unanimously to grant Victor and Fern Ganish a six-month extension to complete work on the transformation of their ranch tract home into a turreted castle.

The slow pace of the work--and the transformation of the home into a baroque mini-mansion--has raised the ire of the couple’s Kron Street neighbors.

“We’re really upset about it,” said Sandra Hill, who lives behind the Ganishes and has a clear view of the unfinished home from her windows.

“I can’t figure out how they got away with it in the first place,” Hill added.

As of June 22, the Ganishes have been in violation of the city’s residence remodeling law, which stipulates that all remodeling work must be completed within one year of the issuance of a work permit.

The couple received their permit from the city last year. However, the Ganishes had begun work on their home several years before the remodeling law was passed.

Now, in an effort to speed up the work, Irvine city officials proposed an extension stipulating that the work be completed in prescribed phases within six months.

The project still appears to be largely unfinished, with plywood siding visible and piles of river rock intended for the facade and other building supplies stacked on the property.

“That house is no more than 33% finished,” said Guy Border, a contractor who lives directly behind the Ganishes.

At one point, city officials said they had considered the possibility of calling for contractors to bid on the completion of the project. But officials were reluctant to become more involved in the construction.

“We’re eager to solicit the signature (on the extension agreement) and have an early conclusion of the matter,” Irvine Mayor Larry Agran said.