Historic Chandler House Falls Prey to Time, Decay

One of the oldest houses in the San Fernando Valley is being demolished this week, taking with it a part of the area’s history.

Built in 1912 by former Times publisher Harry Chandler for his brother, the two-story, Craftsman-style house at 13348 Chandler Blvd. in Van Nuys was stripped of copper wiring, bathroom fixtures and anything else of value and partially demolished over the last few days.

The remainder of the house and a nearby barn are to fall to the wrecking ball today.

“I’ve been praying that someone would come in and save the house,” said co-owner Joyce Robbins, whose family bought the property in 1920 for “somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000.”

She said she had tried for six years to interest preservationists and others in restoring the five-bedroom house for its historic value. She and her family could not afford to repair the structure themselves, Robbins said.

“Growing up in that house in the 1920s was like paradise,” said Robbins, who lived there until she moved to New York in 1948. “I can remember lying on the ground looking up at the fruit trees and the sky. It was wonderful. I loved the Valley in those days.”

Part of a Ranch

The house was part of a 10-acre ranch when the Robbins family bought the property. They grew fruit on the land until it was subdivided in the 1950s, Robbins said.

The remaining half-acre on which the house stands will be sold at auction in Los Angeles Probate Court on Oct. 19. Real estate agent Sol Taylor, who is handling the sale, said he expects the land to bring at least $600,000, which will be the opening price.

Area history buffs agreed that it is a shame that the house must be torn down.

“For an ordinary family house, it would be one of the oldest structures still left standing,” said James Dodson, curator of the Valley College Museum in Van Nuys. “Only the adobes are older.”

Part of History

“Everything that’s old is being torn down,” said Mary Jane Petit, a member of a Valley pioneer family who has lived in the Van Nuys area since 1911. “It’s a pity the house couldn’t be saved. It’s part of history.”

Robbins said that when she was born in 1929, the house was one of three on Chandler between Fulton and Woodman avenues. Of those, only her old family home remains, she said.

‘My grandparents bought it as a wedding present for my parents,” Robbins said. Her mother, Mildred Robbins, occupied the house until her death at age 88 in 1983.

“My mother would mourn,” Robbins said of the razing. “I feel terrible that this has to be done. We throw too much away in this country.

“It was a wonderfully built house. During the Long Beach earthquake of 1933, not a brick fell from its chimney,” she said.

Taylor said the house, at age 77, “had outlived its life expectancy.” He said it “really wasn’t restorable” because it had been damaged by dry rot, mildew and termites.

A cedar tree he estimates to be about 100 years old will be left standing, Taylor said. He said he expects the property to be sold to someone who wants to build an estate or subdivide the land into two parcels.