1925 Model Home Proposed as City Landmark
In Los Angeles, where real estate is king, it is fitting that the legacy of a developer--to wit, a model home--should be hailed as a landmark.
And that is what’s happening as the cultural arbiters of the city of Los Angeles tout a tiny Hansel-and-Gretel bungalow in Woodland Hills, the legacy of bygone subdivider Victor Girard, as a candidate for landmark status.
The rundown house deserves recognition because it is a rare specimen of the model homes Girard built in 1925 to lure clients to one of his rustic subdivisions, its admirers say.
The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously last month to designate the 876-square-foot house at 21360 Rios Street a cultural-historic monument. The action must be ratified by the City Council, which is scheduled to vote on the issue this month.
The cultural board’s staff sees nothing paradoxical about settling the hoary cloak of historical significance on the artifact of a developer.
“At one point, developers were on the cutting edge of building things and that’s what we’re honoring now--what they built in the past,” said Jay Oren, the board’s staff architect.
These days, developers often are under attack by suburban homeowner groups. But Oren can recite a dozen other city landmarks that derive much, if not all, of their cachet from their association with Los Angeles developers. Some examples:
* The domed Janss Investment Co. Building in Westwood, headquarters of the firm that developed the surrounding area.
* The Hollywood sign, originally erected to promote a Beachwood Canyon subdivision.
* The canals in Venice, built to help boost sales of lots in developer Abbot Kinney’s beachfront community.
Giacinta B. Koontz, who has lived across the street from the so-called Girard House for five years, has been the prime mover in the effort to get the structure declared a monument. “I love the house,” she said. “It’s part of this area’s woodsy atmosphere.”
Koontz, a professional archeologist turned screenwriter, admits that the 66-year-old house is in “pretty funky” condition. Even so, she said, it deserves to be recognized and protected.
According to Koontz, only about 20 or 30 Girard model homes still exist. Of these, only two--including the Rios Street house--remain virtually unchanged.
Despite Koontz’s enthusiasm and the Cultural Heritage Commission’s regard for the house, its current owner is not impressed.
Sheila Trader, a Colorado resident, is opposed to the plan being pushed by her neighbors, said James R. Gilson, her attorney.
If the building is declared a landmark, the Cultural Heritage Commission could delay for one year any plans to remodel or demolish it. Typically, the commission would use this grace period to try to persuade the owner to preserve the house or sell it to others who would.
Trader has no plans to demolish or remodel the house, Gilson said.
“Why should Mrs. Trader be precluded from redeveloping her property and doing exactly what some of her neighbors have already done to update their Girard homes,” Gilson said, noting that most of the homes in the area are substantially larger. “They are forcing my client to pay the price for their historical interests.”
Trader could not be reached for comment.
As for Girard, his personal history is sketchy.
Aging news clippings identify him as one of the Southland’s real estate visionaries, a subdivider of huge tracts of land in what are now Woodland Hills, Bel-Air and Brentwood. In the 1920s, Woodland Hills was even known as the town of Girard.
“I’ll tell you what I see: a Greater Los Angeles solid to the Pacific and reaching back into the adjacent valleys,” Girard was quoted as saying in one 1939 news story.
“Girard was a very entrepreneurial person,” said Bill Brady, president of the Owensmouth Historical Society. “He brought people out here from downtown Los Angeles by the thousands, enticing them with circuses and church services and picnics.” Owensmouth, incidentally, was the original name of Canoga Park.
Girard died at 74 in 1954.
One account says that the developer, in an apparent effort to persuade skeptical lot buyers that the San Fernando Valley was the place of the future, showed them large buildings on Ventura Boulevard.
Only later was it discovered that the buildings were facades.
BACKGROUND
If the Los Angeles City Council designates a 66-year-old bungalow built by developer Victor Girard a historic landmark, it will be the third such site in Woodland Hills. The Leonis Adobe was selected as the city’s first cultural-historic monument in 1962. Woodland Hills also is home to about 300 pepper trees along Canoga Avenue, designated as the city’s 93rd landmark in 1972. The pepper trees also are part of the Girard legacy. The subdivider had them planted as part of his plan for making his West Valley real estate ventures more attractive.
