Some Neighbors Say Home Being Built in Hawthorne Is a Great Big Pain

It’s not the Taj Mahal. But by local standards, the 5,470-square-foot home under construction in the north end of Hawthorne is an oversized behemoth, out of sync with the rest of its working-class neighborhood.

“This house scares me,” Hawthorne resident Frank Carroll complained. “From what I’ve seen so far, I don’t understand how they got it in. I have no privacy after this house is built.”

Carroll, along with two other neighbors, went before the City Council recently to say the house is just too big for one family. They suggested it may eventually be illegally subdivided into apartments.

City officials acknowledged that the finished house is likely to be one of the largest in Hawthorne. But, they said, there is no evidence to suggest it is going to be anything other than a single-family home.

“It does not violate any of the open space or zoning requirements,” said Donald J. Knechtel, Hawthorne’s director of building and safety. “But if the (residents) are still concerned and don’t want to see any more structures that size, then they should talk to the planning department or commission to initiate a zoning-code amendment.”

The neighbors’ complaints came as a surprise to architect Manny Shinday, 47, who said he is building the two-story home for his wife, Nila, and two daughters.

Shinday, who has lived in Hawthorne for more than a decade, described the actual living area of the house as “kind of small.” It has a three-car garage and four bedrooms, two of them with attached studies. He said his neighbors simply don’t understand the design of the home, which will feature skylights, glass-block windows and porcelain tile.

“It is hard for a lay person, going to City Hall and looking at the plan, to understand it,” Shinday said. “But without having a total perception of the plan, I think (the allegations) are unfair.”

Nila Shinday, a former medical services executive who now describes herself as a “lady of leisure,” agreed.

“To tell you the truth, it’s not even big enough for us. It’s not a dream house; it’s not a mansion. I would like to have 20 bedrooms in my dream house.”

Lennox House, as the Shindays call their future home, is being built just west of the San Diego Freeway in an isolated neighborhood that was annexed by Hawthorne in 1987.

In the past four years, dozens of new homes have sprung up in the area, which is separated from the freeway by a grassy berm and has a view of the pillars that one day will support the Century Freeway.

Many of the lots, which were leveled to make room for the Century Freeway before transportation officials moved the route farther north, remain vacant. As the area evolves, neighborhood tensions such as the ones aroused by Lennox House are likely to continue, planning officials said.

“Changes are occurring, and I think most of those changes are for the positive,” said Planning Director Michael Goodson. “But like anything else, when change comes, even those who want it are a little resistant to it.”

When completed by the end of the year, the house will be worth from $350,000 to $500,000 in an area where most homes sell for much less.

Manny Shinday, whose company, Control Design Systems, helped design the partially underground Kenneth L. Moffett Elementary School in Lennox, bought the 6,800-square-foot lot on 119th Street several years ago. It wasn’t until last year, however, that he and his wife decided they needed more room and began making plans to build a new home.

The house will include several balconies and a skylight running the length of the house. The design of the ground floor encompasses an outdoor swimming pool, changing room and exercise room, as well as a living room, bedroom and guest room. The second floor contains a family room, kitchen, dining room, and two bedrooms.

“I think this is going to be the best house in California and probably the United States,” Manny Shinday said.

Still, some neighbors just don’t relish living in the shadow of Lennox House.

“You don’t find houses this big in Palos Verdes, but if you do, it’s spread out on a big quantity of land,” said Gary Padlipsky, whose single-story home sits at the rear of Shinday’s property.

Padlipsky filed a $30,000 lawsuit last November against the Shindays’ 22-year-old daughter, Netie, who is listed as the property owner. In the suit, he alleged that his property was damaged when the Shindays’ lot was being excavated, and he claimed he suffered “discomfort, annoyance, insomnia and mental suffering.”

But the architect, who said he is sorry the house has created so much conflict in the neighborhood, said he and his family were not responsible for problems stemming from the excavation and has filed a cross-complaint against the excavation contractor.

“I feel very bad about (the tension),” Shinday said. “Before we move (in), we don’t want to be in the neighbors’ bad books.”

But, he said, he hopes that one day his neighbors will regard Lennox House as a boon rather than a detriment to the community.

“Yes, this is a working-class neighborhood, (but) I think I am a working-class person, and in a way, it is a working-class house,” Shinday said. “This is an upcoming area, and I would like to contribute whatever I can to it.”