Lawyers, Firefighters Burn It Up at Playhouse Fund-Raiser

One of the stars of the annual HomeAid Orange County playhouse auction last weekend was an elaborate Craftsman-style cottage built not by a brawny bunch of builders but by their lawyers (several of whom admitted to having worked in construction in their college days).

In fact, two of the top three playhouses auctioned Saturday in Newport Beach were built by amateurs, which ought to cause a few red faces in the ranks of the county’s professional home builders.

The “Daydream Depot” cottage by the attorneys and staff of the real estate law firm of Cox, Castle & Nicholson in Irvine sold for $22,000 at the auction--the second-largest bid of the day. The law firm’s entry also won the award for best craftsmanship in construction, and placed third in the Best of Show contest.

Winner of the Best of Show trophy, and third-biggest money raiser with a sale price of $21,000, was the Newport Beach Firefighters Assn. entry--a kid-sized firehouse, of course. The firefighters’ “3rd Alarm Fire House” playhouse also won the People’s Choice award in balloting by the thousands of people who viewed the playhouses while they were on display at Fashion Island last month.

The top entry by a professional building firm was the show’s biggest fund-raiser, fetching a $26,000 bid. The “Laguna Beach cottage” playhouse, by Trimark Development in Irvine, also placed second in the Best of Show competition and won the architecture award for a design by Santa Ana architects Bassenian/Lagoni.

Since it was founded in 1989, HomeAid has completed 35 shelters that provide housing for individuals and families. The shelters typically are open to the temporarily homeless who need from one to 18 months to reestablish themselves and obtain private housing.

Saturday’s auction raised $210,000 for the program, an arm of the Building Industry Assn. of Orange County.

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John O’Dell can be reached at (714) 966-5831 and at john.odell@latimes.com