An Estate’s Pasadena Pedigree
Renowned Pasadena architect Reginald Johnson designed the Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel, and with partners Gordon Kaufmann and Roland Coate, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Good Samaritan Hospital, both in Los Angeles. Johnson also designed more than 100 large houses, including this Italian-style villa, which borders San Marino in Pasadena.
About this house: Johnson had designed many mansions by the time he designed this one in 1931. Three years later, he retired from his daily practice and devoted the rest of his life, to developing low-income housing. Building biographer Tim Gregory describes the house as “potentially eligible for listing on the California Register of Historical Resources due to its association with a regionally significant architect and with nationally significant owners, its good state of preservation and its contribution to the architectural and historical context of its Lombardy Road neighborhood.” Among the owners was Charles Burton Scoville, a member of a pioneer Pasadena family who settled in the Arroyo Seco in the 1880s, built the first bridge across the Arroyo and helped fund the relocation of Caltech to its current campus.
Asking price: $3.8 million.
Size: The house has eight bedrooms, including four suites and a two-bedroom maid’s wing. The 10,000-square-foot house is on almost 1.5 acres of gated grounds approached by a circular drive.
Features: The house has an oak-paneled library, a loggia and a butler’s pantry. The living room has coffered ceilings. The dining and breakfast rooms overlook gardens. The updated kitchen has a 12-burner stove. In the basement, there is a wine cellar and a workout room. The property also has a tennis court with a viewing pavilion, a pool, poolhouse, four-car garage and motorcourt.
Where: 1460 Lombardy Road, a short distance from the Huntington Library Gardens, Caltech, the Ritz-Carlton Huntingon Hotel and shopping on Lake Avenue.
Listing agents: Pat Lile (626-356-8121) and Carol Chua-Vigue (626-356-8122) at Coldwell Banker, Pasadena.
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Ruth Ryon can be e-mailed with candidates for Home of the Week at ruth.ryon@latimes.com.
