Collegiate home looking smart
This Highland Park home was built in 1924 in an area known since the early 1900s as Professors’ Row. Many of its stately homes were built for Occidental College teachers when the campus was at Avenue 50 and Figueroa Street. Occidental moved to Eagle Rock in 1914.
Now an extensive renovation has been completed, qualifying the Spanish-style house as a “significant property” in a historic preservation overlay zone.
Highland Park, five miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, has witnessed many changes. From the 1880s to the 1920s, architecturally significant homes were built, frequently for educators.
After a period of decay and rising gang activity, preservationists took an interest in Highland Park, and the overlay zone was established in the early 1990s. The goal was to save up to 3,000 historic houses from deterioration and demolition.
The Highland Park Heritage Trust worked to get property owners to restore the elaborate tiled facades of commercial buildings, and the Arroyo Arts Collective started planning home tours. By 2003, the Los Angeles Police Department’s local gang unit reported that neighborhood groups were taking back the streets.
There are about 30 homes on Professors’ Row. None has sold in the last five years. “Nobody wants to move,” said Michael Caldwell, who has the listing.
About this house: Custom tile work and hardwood floors were restored, while a new kitchen was built with glass-front cabinets and stainless-steel appliances. The antique stove was restored along with a built-in breakfast nook. Restored features include the grand staircase, coved ceilings and stained-glass window. Among the new features are custom wood-frame casement windows; the roof; electrical, heating and air-conditioning systems; plumbing; security; foundation bolting; and an automatic gate.
Asking price: $869,000
Size: There are four bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms in 2,378 square feet. The lot size is 15,603 square feet.
Features: There is a large living room, a fireplace, a formal dining room, a laundry room, a basement, gated parking, mature oak trees and views of the Arroyo Seco. The house is one block from the Gold Line’s Southwest Museum station.
Where: Highland Park
Listing agent: Michael Caldwell, Housing Solutions, (323) 573-0705.
To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos and caption information on a CD and a brief description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.
Questions can be sent to homeoftheweek@latimes.com.
