Once a furniture king’s showcase
This La Canada Flintridge home was built in 1929, but its owner recently completed a five-year remodel that updated the house and doubled its size.
The 13,000-square-foot house was refurbished with the help of designer John Everage and expanded to include a master bedroom suite, a family room and a cinema-grade home theater. All of the work was in keeping with the original architecture, a mixture of Spanish Colonial Revival and Art Deco.
The home was designed in the 1920s by L.G. Scherer of Los Angeles and architect Cyril Bennett of Pasadena. It could be eligible for listing on the California Register of Historical Resources and the National Register of Historic Places, according to Tim Gregory, a Pasadena-based building biographer who has compiled an extensive history of the house.
The first owners of the home were Walter Edward Overell and his wife, Beulah. As president of his family’s furniture company, Overell made the home a showplace for his furnishings.
The Overells shared their new home with their infant daughter, Beulah Louise, who appeared with her mother in a 1931 Welch’s Grape Juice newspaper ad mentioning “the handsome Overell estate in Flintridge.”
By the mid-’40s, Overell had retired. Then the family’s lives took a turn for the macabre. The couple met an unsavory end in 1947 when their 47-foot cabin cruiser exploded and it was discovered they had been bludgeoned to death. Their daughter, 17, and her boyfriend, 21, were tried in the killings but were acquitted.
With few liquid assets, the Overells’ estate was nearly insolvent. The house and its contents, including furnishings, were sold at auction. The winning bid was $56,000.
About the owner: Lauro Guerra, a businessman, has owned the house since 1997. He recently retired and bought a ranch in Ojai.
Asking price: $8.2 million
Size: The house has six bedrooms and 10 bathrooms in 13,097 square feet. It sits on about 1.18 acres.
Features: The home has a lanai with a plasma TV, groomed grounds with tropical trees, a koi pond, a pool and a spa, a gym, sauna and wine cellar, as well as a motorcourt and four-car garage.
Where: La Canada Flintridge
Listing agent: Nancy Risen, Coldwell Banker, La Canada Flintridge, (818) 416-4877 or (818) 949-5711
To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos on a CD with caption information and a detailed 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.
