Skilled Vintage Home Restorers in NELA Find Period Items

To bring vintage Northeast Los Angeles homes back to their original beauty, professionals salvage parts from homes that were demolished elsewhere.

Hot real estate markets in Northeast Los Angeles (NELA) have been driven by the demand for period, character homes. Homes for sale in Glassell Park, Hermon and Garvanza, for instance, have put these up-to-now little known regions on the map. Younger homebuyers are snapping up these homes quickly and quietly in the hopes of restoring these homes to their original grandeur.

Vintage homes tell stories, particularly in NELA. Just talk to some of the handful of multi-generational owners of fine old California Bungalows or sweet Victorians in places like Pasadena, Mt. Washington, Hermon or Eagle Rock. They will have tales to tell.

For newer owners of vintage homes in NELA, their first story is usually about the challenges of renovation and restoration. Regardless of whether they found homes for sale in Garvanza or Highland Park or Glendale most appealing, the problems for the fixer-upper is the missing parts of those old-homes. There might have been an unfortunate door replacement in 1962, with nary an original hinge or doorknob in sight. Perhaps the built in cabinetry of a dining room was inexplicably discarded, or a HVAC grate was replaced with a sad, old-timey-looking reproduction purchased at the big box hardware store in 1997.

How does a home restorer make up for the tragedy of missing pieces? Vintage homes are bit analogous to the kidney patient who needs a transplant. For every beautiful Tudor Revival, Art Deco, or Mission Revival home that is being restored, there is a similar home somewhere that is, sadly, being demolished. But very often the doorknobs, fireplace surrounds, built-in cabinetry, leaded glass windows, or Spanish tiles are spared from going to a landfill and instead warehoused for resale to the restorers.

The “transplant doctors” are architectural salvage companies, professionals who collect useful items from buildings that have suffered a fire, neglect, or are in the way of development that doesn’t honor historic homes. When one of those places go, it’s akin to when a car accident victim doesn’t survive: his or her heart, kidneys, corneas and liver will live on – in another person.

The historic architectural salvage companies tend to be regional, due to the physical nature of the industry and the costs of transporting such things as fireplace surrounds and chandeliers. And it takes work to ply through their inventory. To be certain of what you are getting – to match colors, or to check the item’s quality and functionality, for example – you probably should check out the merchandise in person. Be sure to budget at least an hour or two, possibly more, for the excursion. For the fan of vintage homes it’s possible to get lost in the treasure trove of these typically warehouse-size operations.

To find salvagers near you, do an internet search for terms such as “Los Angeles architectural salvage” or “Los Angeles antique door” or “Los Angeles vintage architectural restoration parts.” There are several near NELA.

In your search you might also find furniture, rugs, and other items that are from the period home you are restoring. Which is another reason why going to these stores and websites will be beneficial – and time consuming, and perhaps put a divot into your credit card balance. But isn’t that the fun of restoring an old home – giving it new stories to tell?

Northeast Los Angeles is rich with vintage homes and their histories. Realtor Tracy King has assisted buyers, sellers, and restorers of homes with real estate transactions in this area for a quarter century. Call her to discuss the type of home you want to make beautiful and authentic again: 323-243-1234.

Restoring Your Mission Revival Home in NELA

Northeast Los Angeles is rich in Spanish Colonial Mission Style homes. But because many are older than 100 years, so restoration efforts may be necessary.

Among the most common and revered residential architectural styles throughout the southwest – including homes of Northeast Los Angeles (NELA) – is the Mission Revival style. Rich desert hues typically highlight the exterior stucco cladding, topped by red clay tiles with very often one or two chimneys on homes that are interchangeably called Mediterranean, Pueblo, and Spanish Colonial revival styles (there are differences, a topic for another day).

In NELA, the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock (2225 Colorado Boulevard) is a stellar, large-scale example of the Mission Revival/Spanish Colonial Revival style. It is a Historic-Cultural Monument and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Among the homes for sale in Highland Park (in 2012, for $450,000) was the Murdock House, also in the Mission Revival style on a four-square plan. Mixed within the Mid-Century Modern homes in Mt. Washington is the Mission Revival Self-Realization Fellowship headquarters, which prior to 1925 had been a hotel (designed by Chinese Theater architects Meyer and Holler in 1910).

Elsewhere in Southern California – including the residential real estate in Glassell Park, Garvanza, and Hermon – are examples of this style in railroad train depots, schools, and homes both grand and humble. The nature of their construction – with thick massing that carries daytime warmth into night and nighttime coolness into day, exterior arcades that celebrate California’s mild climate, and overhangs that shade structures in summer’s heat – is part of why they endure.

The solid construction nonetheless needs attention, particularly when a new owner determines to update and upgrade. The elements needing attention most often are the stucco walls and red clay tiles:

Stucco restoration. The enemy of stucco is water, which can enter by all sorts of means: leaky gutters, poor seals around doors and windows, and perhaps from inside the structure through furnace, kitchen and bathroom vents.

The first step to restoration is to find out where the water is coming from and stop it at that source. The task is not unlike roof leaks that lead to ceiling problems: it’s not always directly below where the problem begins so some sleuthing by a building professional is likely necessary.

Replacement of sections of stucco facings is aided by its textured, irregular nature. It may be possible to do this in sections rather than redoing an entire wall, but that depends on how visible the differences between old and new may be. Of course a full repainting or whitewashing will help with this.

Tile roof restoration. Around the turn of the last century (1900) clay roofing tiles transitioned from hand-made to machine made. With both types, a fastening system involved brass or copper wires that held the tiles in place and which were anchored by wooden pegs. When these pegs rotted, the tiles could work themselves loose.

Those tiles are not lightweight, therefore the supporting structure holding them up needs to be strong. Any such compromise would also lead to the collapse of roof tiles.

As with stucco, the root cause of loose tiles has to be identified at the source. Moving about a roof also requires special care because the tiles can break under the weight of a single person (plywood sheets help distribute the weight). Importantly, if a spot replacement is possible it is essential to get the colors of the tiles to match almost exactly. Sometimes the homeowner may relocate tiles from a less visible side of the house to the front-facing roof to achieve the color match; alternatively, an architectural salvaging company might have replacements.

Mission Revival homes are part of the NELA lifestyle well known to Realtor Tracy King. Contact her to find out what is currently listed at (323-243-1234).

Restoring a Mid-Century Modern Home in NELA

Thinking about buying an MCM in Northeast Los Angeles? There are many to choose from but most need some work and modernizing.

There may just be something right about restoring and altering aspects of a Mid-Century Modern home. Unlike the fussy rules that govern other architectural styles (Victorians, Craftsmans, Tudors, etc.), MCMs were futuristic and about change. All that glass? It was about breaking down barriers in society in the post-War period. All those flowing spaces? They celebrate the movement of life, be it for children or dance parties or rearranging furniture.

So it’s no surprise that Dwell magazine, as well as a number of MCM home blogs, seem quite comfortable with discussing ways to bring those classic 1930s through1960s structures into the 21st century. Frank Lloyd Wright, who inspired the style years before it became commonplace, promoted the idea of blending with natural surroundings, arguably a sustainable idea from a contemporary perspective. The many famous mid-century architects whose work is quite popular in Palm Springs (Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, et al.), for example, largely understood the challenges of summer desert heat and incorporated deep overhangs to at least block some sun. So why not replace those single-pane windows with something greener, such as double- and triple-paned versions?

There are plenty of MCMs in Northeast Los Angeles, or NELA. Search the listings of homes for sale in Glassell Park, Eagle Rock and Highland Park and you might find some stunners perched on hillsides. A Victorian or California bungalow might have been sacrificed for a sweet low-slung and glassy MCM, and why not? LA is about progressive change as much as valuing a stylish past.

Ideas for renovating found in Dwell include moving interior walls to redirect attention and perhaps accommodate a new powder room and a stairway to a new second floor. With solid post-and-beam construction, there is a lot of flexibility. One rehab had cedar tongue-and-groove panels added to the gently sloped living room ceilings for a dramatic effect. And a kitchen renovation included simply making it bigger and – bargain alert – using IKEA cabinetry fully complemented the aesthetic.

One blog, The Spruce, gently pokes fun at some of the nagging problems with MCMs. Too much glass (poor energy and temperature discomfort), overhanging elements such as cantilevered rooms (they look cool but can sag), huge fireplaces (who uses them much?), no doors (minimal privacy), and flat roofs (bad where it snows or rains heavily). If anything, these are things to consider fixing. Still, those gorgeous stone, room-dividing fireplaces look good to most of us, lit or unlit.

If you’re looking at MCM homes for sale in Highland Park, Garvanza, or Mt. Washington, consider the pragmatic blogs Retro Renovation as well as BuildLLC. These blog authors provide this list of tips:

• Beware of lead, asbestos, and other hazards commonly used back in the day. Demolitions can be dangerous if you don’t wear proper breathing apparatus.
• The era in which MCMs were built included solid foundations that are sufficient to support second story additions. That may not be the case with earlier-era homes. It’s also why moving walls is relatively simple.
• Mechanical systems, if original, might well need replacing. Hey, they’re 60+ years old.
• Updating the kitchen and bath can look bad in 10+ years. Whatever path you choose, preserve as much of what is original and salvageable, and try to make whatever is new complementary to the original features. Imagine the 1950s kitchen that was updated in 1985.

Realtor Tracy King has long specialized in assisting homeowners in NELA with the buying and selling of Mid-Century Modern homes. Contact Tracy and her team today (323-243-1234) to see what’s listed and what kinds of prices MCMs are selling for in the Northeast.

Wood Siding and Vintage Homes in NELA – What’s Advisable?

In some neighborhoods of Northeast Los Angeles, original wood exteriors are required in renovations. Elsewhere cement-fiberboard might work.

What has attracted thousands of buyers to homes in Northeast Los Angeles (NELA) is the character and charm of its vintage housing stock. Look no further than the Spanish Revival homes for sale in Highland Park or the handsome Craftsman homes in Pasadena and you will understand why. These houses are homes, with history and resilience: How many fires, floods and earthquakes have they endured over the past 100+ years?

But another word for “vintage” is “old,” and that often means parts of those structures have deteriorated. No matter to most buyers. If you’re hunting up homes for sale in Glassell Park, Eagle Rock or Mt. Washington, you know to budget for some restoration costs if you are buying a fixer-upper. That Craftsman you have your eye on in Hermon? It’s priced at $525,000 because it will need at least $100,000 worth of work to look more like that similar house with the repaired exterior and smart modern kitchen down the street listed for $700,000.

Updating, restoring, and renovating are done all the time, but it’s also possible to do it wrong. Most noticeable from a curbside perspective is when the original wood siding is not preserved but replaced with vinyl (or aluminum, as was the case a generation ago). Preservation minded individuals and organizations – who have a lot to do with all that property-value increase – hold a pretty strong line on vinyl: They don’t like it. In fact, the Highland Park-Garvanza HPOZ (Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, which covers some but not all of NELA neighborhoods) expressly states that at least from the street-facing sides of homes that no vinyl be used; some allowances are made for side and back sides of homes, mostly for lower-income residents undertaking renovations.

What’s so wrong about vinyl that it is prohibited? And what are a homebuyer’s options?

• Preserve, patch, and replace wood siding (and windows and doors). Believe it or not, replacing sections of wood siding (which may be partially rotted under an overlay of newer siding somewhere in the mid- to latter 20th century) as well as repairing wood windows, doors, and casements can be less expensive than a vinyl or other type of replacement.
• Look into cement-fiberboard (“Hardie Board”). This is not sanctioned by most HPOZs because it deviates from the original (it wasn’t invented until the mid-1980s). But in neighborhoods not under a HPOZ, it can be a reasonable facsimile. A guide titled, “Sustainable Solutions for Historic Homes in Northern California,” compiled in cooperation with the U.S. EPA, advocates preservation of existing siding first but that the use of cement-fiberboard using flyash (reclaimed industrial byproduct) can be a green choice.

In all types of replacement siding, the depth of window casements can be altered and therefore out of original character. This is why layering new siding over the original material is strongly discouraged.

Uncertain if a vintage home is right for you – or are you all in on saving and preserving a piece of NELA past? Realtor Tracy King is knowledgeable about homes old and new and is happy to discuss your interests and plans. Give the firm a call at 323-243-1234.