The Hollywood, redux

No one builds apartment buildings anymore, do they?

I spent an hour or so revamping unit A6 at The Hollywood, a recently completed apartment (read: loft) building in Hollywood.

Original floor plan.

In spite of architect Stephen Kanner's boast about the "big open windows" in his spiel on the building's official website, according to his floor plan this "unit" seems to derive almost all of its light from the sliding glass doors that lead to the balcony. But really, you don't care whether your bedrooms have windows, do you?

My revamp leaves all of this apartment's infrastructure—including plumbing, HVAC, and miserly fenestration—in place. But it does complexify and attempt to remedy (insofar as possible) Kanner's reductive grovel to the "contemporary lifestyle, " i.e., no storage space, kitchen as foyer, dining room as afterthought.

The revamp.


The Hollywood, Hollywood.

Colcord on the market

This sweet and nicely appointed traditional by Gerard Colcord at 215 Strada Corta Road in Bel-Air is on the market for $12.95 million.

215 Strada Corta Road, Bel-Air.

Colcord, who lived from 1900 to 1984, was known for his conservative traditionalism and appeals to a small but fervent group of cognoscenti, who value his understated elegance, sense of proportion, and disregard for sensationalism.

Gerard "Gerry" Colcord (center).

This informative 2005 L.A. Times article outlines the major characteristics of Colcord's residential projects. Although at the time of the article there were no monographs on Colcord, one has since appeared: Colcord Home by Bret Parsons.

Click the image to order from Amazon.com.

The living room.

What more can one ask?

The listing is here.

If I owned it, I would tone done the stark black and white color scheme to off-white and dove gray.

Crime of the Week

There oughta be a law.

But this is America, where, by God or Allah, you can build anything you damn well please to puff up your ego, neighbors and neighborhood be damned.

Wapello Street, Altadena.

If this naïve disaster were on a street composed of nothing but similar architectural schlock (Encino comes to mind), one wouldn't mind quite so much. But, alas, it's on a quiet, quaint, semi-rustic side street in upper Altadena that hosts an array of modest—and quite often charming—cottages, small mid-century ranchers, and the occasional bungalow.

The cottage directly across the street (from Google Earth).

This behemoth not only dwarfs nearby houses, but is entirely out of character with the surroundings, eclectic though they may be.

The behemoth from above.

Like I say, there oughta be a law.

Adorable in Altadena

Today I drove over to Altadena's Janes Village neighborhood to take a look at sone of the cottages designed and built by Elisha P. Janes between 1924 and 1926. The neighborhood has an informative website with lots of pictures. More than 160 houses in Altadena have been identified as Janes designs, although he probably built far more than have been positively attributed to him.

Historic views of Janes cottages in Altadena, shortly after completion.

Several of the cottages are currently for sale in the $400,000-500,000 range, including these two:

3058 Olive Ave.

3224 Grandeur Ave.

As an example of just how chic this neighborhood could be (although it's far from shabby now), here's a parting shot of one homeowner's accomplished landscaping.

Crime of the Week

Hey, remember Post-Modernism?

While Gloria Estefan was on the Top 10 and Miami Vice ruled the Peacock Network, Kanner Architects were busy with their aqua-tinged 1988 makeover of this 16-unit Mid-Wilshire apartment building, originally constructed (I wouldn't say designed) in 1957.

686 S. St. Andrews Place, Mid-Wilshire.

Unfortunately, the statute of limitations has expired on this one, and in any case one can hardly feel pity for the "victim" building. My deepest sympathies, however, are extended to anyone who lives across the street from this forced study in the Architecture of Cool.

The perpetrator firm now bills itself as "a Modern design studio in Santa Monica, California" (Modern with a nice big capital M), disingenuously disguising its sordid Post-Modernist past. But the truth will out: Kanner continues its obsession with Swiss cheese in this much more recent gymnasium in Pacific Palisades.

Stately in Country Club Park

On the market since January for an asking price of $7.5 million, the stately Rosenheim mansion (1908-1910) in Country Club Park is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 660 (declared in 1999).

1120 Westchester Place.

St. Louis native Alfred F. Rosenheim (1859-1943) was the architect of the Hellman Building (now the Hellman Lofts), the Majestic Theater on Broadway, the Second Church of Christ Scientist in West Adams and several other important Los Angeles buildings at the turn of the last century. This 6-bedroom 15,000-square-foot mansion—his own home—was among his most important designs for private houses.

Interiors (from the MLS).

The house has a large ballroom in an adjacent structure immediately to the southeast, which is currently being used as a recording studio, evidently by Planet Earth Records, whose garish, horsy website can be visited here (ibuprofen recommended). The agent suggests that the former ballroom might also be converted into a pro basketball court. Are you listening, Kobe?

Ballroom-cum-recording-studio.