South Whittier 1956 Palmer & Krisel Pool Home For Sale – Whittier, CA

This 1,264 square-foot three bedroom, two bathroom Palmer & Krisel-designed home in south Whittier, CA is predicted by Redfin to sell fast. It sits on a deep 8,500 square-foot lot that backs up to Sierra Vista High School, has a huge in-ground pool and a detached two-car garage with an asking price of only $420,000.

Driveway leading to front door

This is one of our favorite rooflines – a gable end on the dwelling portion of the home and a reverse shed roofline on the garage, giving the home an almost folded plate roofline appearance. The roofline is certainly dynamic, definitely cutting edge for 1956 and still pretty rare in mainstream housing to this day. It offers uniqueness not seen on typical midcentury tract housing.

As the garage of the home sits towards the back of the home, the long driveway serves as the entry walkway to the front door. The front exterior windows have all been replaced with white vinyl mullioned windows, whose busy pattern unfortunately detracts somewhat from the architecture of the home. Love it or not, the garage also features a mullioned-window garage door, which matches the white vinyl windows on the home, but could look so much cooler with a flat-fronted or opaque Clopay Avanti garage door.

Living room features a dramatic wall of glass and stacked red brick fireplace

Hidden behind that hutch is another stacked redbrick accent wall hiding the kitchen range and oven

As is the norm for most Palmer & Krisel-designed homes, the living and dining areas are at the rear of the home. While it may be tricky to note in the cluttered photos, the east-facing rear wall of the living room is dramatic floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the swimming pool area. The red brick modernist fireplace sits on the north wall of the room, and is flanked by a pair of windows letting in additional light.

Kitchen with the fridge in the dining room

Kitchen and stacked red brick 3/4 wall divider 

The kitchen is separated from the dining room by a stacked red-brick ¾ wall divider which, while rare for a Palmer & Krisel to incorporate red brick anywhere other than the fireplace, adds texture and character to both the living room and kitchen. The dining room sits between the kitchen an living room at the rear of the house and features a natural finished open beamed ceiling.

The kitchen cabinetry has been updated with lighter-colored raised-panel cabinetry and decorative molding, which while not the style of the home, is still functional. The bathrooms have been updated with simple, generic big-box store materials that leave them clean and functional, and can be updated at any time to match the modernist roots of the home.

Guest bath

Master bedroom

Two bedrooms have been converted to one

Other half of the expanded bedroom

The home was originally built as a four bedroom; however four bedrooms in 1,200 square feet is pretty tight, and a wall has been taken out between two of the bedrooms to create a long rectangular room, creating a three bedrooms where there were once four. The backyard is home to an enormous swimming pool with a diving board, waterslide and lots of patio space. There’s plenty of shrubbery, but the east-facing yard is devoid of any trees for shade or height.

Backyard is home to an enormous swimming pool with diving board and water slide

Eastern view of the backyard

This is a neat opportunity to own a Palmer & Krisel in a convenient location at a low price. It’s definitely ready to let its modernist roots shine and become a mid-mod showplace.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 12925 Racimo Drive

Or Zillow.com here:  12925 Racimo Drive