1958 Palmer & Krisel in Richmond Heights For Sale – Hanford, CA

This is the first Palmer & Krisel-designed home in Hanford, California’s Richmond Heights subdivision that we’ve featured here on the blog. Hanford, CA sits in the southeast San Joaquin Valley as the county seat of Kings County, with a population of approximately 57,000. This Palmer & Krisel-designed home is one of only 16 homes built by Sierra Properties in the late 1950s. This 1958 three bedroom, two bathroom 1,545 square-foot home includes a detached two-car garage, sits on a 9,500 square-foot lot and carries an asking price of $187,000.

The product of a recent flip, this home last sold in April 2015 for $110,000. There’s some hallmarks of typical flippers – light fixtures and bath vanities straight out of the big-box do-it-yourself stores, but the overall integrity of the home remains, along with most of the original kitchen.

Living Room with signature Krisel modernist fireplace

Addition at rear of home

The living room sits at the back of the home, and features a wide, modernist signature Krisel fireplace, to which a distracting wooden mantle has been added by a well-meaning flipper. Unfortunately the added mantle muddies the lines a bit, but is an easy removal. Just to the right of the fireplace sits what was once the rear window and glass door to the backyard, but now serves as the access point to a wide, open addition.

Original Kitchen with updated cabinet fronts and appliances

Great shot of that original kitchen - the big-box store chandelier needs to go though

The kitchen in this home really shines, with its yellow tile countertops and original cabinet boxes. It does appear as if the cabinet doors have been replaced and updated with squared, raised panel doors. The blending of new and old creates a funny look – it would have been better if the flipper retained the original doors. We love the floating cabinets where the cooktop is located, a fun feature that we see in other Palmer & Krisel-designed homes from time to time. Even the yellow VCT floor tiles appear to be vintage, which is great to see still in place.

Bathroom off of Kitchen/Entry. Note generic vanity, mirror too small for the space and ill-placed wall light fixture

Hall bathroom - large floor tiles as tub surround aren't centered on fixtures, creating a permanent off-centered, unbalanced appearance

The bathrooms of the home appear to have been updated in a very generic style that is functional, but clearly originates from a big-box home improvement store. The hall bath also features floor tile on the walls, a common cost-saving technique of flippers that readily reads as such. The other detail that the flipper overlooked is that the tile surrounding the faucets and shower head of the tub isn’t even centered on the center fixtures, creating a permanent uneven and unbalanced look.

Master Bedroom

All three bedrooms feature vaulted ceilings which help visually enlarge small spaces, and all feature laminate wood floors. The master bedrooms still features its original clerestory windows. The backyard has not been improved, another common trait of flippers. The general assumption is that home buyers have made up their minds whether or not to buy a home before they walk out back, therefore no to spend additional money on the yard.

Backyard remains untouched and unimproved by the flipper

It’s great that the original kitchen is still in place, along with the wonderful modernist fireplace in the living room, but there’s other parts of the home that need to be reconsidered, namely the bathrooms, and there’s a desperate need for color on the property. These faults aside, it’s a great price on a Palmer & Krisel-designed home, and if you’ve got to live in Hanford and love mid-mod, this home is a pretty good option.

Check out the full listing on Realtor.com here: 1000 East Myrtle Avenue