1960 Tierra Del Cerro Palmer & Krisel Home For Sale – San Diego, CA

This Palmer & Krisel-designed home sits in San Diego’s Tierra Del Sol subdivision and was built by the Drogin Construction Company in 1960. Unlike many of the homes in the subdivision which front Interstate 8, this property sits on Dartford Way, a 15-home cul-de-sac just off of Airoso Avenue. With three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,764 square feet, and a two car garage sitting on a 8,800 square-foot lot, the asking price on this property is $575,000.

H-shadow block on front of home - great original detail

Front entry

The east-facing front yard features a striking face of H-shadow block, creating a memorable and distinctly William Krisel-façade. The front yard is a collection of mature plantings, and is ready to be enjoyed as-is or can be a perfect candidate for a water-conserving makeover. The original clerestories over the garage, entry and front-facing guest bedroom are all still in place, while the other windows have been replaced with vinyl substitutions and thick white trim.

Entry

Living, dining and kitchen have been combined into one super room

Dining area at rear of home

Walking into the home, the dividing wall between the kitchen, dining and living rooms has been removed, creating a large, cavernous space that opens up the floor plan and allows more light to flow through the space but removes privacy from the common areas of the home and actually makes the room feel smaller. The original living room sits at the front of the home, while the dining room sits towards the back. Unlike many other iterations of this floorplan found throughout the San Diego region, there was no fireplace built with this home, which frees up furniture placement and changes the focus of the room.

Kitchen

Kitchen is pretty open to the living areas

Kitchen as viewed from the family room

The kitchen was updated at some point over the last 20 years, and features white raised-panel cabinetry in an L-shaped configuration. There’s no central island, and the room reads as an opportunity to create a better-fitting and modernist-inspired space that contextually suits the architectural roots of the home.

Secondary bedroom

Guest bathroom

Master bedroom

Both the master and guest bathrooms have been redone in the same style as one another, with dark cherry vanities, granite countertops and marble tub surrounds. While nice materials, the rooms do read as slightly heavy in nature and could be lightened through paint. The bedrooms are all in their original configuration, with open beamed ceilings, and the secondary bedrooms oriented towards the front of the home with the master at the rear.

Backyard

The backyard contains a patio space, several mature trees and mature plantings. Much like the front yard, the back yard offers the opportunity to enjoy as-is or to renovate with a drought-friendly makeover.

This home is move-in ready, but there’s great potential to bring out the midcentury roots of the property and really make it shine.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 5612 Dartford Way

Or Zillow.com here: 5612 Dartford Way

Freshly Flipped Palmer & Krisel in La Mirada For Sale – La Mirada, CA

Fresh off of a flip is this 1955 Palmer & Krisel-designed home in Parkwood La Mirada, La Mirada, California. Purchased back in July for $417,000, this home features four bedrooms, three bathrooms in 2,334 square feet with a detached two car garage on a 7,800 square-foot lot and a new asking price of $585,000.

Entry courtyard

Entry courtyard with nifty breeze block and trellis

The front of the home features fresh paint and exudes classic midcentury modern Palmer & Krisel design, with vertical banding on the garage face and a sweeping driveway leading to the front patio. A block wall enclosure has been built across the front of the home with breezeblock accents and a trellised cover, adding shade and protection from morning sun intruding into bedroom windows.

Entry

The front door sits at the center of the home and leads into the dark entry hall which has been covered in wainscoting, dark hardwood floors and illuminated with a  1940s-style school house light. The inside of this home definitely carries forward an east coast Cape Cod beach house-type atmosphere which is somewhat contradictory to the midcentury modern exterior and design roots of the home, but nonetheless the chosen style of the flipper.

Kitchen

Kitchen

The kitchen is just off of the entry at the front of the home and is open to the rear-facing living and dining rooms. The cabinetry has been updated, and stainless steel appliances with marble counters have been added, along with a handy large central island. Light sea foam green frosted subway tile has been added to the backsplashes helping to complete that beach house look.

Living

Dining

The living and dining rooms sit at the rear of the home, with a large master suite addition sitting off of the dining room.  The original living room modernist fireplace has been converted to a more traditionally appearing model, replete with fluted moulding and traditional mantle.

Master bedroom suite addition

Master bedroom suite addition

Master suite bath - someone needs to remove those stickers from the commode!

Guest bedroom

Guest bedroom

Guest bath

Original master bedroom at front of home

Original master bathroom at front of home

A large master bedroom addition sits off of the dining room, with its own fireplace, bathroom, kitchenette and access to the backyard. The original bedrooms are diminutive in size, as this home originally incorporated four bedrooms in approximately 1,200 square feet. The bathrooms have all been renovated in a clean, all-white theme, with fixtures and handles that match the east-coast beach house meets midcentury modern theme.

Backyard

Backyard

The backyard is mainly occupied by the rear addition, but incorporates a small patio and turf space. A small trellised cover sits over the mullioned-sliding doors to the addition, while the yard is completely devoid of shad trees. There’s only one tree on the entire property; a lone palm at the front of the home.

For those looking for a large, move-in ready home in La Mirada this one fits the bill. The east coast interior doesn’t quite reflect the mod lines of the midcentury modern exterior, but for a large home with a reasonable price per square foot, it will most likely sell swiftly.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 14554 San Bruno Drive

Or Zillow.com here: 14554 San Bruno Drive

1961 Crestmont Hills Palmer & Krisel For Sale – El Paso, TX

In northwest El Paso, Texas sits a handful of Palmer & Krisel-designed homes in the subdivision of Crestmont Hills. Most of the Palmer & Krisel-designed homes are clustered together, but there are a handful, including todays featured home, that are spread throughout the Crestmont Hills subdivision. Today’s featured home was built in 1961, provides three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,413 square feet on a 7,000 square-foot view lot with an asking price of only $122,000.

Living room and entryway

Living room

Living room fireplace

The front of the midcentury home exudes classic Krisel modernist lines, with tall horizontal bands of windows, clerestories on the sides of the home and an open two-car carport. The front door sits at the center of the home and opens up into the small entry hall which in turn opens up to the rear-facing living room. The living room is anchored by a stacked brick fireplace augments with clerestory windows and built-in book cases.

Kitchen

Kitchen

Dining/family room

The kitchen sits between the living room and family/dining room and overlooks the back yard. The cabinetry has been updated since the property was built; however the room still incorporates its original hanging cabinet feature. The open beamed celotex ceilings add height and volume to the space, allowing for the small spaces to feel larger. The adjacent dining/family room provides access to the backyard and clerestories at the end of the home allowing natural light to help illuminate the room.

Master bedroom

Master bedroom with nifty original built-in vanity

Master bathroom

Master bathroom with original sink and vanity

The master bedroom sits just off the entryway at the front of the home, and provides clerestory windows, dual closets and an original built-in vanity. The master bath still incorporates its original vanity and white American Standard sink, with updated tile countertops.

Guest bedroom

Guest bedroom

Jack-and-jill bathroom

The secondary bedrooms sit off of the dining/family room and overlook the front carport. The end bedroom features clerestories at the end of the home, and a jack-and-jill bathroom sits between the two rooms.  The jack-and-jill bath also features its original vanity and white American Standard sink with updated tile countertops.

Back patio off of dining/family room

Rear patio - check out those support columns!

View from back yard

The backyard is unlandscaped, but features uninterrupted sweeping views to the north, as the home backs up to and sits high above Sunland Park Drive. A vintage covered patio is attached to the rear of the home and incorporates some pretty nifty retro support poles.

This is a classic Krisel floor plan that’s been seen in Tucson, Lompoc, Las Vegas, Henderson, Hanford and now El Paso. It’s a versatile with slightly split bedrooms, and efficient with the kitchen at the center. For anyone out there looking for a piece of midcentury modern architecture in El Paso, Texas this is definitely a must see.

Check out Realtor.com for more photos here: 313 Clairemont Drive

Or Zillow.com here: 313 Clairemont Drive

Palmer & Krisel Fixer Opportunity in Valwood Estates – Pomona, CA

Opportunity knocks with this midcentury 1955 Palmer & Krisel-designed home in Pomona’s Valwood Estates. This well-worn home features four bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,200 square feet and a detached two-car garage on a 6,200 square-foot lot with an asking price of $325,000.

Entry courtyard

Original floor plan and elevation from Valwood Estates sales brochure

Built as the Valwood Estates Model B2, this diminutive home holds lots of potential.  The home sits with its gable end towards the street, while the detached garage carries a shed roofline almost creating a zig-zag patterned roofline. A thick green hedgerow separates the front yard from the sidewalk, while the front yard itself is ready for a modernist drought-friendly makeover.  

Dining room

The front door sits on the side of the home located in the entry courtyard between the home and detached garage. The entryway opens up to the rear-facing living room, dining room and kitchen. The living room still features its original cut stone fireplace, now painted white and hidden from view in the listing photos by couches.

Dining room

Living room

Kitchen

Kitchen with entry beyond

The dining room sits at the rear corner of the home, with windows overlooking the backyard. The south-facing clerestory windows have been painted over, cutting down on the amount of natural light entering the home. Opposite the living and dining rooms are the kitchen and laundry, the latter of which provides access to the backyard. The kitchen appears to have been updated at some point in the mid-1970s, with tile countertops, dark wood cabinetry and white appliances.

Bedroom

Bedroom

The bedrooms show fairly tight, as four bedrooms in 1,200 square feet is a lot to pack in. Luckily all rooms feature their original open beamed celotex ceilings, helping to add volume to small spaces. Like the rear of the home, the north-facing clerestories at the front of the home have been painted over, no longer allowing natural light to illuminate the spaces.

Bathroom

The bathrooms appear to have been updated in the same era as the kitchen, and are at least functional. While there are no listing photos, the backyard is very much a blank slate, with large trees shade along the south perimeter and a patchy lawn ready to be converted to entertaining space or a water-conserving landscape.

While the property shows cluttered, there’s lots of potential to breathe new modernist life into this midcentury Palmer & Krisel home.

Check out Redfin.com for more photos here: 2216 CarltonAvenue

Or Zillow.com here: 2216 Carlton Avenue