Bartley Grove Estates 1954 Palmer& Krisel Short Sale For Sale – Whittier, CA

The third of our trio of Palmer & Krisel-designed homes to hit the market this week in Whittier, CA is this 1954 home located in Bartley Grove Estates in southwest Whittier. Originally built as a four bedroom two bathroom home with a two-car carport, this property has been reconfigured to include five bedrooms with three bathrooms in 1,647 square feet with a carport conversion. Sited on a nine-home cul-de-sac with a 5,900 square-foot lot, the asking price on this short sale property is only $275,000.

Front of home and carport

With this low low price comes issues. The floor plan has been modified – the two car garage has been converted to a master bedroom, a makeshift carport has been built on the front of the property, and there is lots of tlc needed. But at this price, this property becomes an opportunity for the new owner.

The home shows cluttered, and there are not a lot of photographs leaving lots up to the imagination. The front yard contains low growing, mature landscape hiding the home from street view but providing an opportunity to create a water-conserving modernist makeover. A trellised freestanding carport serves as the covered parking for the property, hiding the front door entry from view from the street.

Living Room

Living and dining room

Dining and living room

The entry leads visitors into the rear-facing living and dining rooms which is pretty well filled with furniture. Seen through the contents of the home are floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the backyard through the living and dining rooms, along with original single-panel French doors. All of the original open beamed celotex ceilings are still in place, allowing for the interior space to feel slightly larger than they are, while the flooring is laminate and ceramic tile.

Kitchen

Family room

The kitchen lies just off of the dining room, and has been updated at some point over the last 15 years, with raised panel cabinetry and granite countertops. The family room sits just off of the kitchen adjacent to the entry, and shows even more cluttered than the rest of the home, making it difficult to discern what is happening with the space.  

Master bedroom in former garage

Master bathroom

Guest bedroom

Guest bedroom

Guest bathroom

The guest bedrooms are all fairly diminutive in size, however the master bedroom carved out of the former garage is actually fairly spacious. The bathrooms have all been updated with materials that are fairly indicative of a big box store renovation including out-of-the-box vanities, but appear to be functional without significant issues.

Backyard

The backyard shows pretty much like the home; cluttered and busy, but again with clutter comes opportunity to create something special. The asking price is low enough on this home that the master bedroom could be converted back into the garage, and a pretty extensive modernist makeover could occur to the rest of the home with the potential for some equity to be left over. If the property can be had at the asking price, it’s a great buy an excellent opportunity to create something special.

Check out Redfin.com for the full listing here: 10917 Abbotsford Road

Or Zillow.com here: 10917 Abbotsford Road

Bartley Grove Estates Palmer & Krisel For Sale – Whittier, CA

Here’s a 1954 Palmer & Krisel home for sale in Bartley Grove Estates in West Whittier/Los Nietos, California. With just 1,269 square feet, this home manages to accommodate four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a two car garage all on a 6,400 square-foot lot with an asking price of $409,900.

Like many of the Palmer & Krisels over the years, this one has had its exterior reinterpreted from its original midcentury modern bones. One of the most noticeable revisions that this home has undergone is the addition of archways to the front porch, potentially a mid-1970s update. The entire exterior of the home has been covered in a heavy lace stucco finish, a significant departure from the original sand-finish. 

The front yard is grassy, and is the only one on the street to have had a partial wall built around it. The front isn’t gated, so we’re not quite sure why the wall exists – perhaps the future new owner will remove it to enhance the curb appeal.

Walking inside the home past the arched front porch, one enters the living room, which originally would have featured those trademark Krisel walls of glass to the backyard; however this home has had a sunroom addition tacked on the rear altering the view. The dining room and kitchen wrap around the back of the home. The kitchen is open, with heavy, traditional cabinetry and dark counters which sit below original clerestory windows.

Two of the bedrooms sit on the north side of the home, behind the two-car garage while the other two bedrooms sit on the front side of the home. Both are accessed via small hallways off the living room. For those who love original features, it looks like the linen closets and pulls are vintage ’54 Palmer & Krisel – check out the view in the living room photo past that classic plaid couch.

Out back there’s an open grassy back yard – no clue if that cat tower comes with home. Also, it appears all the rear windows have had bars installed over them. A better more aesthetic alternative would be security laminate/film, which offers the same protection as bars without the imposing look. We appreciate the fact that this home retains the original vaulted ceilings and clerestories, along with linen cabinets, and offers a great opportunity to create a fantastic mod renovation.

Living Room, Hallway & View to Sunroom

Kitchen

Living and Dining Room

Backyard & Cat Tower

Check out the Redfin photos here: 8441 Alburtis Avenue

Or Zillow here: 8441 Alburtis Avenue

1954 Bartley Grove Estates Palmer & Krisel Home For Sale – Whittier, CA

We’ve found the 1954 Palmer & Krisel subdivision of Bartley Grove Estates in West Whittier, California. Listed in the Krisel Archives at the Getty Museum as being located in Downey, Bartley Grove Estates lies within unincorporated Los Angeles County between the Cities of Whittier and Downey, utilizing Whittier as a mailing address. This made it tricky for us to track down, but after an extensive search we found it and here’s the first home we’ve seen for sale in it.

This is a 1954, 1,254 square-foot home squeezing in three (originally four!) bedrooms and two bathrooms plus a two-car garage all on a tidy 5,400 square-foot lot with an asking price of $390,000. This home features a couple of unique design quirks in addition to the usual Krisel hallmarks. The garage features an off-centered white clapboard siding breaking the standard board and batten façade, while the corner window to the left of the front door was a feature that many other southern California mid-century builders used. Its rare (but not unseen) for Krisel homes to have this feature, along with the double, slightly off-center roofline of where the garage intersects with the dwelling portion of the home. The most surprising Krisel feature not seen in this home (and the entire subdivision for that matter) is a fireplace – usually a living room staple.

There’s not many pictures of the home online so there’s not much to describe, but inside there’s quite a few Krisel traits. Like many of his Southern California homes, there’s no direct access between the home and the garage. The open, vaulted beamed ceilings are still intact, as are the clerestory windows at the east and west ends of the home and the walls of glass in the living areas at the back of the home. The fourth bedroom has been annexed by the living area; however the trusses are still in place creating an interesting added architectural feature.

The kitchen appears to have been updated in the mid to late 1990s, and there’s some fun retro teal carpeting throughout the home. Who knows what condition the bedrooms and baths are in as there’s no pictures. The laundry, most likely originally in the kitchen, has been moved to the garage, while the backyard appears lush and grassy. The listing agent doesn’t seem to be aware of the architectural signifigance of this home, and has humorously noted it as a ‘traditional.’ That just means more mid-mod for the rest of us!

There’s not many photos, but you can check out the Redfin listing here: 11015 Abbotsford Rd

Or Zillow here: 11015 Abbotsford Rd