Living Conditioned Restoration Opportunity – Northridge, CA

For anyone out there looking for a fun restoration challenge, here’s a great Palmer & Krisel candidate in Northridge, CA. Originally built in 1958 as a Living Conditioned Home, this three bedroom, two bathroom home has been heavily modified over the years, with minimal original left on the front façade. The home features 1,764 square feet along with a detached two-car garage and an in-ground pool on a 10,800 square-foot lot and carries an asking price of $650,000.

Original rendering of home

D4 Plan Floorplan

Originally built as a Plan D4, this home featured a split-plane flat roof with sunflaps and a large private courtyard patio between the home and carport, with shadow H-block accenting portions of the façade. The only remaining feature on the exterior is the shadow H-block on the façade of the carport, but the basic form of the home is still there, under a mansard roof and stucco façade.

Entry

Living room 

Living room 

Living room 

The original double doored entry has been converted to a single door with sidelight, and leads into the cherry wood-floored entry hall and living room. The rear sliding glass doors were long converted to mullioned French doors, and the original open beamed wood ceiling has been drywalled over. The fireplace remains in its original location, but has seen its original form made much more traditional, with marble mantle and surround.

Kitchen 

Kitchen 

Dining (Family) room 

The kitchen sits off the entry, and is traditional in its current appearance with shaker cabinets and mid-2000s granite counters. The dining room sits off the kitchen, original built as the family room, and would have once overlooked the front courtyard through large windows.

Master bedroom 

Master bedroom 

Master bedroom 

Secondary bedroom 

Secondary bedroom

Guest bath

The master bedroom is located on the east side of the home, split from the secondary bedrooms, and overlooks the backyard. The master bath sits along the front of the home, and has had dark, traditional updates with slate tile accents. The secondary bedrooms sit along the west side of the home, and like the rest of the house feature dark cherry floors, while the guest bath remains a departure from the modernist roots of the home.

Back of home and pool

Pool and backyard

Covered patio and pool 

Covered patio 

The backyard features a large rectangular in-ground pool, with a modest patch of turf at either side of the pool. A large covered patio hugs the rear of the home, which provides ample room for entertaining and outdoor living.

Luckily there are a couple of other examples of well-preserved D4 Plan homes in the Living Conditioned Homes neighborhood, that may serve as appropriate models to bring this property back to life. The current price tag of the home makes it a bit tricky, but this property could be a great long-term project for someone with a little vision.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 18342 Hiawatha Street

Or Zillow.com here: 18342 Hiawatha Street

Living Conditioned Butterfly Roofed Former Model Home For Sale – Northridge, CA

Built in 1957 by builder Sanford D. Adler is this two-owner Living Conditioned Home in Northridge, CA brand new to the market. Once the original sales model for the Living Conditioned subdivision, this home remains relatively unchanged with only a laundry room added on to the back of the two-car carport (now garage) accessed from the kitchen. This true midcentury modern three bedroom, two bathroom home sits in 1,812 square feet on a large 11,300 square-foot lot with pool and carries an asking price of $695,000.

Front of home

Enrty

The exterior of the home features some of William Krisel’s design style at its best. The butterfly roof creates a strong streetside impression, with the garage offset slightly from the façade of the home and vertical board and batten siding accents the garage roofline. Natural stone veneer sits beneath clerestory and secondary bedroom windows, while a thoughtfully placed sunflap shields the western-most clerestory from the setting sun.

Entry hall - check out the original escutcheon

A pair of bright orange double doors with original escutcheons leads visitors and guests through the wide entry hall into rear-facing living room. The floors throughout the home have been converted to clean-polished concrete with remnant ghosting of the original VCT tiles seen throughout the property, while the original open beamed wooden ceilings are still in place. A fun, vintage-inspired tiki bar with suspended cabinetry sits between the dining room and living room serving as a room divider to the space and a perfect entertaining centerpiece.

Tiki bar and living room 

Living room 

Fireplace - love that vintage bubble light

Living room and tiki bar

Dining room and tiki bar

The living room is anchored by Krisel’s signature modernist fireplace, with stone veneer accents and a well-placed vintage George Nelson bubble lamp accent. Original paneling and north-facing clerestories tie the room to the adjacent dining room which overlooks the backyard and swimming pool.

Kitchen 

Kitchen and dining 

Kitchen 

Kitchen and backyard view

Kitchen 

Laundry room addition

The kitchen sits adjacent to the dining room, still featuring its original signature Krisel blue speckled tile countertops with pegboard slider and wooden cabinetry. The original 1957 stainless steel wall oven remains exactly as it was in 1957 while the electric range appears to be vintage as well. The laundry room addition lies just beyond the kitchen, carrying forward the roofline of the home with exposed wooden ceiling.

Master bedroom dressing area and entry

Master bedroom

Master bedroom 

Master bath

Master bath

The master bedroom sits at the front of the home off the entry, overlooking the side yard while large south-facing clerestories flood the room with natural light. The adjacent master bathroom is completely original, with lighting, mosaic tilework, stone counters, pink American Standard Pullman and floating pegboard cabinetry all in pristine condition.

Built-in vanity at secondary bedroom 

Secondary bedroom 

Secondary bedroom 

Guest bath

The two secondary bedrooms are split from the master, accessed off the kitchen area, with one bedroom featuring a small built-in vanity. Both bedrooms overlook the front yard with large south-facing windows and clerestories, while the bedroom closets all feature their original pulls. The adjacent guest bath is as original as the master bath, maintained as a perfect time capsule of modernism with everything as originally intended by Mr. Krisel. 

Back of home

Covered patio at back of home

Pool and backyard

Pool and patio 

Backyard

The large north-facing backyard features a covered patio off of the living room and ample patio space surrounds the rectangular in-ground pool. Mature plantings line the perimeter of the yard, while a small patch of grass sits beyond the pool offering welcome patch of greenery.

Well-preserved modernist homes like this one don’t come along every day, and this property presents a unique opportunity to acquire an iconic piece of midcentury architecture in a signature Northridge neighborhood. This midcentuy home is going to sell fast, so be sure to check it out before it’s gone.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 18417 Minnehaha Street

Or Zillow.com here: 18417 Minnehaha Street

1957 Palmer & Krisel Living Conditioned Home Hits the Market – Northridge, CA

The Living Conditioned Homes in Northridge, California were a hit when they debuted in the late 1950s. These homes were advertised as 'homes that are keyed to good living, providing the greatest degree of comfort, livability, and convenience.' Or as Krisel more eloquently states, Living Conditioned was ‘advertising puffery.’ Either way one can’t argue that these are some of the cooler Palmer & Krisels found in the San Fernando Valley.

This 1957 Palmer & Krisel-designed home contains four bedrooms and three bathrooms in 1,965 square feet, on a 14,400 square-foot lot with a rear-loading driveway and the coveted mid-mod butterfly roofline. There’s some bad news – the home fronts on Devonshire Street, a four-lane arterial; it sides up to an alleyway which in turn sides up to a Mexican-food restaurant; the home has been ‘updated’; and the two-car carport has been converted into two bedrooms advertise as an ‘income opportunity.’Clearly neither the current owner nor the listing agent are aware of what they have on their hands. But for those die hard Krisel fans out there, this is a neat opportunity to own a Living Conditioned home and restore some of its great features.

The home features a striking façade with H-shadow block covering the chimney as well as both walls flanking the entryway. Other than some minor window replacement, the front façade doesn’t appear to have been altered much at all over the years. Inside the home, wood laminate floors have been installed along with chunky overly ornate baseboards. The kitchen has been ‘upgraded’ with oak cabinets, granite counters and stainless steel appliances.

'Upgraded' Kitchen and Dining Room

Kitchen and Dining

There aren’t many other pictures of the interior of the home, but from what we can tell the clerestories at the rear of the property are still intact, as are the signature rear wall of glass. Unfortunately those overlook a backyard of mostly dirt, however there are several small trees on site which do help add a green element in an otherwise dusty and undervalued yard. 

The one bedroom shown is fairly ornate and wallpapered, and the one bathroom shown is pretty plain, not what one expects to see in a midcentury modern home. This home has fantastic curb appeal, and there’s opportunity here to make the inside of the property match the mid-mod outside. We wish the lucky new owners the best with this one, and we can’t wait to see it become a successful rehab.

Master Bedroom

Back yard - Clerestories and floor-to-ceiling windows still intact on rear of home

Rear yard - carport conversion on the right

Check out the listing on Redfin: 18419 Devonshire Street

Or on Realtor.com: 18419 Devonshire Street