Midland Meadows Palmer & Krisel-Designed Home For Sale – Fullerton, CA

This sweet midcentury Palmer & Krisel-designed home was built by the Midland Companies in Fullerton, CA in 1954. With three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,340 square feet sited on a 6,200 square-foot cul-de-sac lot, the asking price of this home is $475,000.

Front of home

Entry

The exterior of the home appears to be a response to the ongoing drought, with the yard essentially being a blank slate to create a water-conserving modernist expression. Various shaped and sized shrubs sit within the yard, and a portion of the front yard area sits behind a wooden privacy fence.

The floorplan of the home is one that we’ve seen lots of lately – the living and dining rooms sit at the rear of the home; the kitchen sits along the eastern side with a family room sited between the kitchen and entryway, while all three bedrooms are clustered together on the west side of the home.

View from entry

Family room 

Family room as seen from entry

Living Room 

Living room and entry

Living room 

Living room 

Dining room 

The family room sits off the entry, overlooking the front yard, and is separated from the entry with a vintage floating rock planter. A painted CMU-demising wall separates the family room from the south-facing living room, and a floating soffit spans the space. The living room features is original stacked block modernist fireplace, somewhat obscured by an aftermarket brass screen.

Kitchen 

Kitchen 

Kitchen 

Most of the windows in the home have been swapped out for white vinyl replacements, but luckily the open beamed celotex ceilings are still in place, as are the original clerestory windows on the sides of the home. The kitchen has been updated with very traditional materials, including raised panel cabinetry, granite counters and a mix of appliance styles.

Master bedroom 

Master bathroom

Guest bath

Secondary bedroom 

Secondary bedroom

The three bedrooms all feature windows which have been converted to sliding glass doors, lots of windows letting in generous amounts of natural light, along with the open beamed vaulted ceilings found throughout the rest of the home. Both of the bathrooms are remarkably well-preserved, with vintage vanities, sinks, floating cabinetry and fixtures and lighting, with the master bathroom accented in midcentury pink and the guest bath in grey.

No photos of the backyard are provided, however the original detached two car garage takes up a portion of the southwest corner of the rear yard, with either a patio or storage room constructed on one side of the structure, while a large shade tree sits in the center of the yard.

The bathrooms are some of the niftiest features on this home, and overall the property appears to have some great lines and bones. Redfin.com predicts this home will sell fast, so be sure to check it out before it’s gone.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 518 W Woodcrest Avenue

Or Zillow.com here: 518 W Woodcrest Avenue

Renovated Midland Meadows Palmer & Krisel Home For Sale – Fullerton, CA

Built in 1955 by Midland Properties is this freshly renovated Palmer & Krisel-designed midcentury modern home in Midland Meadows in Fullerton, CA. With four bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,341 square feet on a 7,400 square-foot lot and carries an asking price of $499,000.

The exterior of the home has been re-envisioned with horizontal wood slat siding which unfortunately replaced the distinct original Bill Krisel board and batten siding which gave texture and shadow to the façade of the home. The home sits lengthwise on the lot, with the bedrooms at the front gable end of the home and the living areas at the rear. The two-car garage features a reverse-angle roofline, which gives the home the appearance of having a butterfly roofline.

Living, dining and kitchen 

Inside, the home has seen the great room concept applied to all the living areas, creating one super giant entry-foyer-kitchen-island-dining-living room. While this approach is often taken to make homes feel larger, the effect tends to be the opposite, making rooms seem smaller than they appear and eliminating interior privacy. Luckily the original clerestory and floor-to-ceiling windows on the back of the home are still intact, allowing the living areas to blend with the outdoors.

Living, garage entry and front entry

The living room features its original cut stone fireplace, which has seen its stones painted blue, black, grey and white. The original open-beamed vaulted celotex ceilings have survived the renovation intact, and add height and volume to the interior living areas.

Kitchen and living

Kitchen 

Kitchen 

Kitchen and dining

The kitchen has been extended into the original dining room, and features composite counters, stainless steel appliances and a wood-topped central island. There’s only two sets of upper cabinetry, both tucked in a corner near the fridge, whose placement looks unfortunately out of place, almost as much as that wall-mounted boob light near the range.

Front bedroom 

Front bedroom 

Side bedroom 

Side bedroom

Guest bath

The four bedrooms are fairly diminutive in size, with two bedrooms on the east and two on the west sides of the front of the home. This particular model featured no true master bedroom, and provides jack-and-jill bathrooms between the bedrooms. Both front-facing bedrooms still feature their original clerestory windows, and both bathrooms have been updated in a style in line with the rest of the updates found throughout the rest of the home.  

Backyard

The bad news about the south-facing backyard is that it backs up to the Riverside Freeway, but on the plus side there’s a pretty formidable wall separating the yard from the freeway. There’s a corrugated steel-roofed covered patio against the back of the home, and the remainder of the yard is essentially a blank slate ready for a fitting water-conserving makeover.

This home is in move-in ready condition, and should appeal to those that like modern conveniences within midcentury lines.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 506 West Houston Avenue

Or Zillow.com here: 506 West Houston Avenue

Midland Meadows Palmer & Krisel Home For Sale – Fullerton, CA

Built in 1955 by Midland Properties is this Palmer & Krisel-designed home in Fullerton, California. With three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,340 square feet, a two car garage all sited on a 6,900 square-foot lot the asking price on this midcentury home is $515,000.

Front of home

Entry and service porch

This particular midcentury home has some great modernist bones that received a makeover at some point in the 1980s. The exterior of the home has had its body covered in clapboard siding. Windows have been added to the detached garage, a cottagey-garage door has been placed on the garage, and the original windows have been modified with cottage-style replacements.

Entry

Dining room at front of home

Dining room and entrty

Inside, the living room sits at the rear of the home, while the kitchen and dining room sit at the front. The dining room is open to the entry, which is open to the kitchen beyond. A running-bond block divider separates the dining area from the living area, topped with an open soffit. The original vaulted open-beamed celotex ceiling are still in place throughout the home, with the exception of the kitchen whose ceilings have been lowered.

Living room 

Living room 

Original dining area - note interesting clerestory retrofit

The living room is anchored by a signature modernist stacked block fireplace flanked by windows overlooking the backyard. A linear oak mantle was added at some point over the years, but unfortunately visually cuts the fireplace in half. The original floor-to-ceiling windows have been shortened and sidelights have been added to the former sliding glass doors.

Throughout the entire home the original clerestory windows have been removed and replaced with fan-light style windows, and in the case of the kitchen, the ceiling lowered and the windows covered. This significantly cuts down on the amount of natural light entering the home, but these changes were made long ago and can always be undone.

Kitchen 

Kitchen 

The kitchen is long an linear, receiving it’s makeover when the home was remodeled in the 1980s. All appliances and cabinetry appear to be in clean, livable condition. The laundry room sits at the front of the kitchen, and provides quick access to the detached garage.

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Guest bath

Secondary bedroom 

Secondary bedroom 

The bedrooms all feature the same funky clerestory replacement window retrofitting, and the master sits at the front of the home while the secondary bedrooms sit at the rear. The bathrooms have both been renovated in the 1980s, but like the kitchen are clean and functional. Interestingly, the guest bath retains it's original pink American Standard sink and bathtub. 

Overall backyard

Patio off of living room 

Rear patio 

The north-facing backyard includes a trellised patio just off the living room, a small grassy lawn and planters surrounding the perimeter of the yard.  There’s plenty of space to enjoy as-is or create a more water-conserving makeover.

While the 1980s renovation takes away some of the modernist character of the home, the property appears to be in great condition and could make a great candidate for restoration.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 525 West Baker Avenue

Or Zillow.com here: 525 West Baker Avenue