Palmer & Krisel Storybook Village Major Fixer For Sale – North Hills, CA

Situated near the end of a 13-home cul-de-sac is this 1956 Palmer & Krisel-designed home in the San Fernando Valley Community of North Hills, CA. Built by A. Sandler and D. Aldler Enterprises, this home is in need of major repair. With three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,344 square feet, an empty in-ground pool and a detached two-car garage on an 8,400 square-foot lot with an asking price of $460,000.

The property is currently a short sale subject to bankruptcy court and lender approval, so those with a little patience and a lot of cash would be the ideal buyer of this property. There’s only seven photos of this home provided, and by the looks of the photos, lots of elbow grease and vision is needed.

Kitchen

From the interior photos shown, the open beamed vaulted ceilings appear to still be in place. The kitchen is in need of an overhaul, last updated in the late 1980s with tile counter tops and raised-panel cabinetry. Any appliances appear to be long gone.

Bedroom has some damage

Laundry

Gross...

The laundry room appears to have suffered a major leak, with water damage tearing aprart the interior walls and warped, split wood flooring in a secondary bedroom. The bathroom isn’t original, and is pretty much a cesspool of filth, with who knows what on the walls and fixtures. A total gutting would be pretty understandable.

Backyard

Swimming pool 

The yard photos indicate some really beautiful, specimen cacti, agaves and yuccas, with lots of overgrown vegetation in between. The pool is empty, and may need replastering. The yard also appears to contain lots of debris and garbage, which is a pretty good indicator that the inside of the home most likely contained the same.

There’s a lot of vision and a lot of elbow grease needed with this property, and hopefully the midcentury modern details of the property won’t be lost in the renovation.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 9322 Sophia Avenue

Or Zillow.com here: 9322 Sophia Avenue

1956 Storybook Village Palmer & Krisel Fixer – North Hills, CA

Situated on a corner lot in North Hills’ Storybook Village is this 1956 Palmer and Krisel-designed mid-century home for sale. Built by A. Sandler and D. Aldler Enterprises, this 1,565 square-foot home includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two car detached garage on a 8,100 square-foot lot with an asking price of $429,900.

This corner-lot home holds massive potential to become a show-stopper. The front yard is ready for a water-efficient landscape makeover, while the exterior of the home appears to keep its original form, with the exception of some added brick veneer and a wrought iron fence enclosing the service porch where a wooden fence would have originally been. A heavy clay barrel tile roof covers the home, and while it is certainly a durable and long-lived material, it is a stark contrast to the mid-mod lines of the property.

Living Room

Dining Room

Like most Krisel-designed homes, this property features the kitchen at the front of the property, while the living, dining and den addition are at the rear. The interior of the home still maintains its original open, beamed vaulted ceilings and basic floor plan with the exception of a permitted den addition off of the living room.

Den addition at rear of home is perfect for the wood paneling lover

The living room is anchored by its signature Krisel full-wall modernist fireplace, highlighted with clerestories. The wall of glass originally overlooking the backyard now overlooks the den addition, which is a mid-century wood-paneled time capsule in itself. The dining room sits adjacent to the living room, and luckily still retains its original windows overlooking the backyard.

Kitchen with original cabinets and tile countertop

The kitchen at the front of the home retains its original cabinetry and tiled countertops, and offers a full wall of windows overlooking the front yard.

Master Bedroom

Secondary Bedroom

Secondary Bedroom

Guest bath - wall heater is original

Master Bathroom 

All bedrooms are modest in size; however the open vaulted ceilings help the spaces feel larger than they are. The master features a sliding glass door to the backyard which helps let additional light into the room. Both bathrooms have been updated at some point in the late 1970s or early 1980s; however we can still spot the nifty original wall heater in the hall bathroom.

There are no photos of the backyard shown, but Google Maps tells us that the backyard is mostly paved with plenty of patio space for entertaining along with a few mature trees and shrubs.

We love seeing fixers like this with lots of original character still intact; they hold so much potential to be brought back to mid-mod grandeur, and this one is a great opportunity for you to write a new ending for this Storybook Village home.

Check out the full listing on Redfin.com here: 9401 Valjean Avenue

Or Zillow.com here: 9401 Valjean Avenue

Expanded Storybook Village Palmer & Krisel For Sale – North Hills, CA

Here’s a move-in ready 1956 Palmer & Krisel-designed mid-century home in North Hill’s Storybook Village. Having one owner over the past 50 years, this modernist home has been well-maintained. The home has been updated and expanded along the way to include features that suited the owner’s needs but don’t necessarily reflect the architectural style of the property. Encompassing 1,983 square feet, this home includes four bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and a two-car garage on a 7,700 square-foot lot with an asking price of $595,000. 

The front exterior of the home retains its original Krisel lines, including vertical banding on the face of the garage and is replete with a mid-century light-pink and white exterior paint scheme. The front yard landscape is quintessential mid-century, with a large street tree shading the grassy front lawn, a sweeping front driveway and well-tended flower beds placed against the façade of the home.

Inside, the home has been expanded in two places from its original floor plan. The garage, once detached from the main structure has now been attached with a central service porch /laundry room off of the kitchen. On the back of the home an extremely large addition has been tacked on, expanding the living area significantly and placing a small studio with its own bathroom and kitchen accessed through the backyard.

Entry

Original Living Room on left, addition on right

Original Living Room with signature Krisel full-wall fireplace

The form of the original living and dining rooms are still intact, with fireplace, vaulted ceilings and east-facing clerestory windows all washed on in a monochromatic lavender color. As a large addition has been placed on the rear of the home, the original south-facing walls of glass have been removed creating a large boxy opening into the addition. The addition does not incorporate nearly the same quantity of glass that originally would have been on the original 1,344 square-foot floor plate of the home, and creates a darkened interior living space.

Kitchen - window on left overlooks service porch

Wood paneled service porch - very mid-century

The kitchen has been updated with traditional raised-panel maple cabinetry and white tile counters, and sits tucked behind the entry. Those with a keen eye will spot three kitchen windows on the outside of the house and four on the inside – the fourth window looks into the expanded service porch/laundry room at the front of the house.  The service porch is vintage-y with its wood paneling, and adds a mid-century west-coast bit of charm to the home, while serving as a place to house the washer, dryer and spare fridge.

Master Bedrrom

Master bathroom - Why on earth was the mirror placed where it was?

Guest Bath

Secondary Bedroom

The master is split from the secondary bedrooms, at the northeast corner of the home and still sports its original clerestories which flood the retro-mint green-painted room with light. Both the master and guest baths have been redone in a fairly average manner, clean and functional; however, most curious is the mirror placement in the master bathroom, sited above the toilet rather than in front of the sink. The other two bedrooms are located at the west end of the home and still feature their original clerestories.

The studio on the back of the home creates a basic mother-in-law suite, which provides convenient living options for multi-generational families despite a small, boxy floor plan. The addition eats up most of the backyard, but still leaves room to incorporate raised garden planters, a small covered patio and a small grassy area. This is a well-maintained Palmer & Krisel home that is definitely move-in ready, with enough flexible space to accommodate a variety of new owners.

Studio addition on back of home

Backyard and covered patio

Check out the Redfin listing here: 16340 Gledhill Street

Or Zillow here: 16340 Gledhill Street

1956 North Hills Storybook Village Palmer & Krisel For Sale - North Hills, CA

If you’re looking for a great Palmer & Krisel in the San Fernando Valley that hasn’t been altered, this is it. This 1956 beauty, built by the Investment & Building Corporation, includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a detached two-car garage in 1,344 square feet all on a 7,500 square-foot lot in the picturesque Storybook Hills community with an asking price of only $428,000.

The exterior of the home is nearly as it was in 1956, with the exception of updated windows. This property features vertical banding on the street-face of the garage; a design trick that Krisel used in the mid 1950’s to break up large blank surfaces. Those with a keen eye can spot that the vertical bands actually sit off the face of the garage, and are supported by five projecting square blocks that the bands overlap, a design-form that we’ve seen on dozens of other Krisel homes.

The façade of the home features rock accents under the front-facing master bedroom windows, in addition to a later-added rock planter at the base of the garage. The front yard will definitely be a fun project and creative opportunity  for the new owners, as the asphalt driveway is worn and chipping, the turf patchy and the plantings in need of a tune-up.

Living Room - check out that fireplace with clerestories

Living Room and Dining Room

Dining Room

Walking into the home, the foyer provides access to the jack-and-jill master bathroom on the left, as well as the master bedroom, and opens up into the living and dining rooms at the rear of the home. The living room is anchored by a signature modernist Krisel-designed fireplace, with a dramatic overmantle, surround and hearth that dramatically and sharply extends the full width of the living room wall. Adding light to the room are clerestories above the overmantle, which in this home have been covered up from the outside but still hold the original crinkle-glass on the inside.

Dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the backyard join the living and dining rooms, along with the open, beamed vaulted ceilings. The dining room is relatively open to the living room, with a small wall creating spatial seperation while allowing the flow to remain open.

Check out the original Kitchen - love those saucer pulls

The kitchen is the star of this home, appearing just as it would have in 1956, just a little more worn. Everything appears to be in fantastic, restorable shape. We love those large saucer cabinet pulls; the clean, square, streamlined look of the cabinets; the original range hood; and check out those original mosaic tiles behind the cooktop – fantastic vintage features. The bad news?  As this home had no dishwasher originally, it looks like someone placed one under the wall oven. A quirky feature, but we hope its one that the new owners embrace when they restore that kitchen.

Master jack-and-jill bathroom as seen from entry. Those with a keen eye will note that the medicine cabinet and mirror is the original Krisel design. 

Guest Bathroom opposite Dining Room

Secondary bedroom

Behind the kitchen and dining room sits the two secondary bedrooms and guest bath. Both bedrooms feature a large signature floor-to ceiling window, with one bedroom overlooking the backyard and the other overlooking the courtyard between the front of the home and the garage. The backyard is in similar condition to the front yard, and there’s a solid covered patio for entertaining and enjoying mild southern California evenings.

Backyard Patio

Backyard with lots of potential

Rear of home as viewed from backyard

This home is the perfect candidate for restoration, with great bones, great original features and great modernist lines. At $428,000 this property will move quick, and we hope the new owner loves this property as much as we do.

Check out the Redfin listing here: 16328 Vincennes Street

Or Zillow here: 16328 Vincennes Street