There are a grand total of 14 Palmer & Krisel-designed
homes in Torrance, CA, and rarely do those 14 homes come on the market. An
average of one per year comes on the market, and this featured home has had a
heavy Mediterranean-style interior renovation imposed upon it. Built in 1955 by builder Hoard Miller,
the home features three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,001 expanded square
feet, a detached two-car garage and an above-ground spa all on a 8,800
square-foot lot and carries an asking price of $775,000.
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| Front of home |
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| Front door reads more pirate ship than midcentury modern |
The elevation of this home maintains its midcentury modern
aesthetics, with a board and batten finish on the face of the detached two-car
garage, deep roof overhangs and a strong sloping roofline over the garage contrasting
nicely with that of the main home. The front yard is devoid of trees, and is
ready for a water-conserving makeover.
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| Kitchen - original clerestory windows would have been above cabinets |
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| Kitchen overlooks entry, wall removal eliminates privacy |
Inside the home, most of the interior walls in the living,
kitchen and dining rooms have been removed. The clerestory windows above the north
kitchen wall have been removed, and one of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the north-facing
wall has been cut in half. This is rather strange, considering that the
demising walls were removed to open up the room, yet removed and reduced windows
reduce the openness of the space, not to mention cut down on the amount of
natural light entering the home. The dark floors also contradict the wall
removal, as the dark color makes the now- great room appear smaller and darker.
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| Kitchen |
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| Kitchen |
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| Living room addition at back of home |
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| Living room addition looking into original portion of home |
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| Living room addition |
The original living room would have sat where the current
dining area is, and the signature Krisel-modernist fireplace that once anchored
the living room has recently been removed. The kitchen features ornate
raised-panel cabinetry, granite counters, thick crown molding above the
cabinetry and stainless steel appliances make up the kitchen, which is topped
off with pendant lights. The living room addition sits off the great room, and
contains a large stone fireplace and sliding glass doors overlooking the
backyard.
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| Master bedroom |
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| Master bedroom and walk-in-closet beyond |
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| Secondary bedroom at front of home |
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Secondary bedroom at rear of home
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| Guest bath |
The master bedroom features a rear-yard addition and has
annexed a front-facing fourth bedroom to create a large walk-in closet. The
addition has been done in a manner which compliments the home, and utilizes the
same open-beamed celotex ceiling. A secondary rear-facing bedroom also benefits
from the rear-yard addition, and picks up valuable square footage, while the third
bedroom lies at the front of the home in its original size and configuration.
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| Outdoor kitchen |
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| Outdoor kitchen and patio |
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| Backyard |
The backyard is open and grassy, contains a few trees at the
perimeter of the yard and contains a shaded patio area off of the rear
bedrooms. An outdoor kitchen with barbeque, sink and fridge sits under the shaded
patio, and an above-ground space sits under a trellis toward the rear of the
yard.
Homes for sale in Torrance don’t seem to last long, and this one,
despite its three-quarter of a million dollar price tag and non-contextual
renovation is predicted to be a hot seller by Redfin. There’s great potential
to restore this home, and hopefully some of those missing clerestories will get
put back.
