The Beckstrand House in Palos Verdes Estates looks like a typical flat-roofed Richard Neutra design, but that's only because of a crafty zoning code workaround. According to Thomas S. Hines's Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture, "This was...Neutra's first major encounter with zoning codes that demanded red tile, pitched roofs. Since the degree of pitch was not prescribed, Neutra utilized the minimum, so as to make the pitch virtually unnoticeable." The Beckstrand was built in 1940 and is only on its second owner, who looks to have taken pretty good care of the place. The three-bedroom, four-bathroom house is about 1,700 square feet, but when it was built, it "seemed bigger than it was because of its siting in the midst of an orange grove overlooking the coast of the Palos Verdes peninsula," according to Hines (although it now has neighbors). It's now up for sale and asking $2.75 million (the current owner bought it in *1995 for $750,000). Lookie-loos are not welcome--there will be no open houses and buyers have to be pre-approved before getting a look.
· 1400 VIA MONTEMAR [Redfin]
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