Located west of the Arroyo Seco, not far from Pasadena’s border with Highland Park, this elegant midcentury residence is the recent recipient of a thorough restoration.
Per the listing, the home was originally designed in 1957 by architect Calvin Straub, a longtime USC professor who later joined the firm started by prolific homebuilders Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman.
When the home last sold in 2018 (for $1.1 million), it had been completely redone by subsequent owners and retained scant evidence of its modernist roots. Restored in the last year by design firm HabHouse, it’s now been returned to its original post and beam concept.
The U-shaped home sits on a neatly landscaped quarter-acre lot, with a long driveway in the front and an enclosed yard and patio space in the back. Inside are three bedrooms and two bathrooms, spread across 2,090 square feet of floor space.
Interior features include cork floors, beamed ceilings, walls of glass, and a large brick fireplace in the living room. The open kitchen has stone countertops and freshly installed appliances. The master bedroom opens directly to the back patio and includes an ensuite bathroom and a walk-in closet.
Located at 725 Burleigh Drive, the home is asking $2.089 million.
Comments
OMG those previous photos. It’s like someone had a vendetta against the house. Another nice rehab.
By CaliSon on 07.24.19 10:00am
I absolutely could not believe what previous owners did to that house, it’s almost some form of cruelty
By mrjim1 on 07.24.19 10:44am
Nice house in a nice, quiet Pasadena neighborhood.
The price makes my eyes water. Not long ago, this wouldn’t have topped $1.5 million.
By BingoWest on 07.24.19 10:02am
The current owners put A TON of money into this house, not sure it’s worth 2 million, but I certainly can see where the money was spent
By mrjim1 on 07.24.19 10:55am
Considering what the current owners had to work with, this home is an absolute knock-out. Also, kudos to the photographer, these are some of the best real estate pictures I’ve seen
By mrjim1 on 07.24.19 10:46am
Thank you so much!!
By carothersphoto on 08.09.19 2:22pm
This kind of architecture is so incredibly appealing that you wonder why more people don’t build from new to look like it. Yeah I know the style uses a lot of space but on a larger lot it would work.
The cost would be higher than for building a box but when you’re done the property would be worth more too. I’d be fine replacing a sugar-cube McMansion with something like this, even if it was a fourplex — MCM architecture looks great anywhere and can be incorporated nicely in most neighborhoods, at least those that lack a consistent aesthetic.
One gripe I have is with the driveway. Perhaps the original was concrete, like the new replacement, but I assure you the original did not have heavy-handed swirl marks in the finish. Maybe it was asphalt new? Not a big fan of incorporating modern materials into a restoration but a "paver" style driveway would have been less "noisy" than what was done here.
Hard to pour a new concrete driveway and have it look old but can be done with the right contractor and modern finishing techniques. Worth the hassle if you ask me.
Great looking home and good luck with the sale!
By calzada on 07.24.19 11:00am
It’s funny about new build MCM, it’s a lot like trying to build a new Craftsman, it’s almost impossible to capture the original essence and the new just keeps coming up short
By mrjim1 on 07.24.19 11:09am
It’s not impossible at all. It just takes a talented designer, great craftsmen and lots of money.
By enter ranting on 07.24.19 11:17am
Yeah, well, tons of money can usually solve most problems. I think part of the problem is that a lot of the original materials are just no longer available, especially windows, for some reason new build MCM and Craftsman never seem to get the windows right. I’m sure new windows are 10x better then originals they just never look right
By mrjim1 on 07.24.19 11:51am
I think one thing that makes new craftsman construction not look the same is that window muntins are usually thicker now to accommodate the dual paned glass. It ends up making the window have an entirely different proportion to old windows.
By CaliSon on 07.24.19 12:52pm
Impossible, no. But modern code requirements means you have to spend many, many times what the home will likely be worth in order to capture the same vibe.
By TheMarketSoftener on 07.25.19 9:47am
Agree on trying to copy Craftsman, it rarely looks right. Spanish is the easiest to knock off — there are developments in PV where if you didn’t tell me I wouldn’t know they were new. Seen some good MCM "copies" in the wine regions.
Seems to me there is a huge unmet need for architects in LA who can do this style for homeowners and smart developers.
To quote the Curbed article from last December…
"It doesn’t seem possible, but midcentury modern design likely became even more popular in 2018 than before. The meteoric rise of the architectural and design style has been aided by shows like Mad Men and pushed into homes through big-box retailers like Target. But a good Eames chair aside, nothing quite compares to a midcentury modern building."
"Boasting timeless design in a hot real estate market, the homes of 2018 were a diverse blend of styles from the 1950s and 1960s. We saw a wealth of midcentury gems, ranging from boxy glass houses to post-and-beam stunners. Whether your taste skews organic and natural or colorful and bold, there’s something for everyone on this list."
https://www.curbed.com/2018/4/10/17218968/joseph-esherick-oakland-ca-home-for-sale
By calzada on 07.24.19 11:33am
calzada, note that the Curbed article you quote references the Oakland area. Based on my various ventures around LA’s west side the dominant architectural style of new homes is what realtors call "farmhouse modern." Pitched roofs, horizontal clapboard and black metal window frames, door hardware and even gutters and downspouts.
Our custom built house in Culver City, now 9 years old, was an homage to MCM but with modern materials.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2b7F61-gFc6STFKVFRPMUg1blU/view?usp=drivesdk
By PAS@CC on 07.24.19 5:04pm
What an inspirational story that was, you must be very proud Peter.
We are like brothers from another mother with regard to the thought process, final outcome and lessons learned. I have a dream to build my own homage to MCM but not in LA, can’t afford that. I would do it on the Central Coast as a last house. My research more often took me to Berkeley than it did Southern California for inspiration. I decided on a redwood facade as that would work best with the California chaparral. I always wondered though, "what would you do in the city, because that would look like a cabin".
Probably would have ended up exactly where you and Jackie did. Had the same want with the "feature wall", butterfly roof and windows situated so that you don’t need A/C. Learned the same thing about radiant heat in the floor, the old technology had issues but with modern it’s the way to go. And when I read your comment about next time using the same contractor for all of the concrete I said this guy gets it!
Love the triangle shape of the yard and fence design. The view over the wall of the mature trees and cute vintage homes is fantastic.
I’ve learned it’s not an inexpensive venture, as you say, even if I cashed out of my home in LA. So my dream may end up being an A-frame MCM-inspired cabin or might even go the pre-fab route.
Really enjoyed reading about your journey, thanks for the link!
By calzada on 07.24.19 8:58pm
Great story and what a perfect addition to the conversation. You did an excellent job of capturing MCM and the struggle you went through to get it right. Thanks!
By mrjim1 on 07.24.19 9:13pm
This is gorgeous. The previous owners should be arrested for vandalism.
By enter ranting on 07.24.19 11:21am
My old house is the one around the corner on Laguna Rd which sold for >1k/sf last month. That MCM is the one with the continuous stream that flows under the house a la Fallingwater. It is nearly twice the lot size as this Burleigh house and definitely more private and peaceful with the stream and trees.
Having said that, I thought the buyers were insane for potentially making the Laguna house the first in Pasadena to break the 1k/sf barrier. No view, no pool, bad schools…
I used to jog by this Burleigh property all the time when I lived there. It has been a reclamation project of one kind or another for at least 10yrs: The previous owners were laughably ignorant about design.
Now, with that said, the buyers of this house at this price would be even more insane than the Laguna buyers. They would be buying little usable land and paying a ridiculous premium over what it would cost to hire an architect to simply build a new modern structure with better flow and perhaps better views.
What the recent sales trends really signal for me is that the Pasadena area is beginning to catch up to the Westside market of about 10-15 yrs ago as buyers there are pricing out or moving on to a less congested area. This is especially the case for this particular Arroyo Seco neighborhood of Pasadena that is anchored by the heavy hitters on San Rafael Rd.
By GusLevy on 07.24.19 12:01pm
Nice overview of the market in that area
By mrjim1 on 07.24.19 1:56pm
Nice looking house but if I’m shelling out $2000 a month just to cover property taxes I better have a damn pool in Pasadena.
By LAoneWay on 07.24.19 4:41pm
that’s a lot of concrete for a hot day in pasadena.
By cicinla on 07.25.19 12:09am
Amazing restoration work. A color consultant should be called in to tweak things just a bit. The use of that green paint color on various materials (brick, plywood siding, T-111, fascia beams, etc.) is not attractive. Most likely these were originally seen in their natural colors and not slathered in monochromatic paint.
By Southlandish on 07.25.19 7:10am
Weird colors aside, I’d call this a rather ordinary post and beam. Not Staub’s best work.
By keenplanner on 07.25.19 11:03am
@mrjim1 Thanks for your kind words about my photography!!
By carothersphoto on 08.09.19 2:21pm