Up for grabs is this 1956 Palmer
& Krisel-designed home in Northridge, CA. With wonderfully dramatic and
distinct lines, this home includes three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,392
square feet and sits on a 7,600 square-foot lot with an in-ground pool and
carries an asking price of $549,950.
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| Exterior |
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| Front of home |
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| Exterior of home c. 2008 - not the original windows and better-suited garage door |
The exterior of the home features
dynamic and distinct Palmer & Krisel lines that captured the futuristic midcentury
and forward thought that made modern design at the time so fun. While the
floorplan was one that was first seen in Corbin Palms in 1953, the exterior
elevation took modernism to the next level. The garage features a distinctive
board and batten façade and a reverse shed roofline which angles towards the
home, almost giving the home a butterfly roof-like elevation when viewed from
the street. The original vertical wood screen on the façade of the home is
still intact, screening a bathroom window from prying eyes.
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| Dark living, dining and kitchen |
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| Living room |
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| Dining room |
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| Living room with original fireplace c. 2008 - note the light difference despite the presence of seemingly 'closed' rooms |
If only the insides and out
complimented each other so well. The interior of the home has seen updating
that doesn’t quite carry through the dynamic lines of the exterior, and many of
the original interior lines have been destroyed. The interior once boasted a
central fireplace that sat in the center of the home, separating the living
room from the front-facing family/dining room, along with a distinct block divider
separating the dining from the entry. These have been lost in favor of
open-concept living, which has also seen the wall between the kitchen and
living areas removed.
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| Kitchen |
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| Kitchen |
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| Kitchen |
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| Kitchen and dining |
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| Original kitchen c. 2008 which was brighter, lighter and better-suited to the home |
The kitchen features dark raised
panel cabinetry and granite counters which weigh the house down rather than
give it the intended, open, well-lit look that is often intended from removing
interior walls. A chunky stainless steel oven hood sits confusingly over the
center island, and despite the fact that the original clerestory windows were surprisingly
left intact, the living areas appear dark, even with a strange interior color
combination of yellow and kelly green.
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| Secondary bedroom |
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| Dark bathroom |
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| Master bathroom with floor tile on the walls |
The bathrooms in the home have
seen the same, generic makeover as the living areas, with dark cabinetry, floor
tiles on the surrounds and colors which make the rooms feel smaller and
ill-fitting of the architecture of the home. Only one bedroom is shown in
photographs, and again while the original clerestories were left in place, the
original four-pane floor to ceiling windows have been removed and preplaced
with poorly-advised chest-height windows, significantly cutting down on the
amount of natural light entering the home and taking away one of the great
design features of these homes.
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| Backyard patio |
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| Pool and patio |
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| Pool and backayrd |
The west-facing backyard features
a large, oval-shaped in-ground pool on the north half of the yard surrounded by
a large concrete patio, ripe for entertaining. An L-shaped shade structure sits
off of the living room, and offers shade for outside dining. A planer lines the
west wall of the yard, offering the only opportunity for in-ground planting.
The interior of this home needs a
complete restoration and re-visioning to repair what has been lost, making the exterior
the most compelling feature of the home. For those looking for a great project,
there’s lot of opportunity to bring this home back to life.
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