Three Krisels Hit the Market in Valwood Estates – Pomona, CA

Three mid-century Palmer & Krisel homes have hit the market in Valwood Estates in Pomona, California. Valwood Estates certainly has seen its share of ups and downs, and hasn’t quite caught on to the mid-century restoration bandwagon. That just means there’s more affordable southern California Krisels for the rest of us, with conveieint access to both the 10 and 71 freeways.

All three of these homes are pretty well worn. They’ve been modified; they aren’t shining mid-century time capsules. But they are all definitely mid-century 1955 Palmer & Krisels and all three definitely have great mid-mod bones on nice-sized lots.

One of the reasons that all three homes are lumped together in one singular post is that the listing agents in Pomona seem to have one thing in common – they don’t like snapping many pictures of their properties, which means we’ve got limited comments on these properties.

Up first is the most affordable home for sale in Valwood Estates. It’s a four bedroom, two bathroom 1,200 square-foot home with a detached 2-car backyard garage all on a 6,000 square-foot lot, with an asking price of $315,000. Pretty much all of the home has been updated; the floor-to-ceiling windows have been replaced with smaller, white-vinyl mullioned windows. The signature Krisel clerestories are present, but have been covered over. Each room features trademark open-beamed ceilings.

The kitchen and bathrooms have been updated in a style that appears to be typical of those found in big-box stores, while the front yard has been walled and fenced in for unknown reasons. The backyard certainly has a lot going on in it, and features yet another gate to drive through to access the garage, but at a price this low, this piece of hidden modernism will quickly appeal to a new owner.

Check out the Refin photos here: 2351 Belinda Avenue

Or Zillow photos here: 2351 Belinda Avenue

The second home up for sale in Valwood Estates is a three bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,200 square-foot home with a pool on a 6,000 square-foot lot with an asking prices of $325,000. Like the previous home, this property has also had its original floor-to-ceiling windows replaced with white-vinyl mullioned windows, an updated kitchen of decent quality but not in keeping with the style of the home, and glossy-tiled floors. The clerestories in this home have also been covered and stuccoed over with a very heavy lace finish, and it appears the beamed ceilings have been drywalled over.

This home has also had its front yard fenced in, a very popular look in this neighborhood, with wrought iron. Out back is a detached two-car garage, covered patio and in-ground pool. The remainder of the backyard is nearly completely paved over. If anyone is looking for an affordable pice of modernism with a pool, this is it.

Check out the Refin photos here: 2383 Belinda Avenue

Or Zillow photos here: 2383 Belinda Avenue

The last and most expensive home on the market right now in Valwood estates is a four bedroom, two bathroom 1,312 square-foot home on a 6,000 square-foot lot. Like the other two homes featured here, this one has had it’s windows replaced with mullioned white-vinyl windows, however the floor to ceiling length has been kept.  The front yard features yet another wrought iron fence, keeping in theme with the other homes on the street.

The original clerestories on the sides of the home are still in place, and still open to the outside. The open beamed ceilings are also luckily still in place. Other than that, the remainder of the interior has been updated in a manner similar to the other homes. The backyard is open and grassy, with views through the chain link fence to the next door neighbor’s place. These definitely aren’t the out of sight mid-mod Palm Springs Krisels that we’re used to looking at, but these are still an important piece of modernist history.

Check out the Redfin photos here: 2225 Concord Avenue

Or the Realtor.com photos here: 2225 Concord Avenue

Neat 1958 Palmer & Krisel Sunmor Renovation Opportunity For Sale – Palm Springs, CA

Up for grabs is this 1958 Palmer & Krisel-designed home in Palm Springs’ Sunmor neighborhood. It’s a four bedroom, three bathroom 1,944 square-foot home on a 9,500 square-foot lot with an asking price of $630,000. Situated on a small cul-de-sac, this property features an enclosed atrium, private backyard and low maintenance front yard with large wrap around driveway.

The carport has been enclosed on this property, creating a private guest retreat but eliminating covered parking options. The entry courtyard features a bright blue double raised panel door that leads to a shaded and quiet retreat, finished with exposed aggregate walkways and a small fountain.

The entry opens up into the main living and dining area which features large walls of glass which open out to the backyard. The living room features unpainted vaulted beamed ceilings and unfinished grey block fireplace. The home shows dark, partly due to the ceilings, but mainly as a result of the dark floors, the fact that nearly all the blinds are drawn in the photos, and the large-scaled furniture.

The bathrooms aren’t totally original, nor are they very current, almost stuck in a time period that doesn’t quite fit the home. The bedrooms show much like the living room, fairly dark and not as light and bright as these homes are capable of.

The backyard features a great view of Mt. San Jacinto, a covered patio and an in ground pool. Mature landscaping abounds giving the yard a serene, private retreat feel. The current state of the home doesn’t show off the great midcentury modern lines of the home, but it’s definitely been well maintained and cared for. This is a great property with loads of potential to restore back to its mid-mod origins.

Check out more photos here on Redfin: 215 North Morsun Circle

Or here on Zillow:  215 North Morsun Circle

Iconic 1961 Palmer & Krisel Former Model Home For Sale in Paradise Palms – Las Vegas, NV

This iconic tri-level home was once one of nine Palmer & Krisel-designed model homes for Las Vegas-based Paradise Homes as part of the Paradise Palms Plan-O-Ramic Exhibit Center. This three bedroom, two bathroom home features a two-car carport, swimming pool (empty) and sits on a 10,000 square-foot lot midway on a 13-home cul-de-sac.  Julius Shulman, famous for his iconic photographs of modernist architecture photographed this home in 1962 for Palmer & Krisel, making this a rare opportunity to own a piece of modernism history. The original phots, shown below, are on file with the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

This home is a short sale and in fairly rough shape, with loads of deferred maintenance. Tinfoil is the window covering of choice for this east-west facing home – ultimately well-placed trees can help mitigate desert sun exposure in situations like this.

There’s loads of potential here to restore this property back to original. Luckily the original kitchen has survived, with original cabinets, sink and salmon-colored tile countertops. There’s soaring clearstories and floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room letting lots of light into this moderately-sized home.

All three bedrooms are upstairs, along with both bathrooms, which feature vaulted ceilings and more clerestory windows. The lower floor of the home contains laundry and a family/bar room with original open-beamed ceilings, access to the carport and windows out to the backyard.

Out front the signature screen block in front of the carport is still fully intact, as are the original staggered floating  concrete stairs leading to the front door. There's also some fantastic shadow block adding character to the chimney face, while the roof eaves are Krisel's signature open-soffit design, which create distinct and unique shadow lines on the exterior of the home. There aren’t any listing photos of the bathrooms or secondary bedrooms, so their condition is unknown. Also not pictured is the living room fireplace whose surround consists of a floating steel ring attached to the living room wall.

Priced at on $145,000, this home is a bargain compared to the other Krisels we’ve featured here on the Krisel Connection. If anyone is patient and is looking for that perfect midcentury modern home to restore (and has a classic Thunderbird to fill that carport) this is an excellent opportunity to own a significant piece of modernist history at a bargain price. Opportunities like this are few and far between, don't miss this one. 

Check out the Redfin photos here: 3343 Dakota Way

Or Zillow here: 3343 Dakota Way

Million Dollar Monday: 1970 Krisel For Sale in Kings Point – Palm Springs, CA

Today’s Million Dollar Monday is tastefully renovated and reworked 1970 home designed by William Krisel for the King’s Point development in south Palm Springs. This 2,878 square-foot home holds three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a two-car garage with an asking price of $1,125,000 and monthly home owners association dues of $501.

The beauty of Krisel’s hand certainly shines through in this well-appointed home. The front exterior exudes all that is Palm Springs mid-century mod – fantastic building proportions with a white on white façade and a simple pop of color for the entry doors, all accented by simple, green landscape.

The inside of this home is cavernous with polished porcelain floors and a sunken terrazzo-tiled living area. Ceilings in the main living areas are smartly raised, with distinct, oversized dramatic beams drawing the eye through the space to the outdoors. Krisel’s well-known walls of glass are present throughout, lending this home perfectly to the indoor outdoor lifestyle. A tasteful wood-paneled wall anchors the living room, topped with a built-in aluminum wall clock. The dining room features the same wood panels, nicely tying together the space and accented with a large George Nelson saucer bubble lamp.

The kitchen is open and bright, with updated cabinetry, stone countertops and an open breakfast nook. Behind the kitchen is a handy full-size wine fridge. The bedrooms are generous in size and all have large sliding glass doors leading to the outside. The master bath features a sunken Roman tub, while the hall bath features a trademark Krisel sunken standard bathtub.

The backyard features lots of patio space with a private pool and spa, and sweeping vistas of the second hole of the Indian Canyons Golf Resort (North Course).  There’s even a built-in firepit for cooler nights. This is truly a stunning mid-century modern retreat in a beautiful slice of paradise.

Check out the photos on Redfin here: 2701 Kings Road West

Or on Zillow here: 2701 Kings Road West

Spectacular 1958 Krisel Home in Sunmor For Sale – Palm Springs, CA

Here’s a brand new Palmer & Krisel listing in Palm Springs’ Sunmor neighborhood. It’s a spectacular remodel and a perfect example of a home done right. Sitting at just under 1,300 square feet, this 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom flat-roofed home sits on a generous 17,000 square-foot lot and has an asking price of $674,500.

The front of the home captures some of Krisels most well-known lines. Decorative H-shadow block quietly accents the front chimney, with later H-block additions highlighting the front screen wall enclosure, mailbox stand and rear yard wall. Elongated sunflap eaves smartly offer shade and relief for this south-facing home. The post and beam construction of this home really shines through with this elevation, both inside and out, with graceful symmetry.

Inside the home perpetuates additional simplistic architectural beauty, with polished concrete floors, walls of glass looking out towards the massive backyard and crystal blue swimming pool and trademark Krisel wooden-beamed ceilings. The fireplace also carries through with simplistic beauty, highlighted in the same blue color used on the exterior of the home, and the elongated hearth extends the presence of the fireplace.

This kitchen is white on white, with a sharp multi-tonal blue tiled backsplash, and opened to the dining and living areas. The secondary bedrooms are all clean and sharp, offering plenty of light and finished in bright Palm Springs white. The bathrooms offer the same white on white style as the kitchen, with small pops of color found on the shower surrounds.

The backyard is centered around the private pool with lots of patio space, including a trellised covered patio against the home. Even the fences are spectacular on this property, with a frosted opaque panel fence sectioning off the carport from the backyard and bright aluminum-paneled fencing on the perimeter. This is such a great example of a fitting renovation for a Palmer & Krisel home. Hats off to those who oversaw this renovation, a spectacular job on a fantastic property.

Check out the photos on Redfin here: 2980 East Plaimore Avenue

Or on Zillow here: 2980 East Plaimore Avenue

1959 Sandpiper Condominium For Sale – Palm Desert, CA

 Just off of Highway 111 in Palm Desert, California sits the spectacular mid-mod haven of Sandpiper Condominiums, designed by Palmer & Krisel Architects. The Palm Desert Sandpiper Complex consists of 136 buildings clustered in groups of 8 centered around 17 individual swimming pools. Prices for the complex start off in the low $200s and jump upwards from there depending on unit size.

Todays featured Krisel is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1,040 square-foot condominium built in 1959, with the lowest asking price in Sandpiper, $224,900 and monthly HOA dues of $360. Sandpiper features a great collection of mid-century  shadow and screen block, and this unit doesn’t disappoint, with great examples both in and out.

The living room wall features some angled shadow block, augmented by high wall of glass looking out onto the pool area. These units were designed so that no one unit looks directly onto another, maximizing individual privacy. The original kitchen is uniquely curved and designed for efficiency and show – there’s no bulky full-size fridge here either; all food get stored in a compact under the counter model. Luckily there’s a grocery store within walking distance, right across the street.

The bathrooms are original, feature signature Krisel compact sinks and vanities- both sinks are an eye-popping mod-yellow, with one sink surrounded by white formica counters and the other in matching yellow. Medicine cabinets and mirrors are also original, and luckily well-preserved. Ceilings are also signature Krisel open-beamed, visually extending outdoors to the covered patio.

Outside there’s both a private and public patio, situated under Krisel’s trademark sunflap. The washer and dryer are both outside on the patio, but in this climate of sun, warmth and leisure it’s not a huge inconvenience. This is a great second home, or an affordable piece of mid-mod heaven in the epicenter of modernism.

Check out the Redfin pics here: 121 Sandpiper Street

Or Zillow here: 121 Sandpiper Street

1959 Flat-Roofed Flip For Sale in Racquet Club Road Estates – Palm Springs, CA

Here’s a recently flipped 1,900 square-foot 1959 three bedroom, two bathroom Palmer & Krisel-designed home for sale in sunny Racquet Club Road Estates in Palm Springs, California. This home has been expanded from its original floor plate of 1,225 square feet to 1,900 square feet, with permits, still retaining the original 3-bedroom setup, and priced at a fairly reasonable $499,000.

Pretty much everything in this home is new and waiting for that personal touch. The signature Krisel-beamed ceiling are luckily still in place, as is the sunken bathtub. Other than that, there’s not much else original left in this home.

All the finishes are mid-grade, from the light fixtures to the kitchen cabinetry. The ever-popular Ikea Godmorgon bathroom vanities with Odenvisk sinks are present in both bathrooms. The baths additionally feature popular and simple white subway tile shower surrounds, with some splashes of neutral ‘color’.

The kitchen is also Ikea, featuring chocolate brown Sektion cabinetry with simple pulls. Kitchen backsplashes are clean and simple white penny-round tiles.  Lighting was kept very simple and what appears to be budget-conscious, offering very little in the way of visual interest.

The front exterior of the home is simple Palm Springs modern, with pea gravel and turf in the backyard accented with random shrub placement, while the front yard features gold crushed granite and river rock surrounding the floating concrete pad walkway. Not visible (purposefully) in the listing photos are the strange flagstone accents surrounding the one-car garage – a simple fix that I’m surprised these flippers didn’t take advantage of during the renovation. The original carport and entry courtyard has been engulfed by the addition, which we can’t decide if it helps or hinders this property. 

One thing that Palm Spring is known for is a bold use of fun color pops. This house doesn’t contain that fun feature, which gives it a stark, sanity appearance. It needs a little fun side to make it more successful. Hopefully some new owners will move in and liven things up a bit.

Check out the Redfin listing here: 500 East Lindsey Drive

Or Zillow here: 500 East Lindsey Drive

1954 Palmer & Krisel Home For Sale in Parkwood La Mirada – Orange County, La Mirada, CA

Today’s featured home is a smaller Palmer & Krisel-designed home in the Parkwood La Mirada neighborhood of Orange County. This midcentury modern home is only 1,161 square feet and contains 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a two-car garage on a 7,200 square-foot lot priced at $479,000.  

While definitely small by today's standards, this didn’t matter to Krisel. “To me, the smaller the house, the lower the budget, the bigger the challenge. I like problem-solving.” Krisel has been quoted as saying. “But I wanted to do a small house that had the feel of a bigger house. I wanted people to walk into a house and say, ‘How many square feet? 1,500?’ And I’d say, ‘No, 900.’ ” Square footage doesn’t matter, says Krisel. “Volume and architecture make a space feel like it feels.”

Of the limited images shown of this home, this sentiment definitely rings true. The images shown of the kitchen reveal a very open living space, with soaring wooden-beamed vaulted ceilings, and windows that extend upwards from the countertop to the ceiling. The kitchen has been remodeled in a very traditional manner; however, the finishes somehow work with this mid century home.

There are some minor style conflicts within this home. The front door is very Victorian in style; the garage door is very much traditional cottage in it's style while the raised-panel interior doors are very traditional in appearance, creating a lot of styles in a limited space. All are simple unification fixes which would help create some style cohesion. The bathrooms and bedrooms aren’t shown at all in this home, leaving potential buyers to all but wonder what’s happening within that space.

The exterior of this home reflects the intended mid-mod design style of the property, defiantly showing off classic Krisel lines under an appropriate minty-green /seafoam paint job. In a home this size outdoor living is important, and both the front and back yards are lush, relaxing and fitting. Redfin has labeled this a ‘Hot Home’ with a high chance of selling within the next few days. Don't miss this one!

Check out the Redfin photos here: 14708 Biola Ave

Or Zillow here: 14708 Biola Ave