STREETSCAPE SMARTS
How California's Mid-Century Modern Tracts are
Safeguarding Their Unique Architectural Character

From the pages of the CA-Modern magazine
By Dave Weinstein

Sometimes the realization arrives with a bang. More often it seeps into consciousness as a vague worry. What's happening to our neighborhood? Something needs to be done!

The realization burst upon the Fairhills neighborhood of Eichler homes in the city of Orange when folks discovered one morning that a neighbor had added to his home what one local called a "horrendous" 350-square-foot box. "Ohmigod! What is that?" people cried.

In the Sacramento Streng Bros. neighborhood of River City Commons, folks decided something needed to be done when things began looking tattered. Medians sprouted weeds. Fancy doors adorned with leaded glass began to replace modern, minimalist front doors.

Almost every development of modern homes sooner or later confronts the grand challenge -- will our neighborhood keep its looks? Often, the answer is no. But increasingly, as mid-century modernism wins new fans, residents band together to save their neighborhoods' architectural integrity and streetscape character.

How they have succeeded can be instructive. There is, however, no one-size-fits-all solution, because circumstances, local planning rules, and local tastes differ. And preserving modern architecture comes with particular challenges.

Since it is a subtle style, modernism is all too easy to ruin, aficionados say. All it takes to destroy the looks of a Streng home, for example, is to replace the striated plywood garage door with something that has sunburst windows. Removing the distinctive globe light from the front façade in favor of something from a 19th century carriage house completes the changeover.

The other major challenge to preserving modern neighborhoods is their age. Many landmarking laws only kick in if a building is at least 50 years old.

And some residents simply cannot abide any restrictions on their ability to do with their homes what they will -- even if they plan to do nothing. It's the 'my-home-is-my-castle' argument, and it's a compelling one -- so much so that most advocates of architectural restrictions seek solutions that achieve the most while affecting individual choice the least. Many people share the opinion of Juka Ailio, until recently an Eichler owner in the Fairglen subdivision of San Jose, who disdains "fusspots in the neighborhood who tell you how things ought to be done."

Nonetheless, people in modern neighborhoods often decide that the pain of regulation is worth it.

Winning over the neighbors

Although there are several strategies for preserving a neighborhood, all start with one requirement: that most residents buy in. Adriene Biondo, who heads the modern committee of the Los Angeles Conservancy, says the first thing that must be done is engaging homeowners and helping them understand that their homes are architecturally significant.

Biondo, who lives in the Balboa Highlands Eichler tract of Granada Hills, has made it her crusade to spread the word throughout the San Fernando Valley, which is dotted with subdivisions designed by the firm of Dan Palmer and William Krisel and other mid-century architects. She's met with groups of neighbors, encouraged launching community websites, attended block parties, and called meetings -- with some success.

Particularly useful was a Conservancy-produced tour of the Valley in 2006, 'Spectacular Vernacular.' Its impact was immense in the Palmer & Krisel-designed neighborhood of Corbin Palms, said Stacey Margolis-Sigman, who pointed out after the tour, "The fire lit." Since then, some neighbors are contemplating seeking historic designation through the city, which has a mechanism called a Historic Protection Overlay Zone.

In Palm Springs, Nat Gozzano and John Shields have raised consciousness among neighbors with a website (racquetclubestates.com) devoted to their neighborhood, Racquet Club Road Estates. The development, largely built by the Alexander Construction Company, was designed by Palmer & Krisel.

"The website is such a valuable tool to educate people and help them to understand what they're sitting on in their neighborhood," says Gozzano. People who have successfully preserved their neighborhoods through zoning or similar methods all agree on one piece of advice: proponents shouldn't insist on more than their neighbors are willing to accept. Not every modern neighborhood is inhabited by purists who want to live in a time capsule from the 1950s. And many people, even devotees of modern architecture, differ about what sorts of changes are acceptable or not.

It is important to involve as many neighbors as possible in preservation efforts -- not just a small cadre of true believers.

Friendly persuasion

Sometimes, educating neighbors may be all that a preservationist needs to do. Throughout Palm Springs, for example, homes in Alexander neighborhoods are being restored to their mid-century splendor thanks to a new, shared zeitgeist that modern is beautiful. What would happen to people who turned their homes into haciendas? "They'd throw eggs at your house," one resident of the Alexander's Vista Las Palmas area vowed. "You'd be excommunicated," said another.

Neither the city of Palm Springs nor any of its neighborhoods have architectural guidelines enforced by architectural review boards, says Ken Lyon, an associate city planner. "The people who are buying them," he says, "are buying them because of what they are."

Nor does the city currently have any historic districts, or planning rules specifically to protect modern homes -- though an 18-foot height limit in many residential areas does prevent second stories, Lyon notes. Palm Springs, which has designated many individual buildings as historic, is developing procedures for declaring neighborhoods historic as well, says Diane Bullock, who staffs the city's Historic Site Preservation Board. They will publish a 'frequently-asked-questions' brochure on the topic soon.

Architectural review committees

Often, persuasion is not enough. It only takes one un-persuaded neighbor, after all, to turn an unpretentious glass-walled home into a Tuscan palace. That's when architectural review comes in handy.

Perhaps no modern neighborhood has a more effective system of architectural review than Lucas Valley, an Eichler tract of 450 homes surrounded by wooded hillsides in Marin County. Among the most pristine of all Eichler subdivisions, Lucas Valley seems like a Shangri-La, thanks to its well-preserved homes with their low-slung gables or dramatic A-frames that mirror the steep hillsides beyond. It could almost be a museum -- except for the children on bikes and young couples walking their dogs.

Just to the east of the Lucas Valley development is another Eichler subdivision, Marinwood, which has its share of well-preserved homes -- along with many that have been altered. The difference between the two neighborhoods? Only Lucas valley has strict controls, which have been in place for four decades.

The homeowners association's Lucas Valley Homeowners Association's Architectural Review Committee reviews proposed changes to houses, and enforces architectural guidelines that are distributed to all residents. To provide even greater force, proponents of preserving the area's look convinced Marin County in 1998 to designate the Lucas Valley development a 'special zoning district.'

Turning to the CC&Rs

Simply having an architectural committee is not good enough, however. The committee must be active -- some Eichler and Streng communities have architectural committees on paper that haven't met in decades.

Cliff Meneken, a lawyer and former resident of Eichler's Terra Linda subdivision in Marin, has long been a proponent of rescuing from the dust heap long-forgotten CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions) that come, along with the deed, with many homes.

"The CC&Rs may preclude anyone from building a second story, or doing anything without the approval of the architectural review committee," he has noted. "If someone violates the provisions, a neighbor or the architectural review committee may sue in court, assuming it is done in a timely fashion."

The tactic, however, was never adopted by the neighborhood's association, the Santa Margarita Neighborhood Association, which instead convinced the city of San Rafael to protect the area from second-story additions through an overlay zone.

Strengthening architectural guidelines

Sometimes, rules designed to preserve a community can be too weak or have embarrassing blind spots.

In Brentwood's Crestwood Hills, for example, a community of modern homes designed in the 1950s by a team that included Eichler architect A. Quincy Jones, Cory Buckner, an architect who lives in the neighborhood, points to an instance where the architectural review committee allowed an owner to demolish a Jones-designed home. "The committee's argument was, 'Is demolition alteration?'" she said.

In fact, according to Allison Baratelli, a member of the Crestwood Hills architectural committee, the committee has no jurisdiction over demolitions -- only over alterations. "If somebody wants to demolish a property, they don't have to come to us," she said.

River City Commons is a good example of a neighborhood that took a look at its process for regulating architectural changes and decided more needed to be done. Along the way, their neighborhood association's architectural review committee, led by Denise Jerome, drafted nearly 50 pages of 'Architectural Guidelines' in support of the neighborhood's Streng architectural style.

The booklet, inspired by the 'Eichler Design Handbook' produced in 2001 by the City of Cupertino for the Fairgrove Eichler tract, illustrates in detail -- and in color -- compatible and incompatible architectural components such as lights, house numbers, fencing, and windows.

The association is presently distributing the guidelines for owner review and comment. A companion document that describes the original Streng architecture for owners who want to restore their homes is now available on the association's new website (rivercitycommons.com). The complete 'Architectural Guidelines' will also soon be posted.

In addition, Jerome has been rewarding owners who make compatible or restorative changes and who work with the committee. Rather than write threatening or negative newsletter articles, the committee publishes a monthly article thanking those who do the right thing -- even awarding them with gift certificates to Starbucks.

"Some of these people grumbled because they had previously received violation notices about poor landscaping or other issues," Jerome says. "It's so nice to see a big smile when we tell an owner they've won the monthly architectural kudos. Already we're getting more and more cooperation."

Overlay zones

CC&Rs , by the way, are not the only rules that may have been forgotten. Neighborhood saviors should also visit their city or county's zoning department to find out what rules are already on the books but are not being enforced.

City and county planning boards can also protect neighborhood character by imposing new regulations, generally by revising the zoning ordinance. Almost every jurisdiction handles this a little differently. Los Angeles offers a 'historic preservation overlay zone.' Sunnyvale has a 'single-story overlay zone.' Other cities offer 'neighborhood conservation districts.' In Marin County, the Terra Linda Eichlers and neighboring Alliance-built homes were declared an 'Eichler and Alliance Homes Overlay District.'

The focus can be as simple as preventing two-story homes in a neighborhood of one-stories, or as complex as specifying window treatments, paint colors, and house-number lettering in a neighborhood in which those are distinguishing elements. Overlay zoning can focus on a neighborhood's architectural character, or its historical character.

Moratoriums

Neighbors often seek special zoning to protect their neighborhoods after a crisis has hit -- a McMansion hovering in the wings, for example. In that case, it makes sense to call a temporary halt to inappropriate development through a moratorium while more permanent protections can be put in place. Adriene Biondo went that route in her Eichler neighborhood of Balboa Highlands, working with the Los Angeles City Council to issue an 'interim control ordinance' to monitor building and demo permits while Balboa Highlands sought recognition as a historic preservation overlay zone.

Presenting a united front

To convince city or county officials to step in, however, requires that a community present a unified front. This isn't always easy, or even possible. Consider the case of San Mateo Highlands, one of Eichler's most historic and unusual neighborhoods. Perched in the hills of San Mateo County, the Highlands contains several significant Eichler homes, including the famous all-steel X-100, the Pietro Belluschi-designed 'Life house,' and a row of rare two-story models.

But the neighborhood has never had architectural controls, and county zoning regulations are weak, says resident Barry Brisco. "The zoning regulations are extremely lax," he says, "and as a result almost ten percent of homes have been radically altered."

When Brisco and a group of neighbors organized in 2005, they asked the county to curb second-story additions in order to protect homeowners' light, views, and privacy. Despite the group's neighborhood referendum that resulted in 78 percent of the 300-plus Eichler owners who voted wanting new zoning to limit building height, the Highlands Community Association board shelved the results.

"The county's excuse to us was, there was not a clear consensus as to exactly what the changes to the zoning regulations should be," Brisco says. Three years later, height zoning in the Highlands remains unchanged, as new large-scale vertical additions continue to impact the character of the neighborhood.

Architectural overlay zones

The story was quite different in Long Beach, where the city recently passed an ordinance to protect the character of the Cliff May/Chris Choate-designed neighborhood of Rancho Estates. The ordinance blocks second-story additions and demolitions, and will implement design guidelines.

"I think this is a good story of democracy in action," points out Doug Kramer, a resident and real estate broker who handles many sales in the 55-year-old neighborhood.

This was a rare case where the initial idea for protection came not from residents but from the city, Kramer says. Long Beach planners were considering the problem of creeping mansion-ization throughout the town. But the planners didn't quite get what was unique about the simple, board-and-batten, glass-walled ranchos.

"They thought if a second-story addition maintained the same pitch as the original roof and was of board-and-batten siding, it was okay," Kramer says. "I said, no, and educated them about Cliff May's architecture." Neighbors, who had been riled by a recent remodel that "was so hideous and so ill-conceived and such a departure from a Cliff May design," Kramer says, unified behind the proposal. At one meeting, which attracted 200 people who overflowed onto the sidewalk, "all but three raised their hands in support of a restriction on such additions," Kramer says. "This overwhelming support provided critical momentum to our cause."

National and state historic districts

Fans of modern suburbia cheered three years ago, when the 'Historic Quest committee succeeded in placing two Eichler neighborhoods in Palo Alto onto the National Register of Historic Places.

But people considering a similar path for their own neighborhoods need to remember -- honor and increased neighborhood pride may be all they get out of it. Despite its prestige, being on the National Register, or on the California Register of Historic Resources, does not confer any added protections.

"It's primarily a program of recognition," says Cynthia Howse, who was with the state Office of Historic Preservation when the Eichlers won their reward. "A certain clout comes with being listed."

The clout comes because people who live in neighborhoods listed on state or national registers can call upon the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for protection if threats loom, arguing that the landmarking shows that their neighborhoods are important cultural resources.

But residents can cite CEQA even if their neighborhoods have only local designation -- or even if they have no official designation at all.

Qualifying a neighborhood for the National Register is also a lengthy and involved process. It isn't enough just to be 50 years old. Proponents must complete a rigorous survey of every home in the proposed district to see whether the area is sufficiently intact, and demonstrate, through extensive documentation and photos, why a particular neighborhood is historically significant.

Local historic districts

It is only local historic designation that provides real clout through zoning ordinances and guidelines. But, as proponents point out, local historic districts are only as restrictive as the neighbors want them to be. The guidelines that designations impose are generally developed by neighbors themselves, sometimes in conjunction with consultants. And the architectural committees that enforce those rules are usually made up of members of the neighborhood. In any case, restrictions generally affect only home exteriors -- and in many districts, only exteriors that can be viewed from the street.

Forming a historic district takes time, says Ken Bernstein, manager of the Los Angeles Department of City Planning's Office of Historic Resources. Proponents need to build consensus, and conduct a building-by-building survey to determine which homes 'contribute' to the district's historical fabric.

When residents of the 52-home Mar Vista tract sought to become Los Angeles' first modern neighborhood with HPOZ designation in 2003, they won help from the Los Angeles Conservancy, encouragement from the city ("The guy at the city said, 'What took you guys so long?'" HPOZ backer Anni Michaelsen recounts), and, more importantly, the support of 90 percent of their neighbors.

The effort took two years, including a neighborhood petition, a survey, and meetings of the Cultural Heritage Commission, planning commission, and city council. "We attended 28 meetings," Michaelsen remembers. Some people worried that architectural controls would devalue their homes. But proponents argued that the opposite would occur.

"Anecdotal evidence in Los Angeles, and real evidence from elsewhere shows it can increase property values somewhat," says Jay Platt, former advocate with the Los Angeles Conservancy.

Saving money through the Mills Act

Some of the best economic arguments for preservation are tied to the state Mills Act. In jurisdictions that choose to participate in the act -- Los Angeles is one -- owners of nationally, state, or locally designated homes, or qualifying homes in designated historic districts, can reap huge property tax savings of 40 to 60 percent a year.

The Mills Act, which provides tax relief to property owners who agree to preserve the historic architecture and to plow the savings back into the property, is expected to save Todd Jerry $10,000 a year because his home is in the Mar Vista historic district -- and because he did the necessary paperwork.

Diane Kane, an architectural historian from San Diego who runs seminars on the Mills Act, says the act can benefit cities as well as individuals, by boosting property values throughout a historic neighborhood. Cities, and related taxing agencies such as school districts, do of course forego some immediate tax income by allowing homeowners to sign up for the program.

Although the Mills Act is a state law, the program is run by each city or county, which sets its own criteria for which properties can take advantage of the act -- residential only, commercial only, for example; and decides how many can take advantage each year, Kane says.

Homeowners must sign a contract showing how they will use their savings to improve the home -- and that they will do so following rigorous federal standards for rehabbing historic buildings.

Although many cities do not participate in the Mills Act, and some are very stingy in handing out contracts (San Francisco has two Mills Act contracts, for example, while San Diego, perhaps the most liberal, has 800), Kane suggests that homeowners interested in participating urge their local leaders to consider the act's potential benefits for individual buildings and entire neighborhoods.

Going it alone

Despite the prestige and tax breaks that can come with historic designation, sometimes people just will not give up their freedom to do with their homes what they will. Cory Buckner ran into that attitude when she moved to Crestwood Hills. The Brentwood neighborhood, originally built by the Mutual Housing Association for its middle-class members, remains one of the more historic modern neighborhoods in the state.

But Buckner watched with horror as home after home was modified out of existence or demolished, unable to win enough community support to create a historic district.

Her solution? Landmark as many homes as she could individually. So far, Buckner, working with the homes' owners, has preserved 17 homes by making them Los Angeles 'monuments.'

It's a strategy that provides unexpected benefits. In Los Angeles, a historic preservation overlay zone only protects a home's exterior. But individual landmarking protects significant elements of the interior as well.

For Buckner, as for so many preservationists, the urge to save the neighborhood came from someplace deep. "I just saw a real beauty in the simplicity," she said. "It's something you don't see today in houses, that real purity of structure."

Photos: Rochelle Kramer, John Eng, Suzanne Shea, Larry Underhill, David Toerge; and courtesy Los Angeles Conservancy Rancho Verde diagram: courtesy Kathy McGuire and Joe Conley 'Spectacular Vernacular' program: courtesy Chris Green

See other 'SoCal Modern Stories'