Remodeling Beverly Hills restores period homes across Pasadena: the Craftsman bungalows that made the city's reputation, along with the Spanish, Tudor and Colonial Revival stock through Madison Heights, Orange Heights and the streets around South Lake.
Pasadena is twenty miles east and it is the best-preserved pre-war housing stock in the region. Call (424) 766-1835 and we will look at what survives behind the paint.
Lath and plaster is not drywall
A very large share of Pasadena's housing predates 1940, which means the walls are three-coat plaster over wood lath rather than gypsum board. That single fact changes almost every assumption a contractor brings from newer construction.
Demolition is dirtier and slower, and it produces far more debris by weight. Cutting into a wall to run a new circuit is not a matter of a drywall saw. The lath has to be cut without cracking the surrounding plaster keys, and the patch has to be built back in layers. Anchoring anything to a plaster wall requires finding the stud, because the plaster itself carries no fastening capacity. And electricians and plumbers who have not worked in plaster will do more damage than the job requires unless the routing is planned.
The right repair is new lath, a scratch coat, a brown coat and a finish coat troweled to match the existing texture. A drywall patch with a skim over it will be visible under raking light for the rest of the house's life, and in a house this good that is not an acceptable outcome.
Craftsman houses and what makes them worth restoring
Pasadena's Craftsman bungalows, and at the top of that tradition, the Greene and Greene houses of which the Gamble House is the best known: are defined by their woodwork. Exposed structural elements, deep overhangs with visible rafter tails and brackets, built-in cabinetry and window seats, box beam ceilings, panelled wainscot, and quarter-sawn oak throughout.
That is the value in the house, and it is also what previous decades most often covered. Carpet over oak floors, dropped ceilings under box beams, and paint over unpainted quarter-sawn oak are the three we find most frequently. All three are reversible, though stripping painted oak is genuinely laborious work and it should be priced honestly rather than optimistically.
Where original millwork is missing, replacement profiles get run with custom knives to match what remains in the house. This is exactly the work our shop exists for, and it is the difference between a restoration and a renovation with old-looking trim in it.
Bungalow Heaven and the landmark districts
Bungalow Heaven was Pasadena's first landmark district and it remains the best known, with roughly a thousand Craftsman houses on a grid of narrow streets. The city has designated a number of landmark districts since, and within them exterior alterations visible from the street are reviewed against the district's adopted standards.
Reviewable items are the usual ones: windows, roofing material, exterior finish, porches and entries, front-yard fencing and walls, and additions affecting the street elevation. Interior work is generally outside the scope, and it is why most projects here concentrate change inside and treat the street face as restoration.
Pasadena also administers its own permits from the Permit Center at 175 North Garfield Avenue. It is a full-service city, not part of Los Angeles County's unincorporated system. Its plan check applies its own local amendments and its historic preservation staff are knowledgeable, which makes a well-prepared submittal a smoother experience here than in many jurisdictions.
Bringing a hundred-year-old house up to standard
The systems are identical in kind to what any pre-war house carries: knob-and-tube still energised on at least one circuit, galvanised supply lines reduced to a trickle by internal corrosion, cast iron waste at the end of its life, a panel sized for a house with three appliances, and no insulation in the walls at all.
Replacing all of it while preserving plaster, millwork and floors is a routing exercise. New services go through closets, chases, the attic and the crawlspace. New bathrooms stack above or below existing wet areas so drain lines have a path. Plaster is opened in planned strips that can be patched invisibly rather than wherever a trade finds convenient.
The energy question has an honest answer: these houses will never perform like new construction, and the attempt to make them do so usually destroys what is worth keeping. Attic and floor insulation, air sealing, restored windows with weatherstripping and interior storm panels, and a correctly sized system get most of the available benefit without gutting the house.
Talk to a Beverly Hills remodeling contractor
On-site estimate, straight answers on budget and schedule, and a written scope before anyone swings a hammer.
Call (424) 766-1835Frequently asked questions
What is different about working on a lath and plaster house?
Almost everything. Demolition is slower and dirtier, cutting into walls requires care not to crack the surrounding plaster, nothing anchors to plaster itself, and proper repair means new lath with scratch, brown and finish coats instead of a drywall patch with a skim over it.
Is my Pasadena house in a landmark district?
Pasadena has designated a number of them, Bungalow Heaven being the first and best known. Within a district, street-visible exterior alterations are reviewed against adopted standards. Interior work is generally outside the scope.
Can painted Craftsman woodwork be stripped back?
Yes, and it is one of the most transformative things you can do to one of these houses. It is also genuinely laborious. Stripping painted quarter-sawn oak is slow, careful work and it should be priced honestly rather than optimistically.
How much does restoring a Pasadena Craftsman cost?
Period restoration typically runs 20 to 40 percent above a comparable conventional remodel because of matched materials and hand methods. Full restorations commonly run $350 to $800 per square foot depending on how much original fabric survives and how much needs reproducing.
Can I make a 1912 bungalow energy efficient?
Substantially better, not equivalent to new construction, and the attempt to reach that usually destroys what is worth keeping. Attic and floor insulation, air sealing, restored windows with weatherstripping and interior storm panels, and correctly sized equipment capture most of the available benefit.