This single story home of light wood framed post & beam
construction was originally known as the “Sechler House” designed by the
Pasadena firm, Nyberg & Bissner Architecture & Engineering and
constructed in 1954, and is identified in the 2009 Cultural Resources of the
Recent Past historic resources survey as eligible for designation as a landmark
home. It is a notable example of the Modern Ranch style with character-defining
features of: a cruciform plan integrating interior and exterior spaces; wide,
low sloped gabled roof forms with extended boxed eaves; large expanses of
windows including groupings in gabled-ends; double solid-wood entry doors with
a full height sidelight; tongue-and-groove redwood cladding milled to appear
like battens in staggered relief; solid site walls (clad in redwood to match
the cladding on the house) attached to the house; canyon-stone cladding and an
attached carport/garage with a garage door matching the cladding on the house.
The property also has several mature trees and other landscape features in the
front yard.
(Adapted from the Historic Preservation Commission Meeting on
August 16, 2010).
Since its construction in 1954, this home has remained virtually
untouched throughout its life. The goal of this project is to update and
modernize this property by adding additional living spaces, restoring the
original home with new energy wise building systems, renew the exterior finish
and add new interiors. The existing outdoor courtyard living spaces will be
re-imagined with new hardscaping and appropriate drought tolerant indigenous
plantings & landscape materials.
The design of the new 2nd floor addition is not
intended to replicate the original home, but recall the existing home’s 4
prominent clerestory gables as a 5th “living gable”, reinforcing the
home’s linear crucifix plan and strong east-west & north-south axis. The
new addition is intended to set itself apart and float above the existing
low-pitched rooflines. The intersection of the new addition and original
building link to form a new partnership revealing an open interior space plan,
transparent exterior walls, exposed structure and quality natural light.