Historic California Craftsman house meets wrecking ball
A California Craftsman home in the Hill Section is demolished on July 2. Photo by Lee Chadwick
Two women with a combined 124 years living near the intersection of 9th Street and Highview stood with tears in their eyes on the morning of July 2. They were witnessing the violent departure a beloved neighbor — a century-old California Craftsman home, which was being demolished by a large excavator complete with excavator attachments.
“It’s very sad,” said Lee Chadwick. “It’s like seeing an old friend cut down.”
The house, located at 828 Highview Avenue and constructed of redwood and oak, made groaning sounds as it fell.
“It was as if the house was trying to tell a story about not wanting to go,” said Jan Dennis, a former Manhattan Beach mayor, and now the city’s unofficial historian. “It was just an emotional thing for me.”
On top of the hill, just behind the house, Scott Wood watched its destruction with mixed emotions. He and his two siblings, the children of Judge W. Mark Wood, had grown up in the house. His father died in 1999 and his mother in 2012, after which the family sold the home. For a few years, the home was a rental for another family until it was resold again last year — for $5.8 million — but this time mainly for its perfectly situated corner lot with unobstructed ocean views.
Wood said he was grateful for all the house gave he and his family — a wonderful childhood and then, with its sale, the wherewithal to help its younger generation buy houses. But he also felt sadness, not just for the loss of the home, but for what it represented for the city.
“Manhattan Beach has changed dramatically since 1952 when my folks bought the house,” he said. “They paid $12,500, which was a substantial amount of money then….Back then, most of the families here were blue collar, working families. Very few lawyers or doctors or business owners. Most people were just working and could still afford a home in Manhattan Beach. I don’t know where we are going, but it’s a new place.”
Dennis said many people stopped by aghast as the house was destroyed, wondering why the city would allow such a thing to happen. She said the home was the only like it in Manhattan Beach — a perfect example of the Craftsman Bungalow design made popular by Pasadena-based architects Greene & Greene at the turn of the 20th Century.
“You do have the property rights situation, but the influence should have been greater towards the protection of a home like this,” she said. “Other cities would give their eye teeth for that house. You could never replace that building. And residents don’t know — the city hasn’t really brought it to their attention. If they were fully behind [historic preservation] and staff felt it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, the city would be promoting it. But they are not.”
Councilperson Steve Napolitano, an architectural aficionado, expressed dismay at the loss of the home but also said that the city is limited in its ability to protect such houses.
“I think it’s tragic to lose another piece of our architectural history, but ultimately those decisions are left to the property owner,” Napolitano said. “We have established a historic designation ordinance and there are tax benefits through the Mills Act, but it’s up to the property owner to act. While I wish we had the resources to buy up and preserve all our old buildings of character, we don’t, and we have to rely on the goodwill of others. Sadly, too often money wins out over history and tradition.”
The home was a single story and only 2,000 square feet. The new owners, Wood said, are a young couple with plans to build a larger home. He said he’ll welcome them the neighborhood with the hope that they’ll enjoy living there as much as his family did. In the meanwhile, he’s saying goodbye to something else — his view.
“We’ve got one of the great views in Manhattan Beach for the next few weeks,” he said, laughing. “I have a panoramic view of the ocean. I can see Catalina Island to the left, all the way up to Santa Monica to the right, down to the water out front. But call me up in a couple weeks and I’ll be looking at a wall. At any rate, on we go.”
See a story by Jan Dennis about the history of the house in this month’s Beach magazine.