Quick post: New home on the market

Remember this Russ Barto designed spec duo? Well, that first Italian-esque home has just been listed for sale for $1.898M.  Check out the listing here. 

(Source: MLS)

(Source: MLS)

(Source: MLS)

A Valmonte "Tuscan"

On this Memorial Day, thought I'd blog about another 60-footer - that is, a new custom-turned-spec-turned-custom home on a small-ish 60' wide lot in Valmonte.

(Source: NJC)


The original owners bought the previous home which sat on this lot in December 2007 for $913K originally for themselves, then given the 2008 downturn, decided to build it on spec and sell.  Well, fast forward three years later, the house is now complete although the home has not been put up for sale (lease perhaps?).  The 3,106 square foot home sits on a 59x120 foot lot.  Designed by Doug Leach and built in 2009, the home replaces a 1,651 square foot 1954 ranch.

(Source: Mapquest)

(Source: NJC)


While this home is a mild improvement over the original home, it still could have been so much better.  Where to start? The garage!  Why oh why did the owners opt to go for a brown painted plastuminum garage door is beyond me!  Would a proper wooden garage door have been that much more expensive?  You know, something like this:

(Source: NJC)

Or this:

(Source: NJC)

Or this:

(Source: NJC)

Any one of those would have been an improvement over the existing garage door - I suppose that's an easy fix later down the line.  Moving on.

I'm generally not a fan of stone veneer - I think there's a high degree of risk that the execution looks Disneyland-esque.  Here, we're borderline.  It almost works - maybe it does.  In any event, I think they should have carried that over to the garage - especially given the prominence of the garage door and how it  sticks out from the home.  Using the darker stone would have helped minimize the garage and also served to protect the facade's balance and symmetry.  It would also serve to minimize the upstairs balcony - which coincidentally is my third gripe with this home.

The upstairs balcony detracts from the facade.  I long for symmetry.  Right now the upstairs looks like a procession of stairs... all leading to the balcony.  I would have thought the central hall would be the focus.  But here, the garage and upstairs balcony take visual focus away from the rest of the home.  This home says "I drive two cars" instead of  "rustic Italian home ... with a garage for modern convenience."  Maybe something more like this would have been appropriate (Warning: I'm by no means a Photoshop artist, proceed with caution!):

(Source: NJC)

In my hacked version of the facade, we'd have a more authentic garage door and an upstairs that is symmetric.  Here the focus is on the central stone tower.  Taking it a step further, we'd stone the garage as well so as to minimize its prominence.  Something like this:

(Source: NJC)

Or maybe this:

(Source: NJC)

What do you think?

KEY STATS

Location: Valmonte, PVE
Style: Italian
Year built:  2009
Architect: Doug Leach
Square footage: 3106
Lot size: 7,090sf  (59'x120')

McMansion or Estate? You decide...

In line with recent posts about some relatively new (and even under construction) homes, today I bring you another.  This one is in the Montemalaga area of PVE, where some of the largest homes on the Peninsula are located.  The Munoz Residence.

(Source: NJC)


Designed by Redondo Beach-based architect David J. Boyd (www.boydarchitects.com) and built in 2010, this 7,254 square foot residence sits on a 0.6 acre corner lot.  The home replaces a 3,426, single-level L-shaped ranch style home built in 1968 which the current owner purchased in 2007 for $2.3M.

 (Source: Google Maps)

(Source: Bing Maps)

As you can tell from the photos and the aerials, the new home keeps the same basic footprint and orientation as the original.  At first, I wondered why - the street it faces is a much more active thoroughfare than the side street to its north.  And then it hit me - the views!  From the second floor of this house, you have a peak-a-boo ocean/city view.

Anyhow, I haven't seen much of this architect's work before, but a quick perusal on the website shows that he hasn't done a terrible amount of work on the Peninsula.  Judging from this home and the few he has listed in the Mediterranean variety, I would rate him average.  The rendering of this home (all these new school architects and their CAD drawings!) is below.

 (Source: David J. Boyd & Associates)

Even from the rendering, I feel there is something very off about this home.  For one, the wood in the rendering is too light - should be dark, grainy wood.  Thankfully this was fixed in the actual home.  What else - oh yes, the windows.  There are too many windows and they are slightly out of scale.  We ought to cherish the white space - the plaster is just as important as the glass.  Filling every inch of the home with windows and doors makes absolutely no sense - its excess.  Does any particular room in a house need that much light?  The role of an architect and a good interior designer is to properly orchestrate all the features of the rooms and flow of a house - the right kind of light, in the right spot, with the right architectural details to highlight and enhance and be enhanced.  Whenever I see a monstrosity of glass I think to myself - very bad interior planning; they're just flooding the interior with light without any regard to room and space planning.

With a house of this size and mass (it has over 160' of frontage), there are ways to execute a restrained, elegant and sophisticated Spanish home.  One good example of something similar are the spec homes at Terranea.

 (Source: NJC)

(Source: NJC)


Notice how these homes feel much more authentic - despite having to accommodate a similar square footage. They have ample windows - absolutely - but they're done to scale and in a tasteful manner.  Even the plaster on the exterior walls has a more weathered, natural appearance.

One aspect you'll notice - which detracts from the authenticity of the Munoz residence, are the frames around the windows and rooflines.  What's with that?

(Source: NJC)


That wreaks of McMansion in my view.  If you look at all of the 1920s era Spanish homes I've featured on this site, I don't think you'll find this feature.  Look at the Terranea homes as well - no frames!

(Source: NJC)


Finally, let's look at the rear of the home.  It's a bit better than the front - but not by much.

(Source: Google Maps)

(Source: NJC)

Overall, borderline McMansion - what do you think?

KEY STATS

Location: Montemalaga, PVE
Style: Spanish
Year built:  2010
Architect: David J. Boyd
Square footage: 7,254
Lot size: 21,443sf  (irregular, 172'x218')