restoration harcourt

A collection of my thoughts and experiences during the restoration of a 1924 bungalow in Los Angeles.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Restoration Westhaven?

After witnessing the final installation of my front door, I was inspired to try to obtain the original building permit for my house. Who knew it would be so easy? The district office for the County Assessor is nearby so I took the opportunity to track down a piece of my home’s history. The original permit is short, yet informative given it is only a single page. The permit describes my home as a bungalow, built in 1924 and owned by A.W. Grant. No fireplace existed (except for the decorative one) and no built-ins were listed. My house is modest in size (less than 1000 sq. ft.) so this makes sense – there just is not a lot of room to accommodate them. What caught my attention was the street name – Westhaven. Why not Harcourt? Then I recalled during my online library research that several streets in Los Angeles were renamed in the 60’s, so it would not be uncommon for a street to undergo a name change. There still is a Westhaven in South LA, but it is not in the general area where my house is located. I was also intrigued to find out the original cost of my home - $2200. Comparing this amount to prices listed in old Sears home catalogs, homes of a similar size and detailing to mine were generally around $1000. I think the cost on my permit includes the land along with the structure although I’m not certain.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home