Yesterday-tomorrow remodels

Sunset, May, 1988

To tie the new construction visually into the old, the original windows were replaced with anodized aluminum models.

L-shaped ranch house pushes out, becomes U-shaped

1950s ranch house grows in ranch-house fashion

In the '50s, Southern California grew by 56 percent. But only one in seven families wanted a "used" house. The others swarmed into the ranch-house tracts that marched across flatlands and up newly bulldozed hillsides.

For a family of five, Los Angeles architects Ann Agnew and Don Boss reworked an L-shaped 1957 model to give it some traditional ranch-house qualities the economy-minded builder had left out. In the process, the house expanded the way ranch houses in the Old West did: an L-shaped structure became a U, then an H.

Boss/Agnew pushed out the front, back, and side. Throughout the original house and garage, they sandblasted dark wood-beamed ceilings, then whitewashed them. They extended the rear wall of the livingdining area 2 1/2 feet under the eave, where glass doors open to patio and garden. The living room's fireplace wall of floor-to-ceiling flagstone made a rough-textured base for a coat of plaster.

The architects gutted the old kitchen, moved its side wall out 2 feet, and installed a high-use kitchen with room for casual family dining. It adjoins a new family room, which was converted from the original garage. Glass doors open the family room to a new entry patio.

Three skylights have major impact on the house's interior. One along the ridge of the family room and another over the ridge between entry and living room show the influence of ranch-house designer Cliff May. The third skylight brightens the kitchen.

In nonbedroom areas, the architects installed glazed concrete tiles that continue as patio paving. Outside, the exterior lost its dated flagstone and shutters.

Photo: 1920s stucco bungalow

Reflecting mission preservationist Charles Fletcher Lummis's fervor for the region's Hispanic traditions, the merchant-built stucco bungalow nevertheless reduced archways to a trace over a window, walled courtyards to a half-walled entry yard, and tile to just a fringe on a tar-and-gravel roof. The tiny floor plan was advertised as "efficient"

Photo: High wall encloses old entry yard and shields a front patio, separated from living room by glass doors. Access to entry is now from drive along side of house

Photo: White sapote tree makes a leafy umbrella for concrete patio off master bedroom addition. Up three steps from patio, trellis-shaded wooden deck serves as outdoor extension of remodeled dining area

Photo: Open kitchen and dining area are now the hub of the house. Door in center of rear wall leads to new master suite

Photo: New construction (color) added kitchen, master wing, patios, entry wall

Photo: Skylight strip brightens hall from kitchen to lofty bedroom. Shorter structure at right houses bath and master bedroom closet

Photo: "Defense" housing, circa 1940

In the late 1930s, thousands of workers were drawn to the West's war production industries, and tracts sprang up to house them. Architectural historian Esther McCoy describes these houses as "a two-bedroom stucco box with gable roof, a concrete stoop at the front door. The front door opens to a small living room with a dinette at one end." By now, the one-car garage is attached