You Can Still Buy Great Architecture in L.A. for $1 Million

This iconic mid-century home can be had for $1.1 mm or less.

I want to start of today’s edition with a question for the group chat. Would you rather…

A) Buy a home with great architectural bones under-market price that needs cosmetic work

-or-

B) Spend above-market for a move-in ready home that lacks character?

I am squarely in category “A”. And I recently came across a home that, I swear, is the deal of the century (as much as anything in L.A. can be a “deal” because prices here are ridiculous). But if you are in the market for an architecturally relevant home in the northern reaches of La Crescenta (aka Tujunga), I have found a unicorn: A 1953 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom house listed at $1.1 million, designed by architect Carl Maston.

Maston’s Hillside House in the West Hollywood Hills, completed 1962.

Now, Maston may not rank among the giants of California modernism, but he designed more than 100 buildings over the course of his career, and his work remains architecturally significant. His most famous designs include the main building of Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design, Hillside House (a designated historic resource), and Dakota Johnston’s old home — made infamous by her Architectural Digest tour and “the limes.” (IYKYN.)

But back to the Maston home currently on the market. Does it need work? Yes. But the bones are incredible. Look at these lines:

There is a KOI POND!

We also have a lil hot tub action:

And an outdoor kitchen:

I don’t think the photos really do it justice, because you don’t get the impression of how large the home is: 1,823 square feet.

And the lot is enormous: 6,885 square feet.

Currently accepting backup offers! Get in there! Make it happen!

Here’s the listing agent.