His Dream Home Becomes Their Nightmare and a Rallying Point : Development: Neighbors object to its size and architecture. They’re pressing city to declare Miracle Mile North area a historical preservation zone.

To Jack Alpan, the towering structure being built at the northwest corner of South Poinsettia Place and 2nd Street represents his dream home, the fruits of more than two decades of work as a dentist.

To his future neighbors in the Miracle Mile North area, the structure represents something much more ominous: a threat to the architectural character of their quiet, tree-lined neighborhood and the unwelcome intrusion of big-city development into their lives.

“It’s a monstrosity,” said neighbor Judie Feldstein of the three-story structure that is twice the size of most of the homes on the street.

“Look down the block, to the right and to the left, and you see the same types of beautiful homes. That’s why we all live here, because we love the neighborhood. But this is ruining it,” Feldstein said.

The house is far from finished, yet neighbors say it exemplifies the need to protect the neat rows of Spanish/Mediterranean and English Tudor-style homes from developers insensitive to the community’s wishes.

Neighbors three years ago began a drive to do just that, before Alpan ever entered the picture. His house has galvanized their efforts.

Feldstein, for example, said that as soon as she got wind of Alpan’s plans more than a year ago, she joined the Rancho Park La Brea Neighborhood Assn., a group that is helping lead the drive to preserve the area by having the city declare it a historical preservation overlay zone.

Cultural affairs officials have supported their efforts, as has Zev Yaroslavsky, councilman for the area. They say the area is unique in that it has kept its architectural style intact since the 1920s, when the first of the modest stucco and red-tile roof homes were built.

In all, more than 90% of the 500 homes are of the same architectural stylings in the area, which is bounded by Beverly Boulevard on the north, 3rd Street on the south, La Brea on the east and Gardner on the west.

If the preservation zone is approved by city planners and the City Council, which is expected by early February, it will be only the fourth such zone in the city. The city Planning Commission has set a Jan. 18 final vote on the issue. If approval is granted, a neighborhood-based review board would be established to screen all proposals for building and remodeling and to make sure they conform to the area’s architectural style in both shape and size.

Although advisory in nature, the group’s recommendations to city planning and cultural heritage officials responsible for approving such projects “will carry a lot of weight,” said Michael Davies, a hearing examiner for the Planning Commission.

The five-member advisory board also could help prevent architecturally or historically significant buildings from being demolished. One member would be selected by the mayor, another by the City Council, two by the city Cultural Heritage Commission, and an at-large member would be chosen by the first four members, according to city law.

Since 1979, when city officials approved the concept, preservation zones have been established in Angeleno Heights in Echo Park, South Carthay in the Wilshire District and Melrose Hill in Hollywood, Davies said.

Yaroslavsky, who lives in the Miracle Mile North neighborhood, helped persuade the City Council to spend $15,000 in March, 1987, to study whether a preservation zone was warranted for the area. In March, 1988, the Cultural Heritage Commission gave its approval.

Although the campaign has progressed slowly, the Alpan home “has become a rallying point, because it’s such an abuse of living in a neighborhood,” said Ronnie Gootkin, president of the La Brea neighborhood group.

“It’s obnoxious, and the neighbors are upset,” Gootkin said. “They don’t want to see this practice flourish.”

Yaroslavsky agreed, calling the house “an outrage.”

“It is an example of how one house improperly designed and insensitive to the neighborhood can be a degradation of the whole block,” he said.

“It only takes one to screw things up, and we’ve had that one,” Yaroslavsky said. “We don’t want another one.”

Alpan and his wife say they can’t understand why their future neighbors are so upset.

“Apparently they can’t learn to accept beauty that is not in keeping with their own viewpoint of beauty,” said Alpan’s wife, Jenny.

Alpan says he has been dreaming of building the home during more than 20 years he has toiled as a dentist in downtown Los Angeles. He says he had no idea he had caused so much controversy, and that his neighbors have been curious but not confrontational.

“I am not happy making my neighbors unhappy,” Alpan said last week. “I spent two years on this--it’s my design, and I think it’s beautiful. So, when they say it isn’t, it hurts me.”

Alpan agrees with the concept of protecting the neighborhood through the use of the advisory board, but says it is too late to make the rules apply to him since city planners approved the project and he has spent “a fortune” on it.

Besides, Alpan says, the home will be a showcase of the Mediterranean style that dominates the area, and will fit the neighborhood quite well. It’s just that it will be more than twice the size of the other homes.

And that’s what has some neighbors upset.

Frieda Kahan, who has lived in the house immediately to the north of Alpan’s for 17 years, said she doesn’t care about the house’s architecture but is bothered by its size. The Alpan home, she said, takes up nearly the entire plot of land it is built on and crowds her home. What’s more, the three-story structure blocks her sunlight, she said.

The sheer height of the house and its massive attic has prompted neighbors to speculate that Alpan will build a third floor of living space in violation of his city-approved building plan. Alpan has denied that he plans to use the third floor as a dental clinic or a playroom for his two children.

And although he can’t do anything about the size of the house, Yaroslavsky said he will at least make sure Alpan keeps to the city-approved plan.

“The whole block is lying in wait,” the councilman said. “He’s going to have the most scrutinized house in America over the next few years.”

Meanwhile, Yaroslavsky predicts other communities will make use of the preservation zone concept.

“There will be more such preservation zones in the future, I assure you, because there is a greater sense in the city about preserving the richness of our past,” Yaroslavsky said. “And this is the best tool to preserve historically and architecturally significant neighborhoods without emasculating homeowners’ rights.”

Preservation status could conceivably raise the real estate value of Yaroslavsky’s own home--and hence benefit him personally. But he said the city attorney’s office has told him there is no conflict of interest, and he is only doing what is best for his constituents.

“The neighborhood shouldn’t be penalized just because I live there,” he said.