For sale: Old Pink House

Lolita Harper

The new and improved Old Pink House boasts a striking new

face-lift and a million-dollar price tag.

And the recently renovated craftsman-style home has a new lawn

ornament: a for sale sign. The asking price is $1.05 million, owner

Chad Ware said.

Ware, who bought the once-dilapidated house on the corner of

Orange Avenue and Camellia Lane when it was close to being declared a

public nuisance, has decided to abandon his yearlong labor of love

for another renovation project, he said.

“This project has been such a heartache because it dragged on for

so long,” Ware said. “I am ready to turn another page.”

On the next sheet lies a 130-foot classic fan tale boat from the

1930s. Ware said he is going to buy it, fix it up and live on it.

That is what Ware said about the house on Orange Avenue home,

which Costa Mesa residents called the Old Pink House. Ware bought the

run-down house from an heiress who couldn’t bear to see it torn down.

Elaine Davis, who grew up in the house and was ultimately charged

with selling it, had said she wanted to find a buyer who would

restore the craftsman-style home that housed a large piece of her

childhood and heart. Many were willing to purchase the excessively

large corner lot -- a prime piece of real estate -- but few were

willing to invest the time and money to keep the house. Most buyers

wanted to raze the house and start from scratch.

Not Ware. The youthful business man put more than a year into his

restoration project and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix

it up.

Cream paint, with tan trim, replaced the former pastel exterior

and classic copper rain gutters run where rampant weeds once held

court. A well-manicured front lawn and attractive wooden fence took

the place of the rickety chain-link barrier that had once hidden a

virtual junkyard.

The 1923 craftsman-style home now stands proudly on the corner,

finally able to boast its true value. And Ware is ready to cash in.

Properties on the Eastside of Costa Mesa average about $559,000,

said Trisha Moore, the executive vice president of the Orange Coast

Assn. of Realtors. Houses in the two-block vicinity of Orange Avenue

and Camellia Lane sell for about $379,000. Recently, two on Camellia

Lane sold for $469,000 and $489,000, she said.

The parcel is 17,000 square feet and houses two lots. The

renovated house sits on one, and a newly landscaped yard inhabits the

other. Ware said he is willing to split the two lots, but the house

is an exclusive listing, meaning it will only be sold through one

real estate agent.

Dean Stewart, who has the assignment to sell the historic home,

said he was not going to actively market the property for about two

weeks. He called it a “unique deal.”

The house is historically significant because it was made during

1915, in an era when builders did not have the use of power tools and

were forced to handcraft each piece of wood. Many draftsman also made

their own nails, he said.

The house was built from cherrywood, which was its saving grace.

The strength of the wood protected it from termite damage, experts

said.

Mayor Linda Dixon, who recently awarded Ware with the Mayor’s

Award, said she is sure Ware will sell the house to someone who

realizes it is full of history.

Ware put a lot of time, money and tender loving care into the

house and is probably just ready to cash out, Dixon said.

“He did a beautiful job and he should be very proud,” Dixon said.

“Somebody is going to be a very lucky owner.”