Big buildings make good neighbors

ROBERT GARDNER

I have built two houses. Not myself, of course. I have revealed in

the past that I ended up in college because that was all I was good

for, at least by my father’s perspective. As a man who made a living

for many years as a carpenter, he despaired of a son who couldn’t

drive a nail straight. Of course, that being the case, it was

imperative that when it came time to build I hire a good contractor,

and I certainly did. I don’t know how many houses Bill Rogers built

over the years, but he built two for me, both of which still exist.

The first, built in 1947, is on Iris. It was basically a copy of

Rogers’ own house which was, I believe, on Heliotrope, a small,

handsome red house with white trim, three bedrooms, one bath. We

copied it right down to the red color. The house on Iris went through

some remodeling a few years ago, but it still has its original

facade. Rogers’ house, still with its coat of red paint, was there

until just a couple of years ago when it was replaced by a much

larger house.

In 1952 we moved from Corona del Mar to Shorecliffs and from a

35-foot lot to a 65-foot lot. With a growing family, we wanted a

little more house so we hired an architect by the name of

Featherstone to develop our plans. At that time he was quite active.

He designed several other houses in Shorecliffs, including his own

house which still exists on Morning Canyon.

Like most architects, Featherstone had his little quirks, like not

liking 90 degree angles. There are no right angles in our floor plan.

That may not seem significant, but it’s amazing how much a few

degrees matter, particularly when you are an amateur trying to make a

small repair. Of course, this is an architect who put the hot water

heater in the attic on the second floor so it would be sure to ruin

the ceiling each time it rusted out, and put the heater in a box

under the house, which is only accessible by Chinese acrobats.

Whatever the quirks, it was a good-looking house, and again we had

Bill Rogers as our contractor. How good a job did he do? Over the

years, my wife carpeted and re-carpeted, painted and repainted -- my

personal favorite was when we had fire-engine red walls and carpeting

-- but there have been no major repairs. We did put a new roof on,

but there was no particular need. There were no leaks, but after 30

years we decided to do it as a precautionary measure.

I mentioned our plan to my friend John Lusk. At that time his

company was building lots of houses, and he insisted on sending over

a crew to do the work. It was a testimony to the quality of Rogers’

work. The roofers were amazed at the condition of the roof they were

replacing. They said I could never get anything that good today. It

made me wish I’d never decided to replace it, although the new roof

has stood up very well.

The point of all this, however, is not to review the places where

I’ve lived. The point is that I have a noticed a new trend in home

design, one that I am sure has great cultural significance. Both of

our houses had essentially the same layout -- a front yard with some

grass, a patio on the side of the house and a back yard. The front

yard was something the gardener mowed. Outdoor living was done on the

patio, and it was all very private. Nobody knew we were out there

unless they peeked over the fence, and that’s the way everyone’s

house was.

Not so today. Walking around Corona del Mar today, I see that

outdoor living has moved to the front yard. Instead of huddled

privately on their patio, people are out in front, reading the Sunday

paper and greeting their neighbors as they walk by with the dog. How

much more neighborly. I pointed out this heartwarming trend to my

daughter and explained its significance.

“It’s a desire to regain the sense of community,” I told her.

“It’s a desire to build on every square foot so that the only

place left to sit outside is in front,” was her response.

OK. Maybe the motive isn’t to be more neighborly, but that’s the

result, and in today’s world, that can only be a good thing.

* ROBERT GARDNER is a Corona del Mar resident and a former judge.

His column runs Tuesdays.