A Case for Remodeling

When Geraldine Knatz and John Mulvey set out to renovate their 1936 Long Beach house--with its exquisite leaded glass windows and charming shingled roof and walls--the one person Knatz knew to call for advice was a contractor she had just spent months battling in court.

The contractor, Peter Devereaux, specializes in historic renovations and is on the board of directors of Long Beach Heritage, a nonprofit group.

Devereaux’s group sued the Port of Long Beach, of which Knatz was the planning director, over its plans to demolish vintage buildings at the Long Beach Naval Station. The port wanted to turn the station into a container terminal, and Long Beach Heritage wanted the city to retain the buildings, designed by prominent African American architect Paul Williams, for use as a civic center.

After months of lawsuits and controversy, “I won,” Knatz says. The buildings were demolished.

Still, when Knatz called Devereaux about renovating her newly purchased vintage house--situated in the Virginia Country Club and designed by another acclaimed architect, Kirkland K. Cutter--he didn’t turn her away.

“I respected her from the moment I met her,” Devereaux recalls, but adds: “That was a surprising call.”

To work up a design, Devereaux suggested Knatz contact Bob Crouch of Signal Hill. As Crouch determined and drew up what the couple wanted--adding a luxurious kitchen and family room with 1930s ambience and restoring other parts of the house--he told Knatz several times: “Peter is the guy to work on this house.”

Knatz agonized: “What if Peter doesn’t want to work on my house?”

Nevertheless, she asked Devereaux to bid on the project and, after the homeowners and contractor agreed to “no more lawsuits,” they signed the contract.

Knatz and Mulvey first saw the two-story cottage in 1996 when it was for sale by the original owners, the Jimersons. Dr. John Jimerson, a pediatrician, wanted an unpretentious cottage.

That first visit did not impress Mulvey.

As his wife recalls: “He walked in, turned around, and walked out.”

Though Knatz says she “could see the potential right away,” Mulvey, a district sales representative for the California State Lottery, saw an aged house with decades-old wallpaper, ancient wiring with screw-in fuses and a bland, boring kitchen.

Another couple ended up buying the house and renovating it a bit, including removal of the old wallpaper.

Some attention and new paint helped bring out its many charms--wainscoting, thick moldings, leaded-glass windows, wide-plank floors and a luxurious library with teak walls and a mahogany ceiling that came from a clipper ship.

When a job transfer caused that couple to put the house back on the market in 1998, Knatz and Mulvey decided to buy it.

The couple’s main goals were to enlarge and remodel the kitchen and to build a new family room to accommodate their two rambunctious boys--J.R., 6, and Patrick, 5.

“Them running around [the library] with their Tonka trucks doesn’t appeal to me,” Knatz says.

For the kitchen, Mulvey “wanted the biggest kitchen we could legally have” according to setbacks required by the city, and he wanted the kitchen sink to face the street so the couple could wave at neighbors passing by. They also wanted stainless steel appliances, lots of decorative tile and light-colored granite counters that would give the appearance of marble without being porous.

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The design Crouch came up with included a wide arch leading into an octagon-shaped kitchen, with a large island in the middle and a breakfast area surrounded by multi-paned windows and bookcases for Knatz’s collection of cookbooks. All the cabinets would have either raised-panel doors or doors with glass inserts. A wide, tiled hearth would surround the Wolf stove top. Knatz was sure she didn’t want the stove area dominated by a large exhaust fan.

Because of the house’s historic significance in a neighborhood of equally distinctive houses, the exterior of the kitchen and family room additions had to blend in with and complement the original house.

According to the design, with input from Long Beach architect Rex Hoover, 620 square feet would be added to the original house. The roofs and windows of the two added rooms would match the house, and the kitchen’s exterior would include a brick wainscot to match the front of the house. Matching the 18-inch-long bricks would be tricky, and other contractors Knatz contacted wanted to use easily obtainable, standard-sized bricks. Devereaux, however, scoured brickyards to find a pile of old 18-inchers that blended perfectly.

Once demolition and construction started in September 1999, the family put a microwave oven in the dining room and sort of camped out for six months. Though some people have near-mental breakdowns when their houses are under siege by construction crews, Knatz thrived on it.

“It was really fun. I actually miss it,” she says. “I looked forward to coming home to the crew.”

Sometimes, she went home to distressing sights. One day, after a thick marble slab was installed near the baking center, she realized her Kitchen-Aid mixer would not fit into the appliance garage that was designed to hold it.

The next morning, the crew found a sign taped to the appliance garage stating: “No way!”

When she went home from work that day, a layer of marble had been etched out to accommodate the mixer and there was a chocolate cream pie for her in the refrigerator.

After the remodel was complete, an artist came in to hand-paint scenes and sayings around the kitchen’s frieze. One says “Cafe Knatz,” another “Chateau Mulvey.”

When asked how long they plan to live in the house, Mulvey guesses 20 years. But Knatz has a different estimate.

“They’ll take me out of here feet first in a pine box,” she says.

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Kathy Price-Robinson is a freelance writer who has written about remodeling for 10 years. She can be reached at: kathyprice@aol.com.

Send Us Your Remodeling Tale If you would like to have your remodeling project--large or small--considered for use in the Pardon Our Dust series, please send before and after photos (copies only, please; we cannot return the pictures) and a brief description of the project, including costs, to Real Estate Editor, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include a daytime phone number.

Source Book

Project: Enlarge and remodel kitchen, add family room, replace roof to vintage Long Beach house

Homeowners: Geraldine Knatz and John Mulvey

Kitchen Designer: Bob Crouch, Design Build Classics, Signal Hill, (562) 424-0233

Architect: Rex Hoover, Hoover Architectural Group, Long Beach, (562) 595-8770

Contractor: Peter Devereaux, Devereaux Construction, Long Beach, (562) 439-1216

Floors: Luke Hiller, Hiller Hardwood, Long Beach, (562) 498-0853

Window coverings: Larali Boal, Paradeisos, San Dimas, (909) 599-2445

Hand painting: Kerry Sabine-Wolf, the Painted Wall, Orange, (714) 639-9339

French windows and doors: Don McFarland, Paramount Windows and Doors, San Bernardino (909) 799-9444

Financing: 15-year second mortgage, arranged by Mark Bernardin, Washington Mutual, Torrance Office, (310) 618-9950

Duration: Six months

Cost: $250,000