This Victorian was once a $1 fixer-upper

By Diane Wedner

Aug. 10, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Built in the 1880s and originally situated on Bunker Hill, this Victorian was tagged for demolition in 1978. The house, which combines the decorative exuberance of a Queen Anne with the clean lines and simpler sensibility of Charles Eastlake designs, sold that year for $1, according to owner Kim Dane, and was moved to Carroll Avenue in Angelino Heights. It joined more than a dozen other architecturally significant homes on that block.

The Heights, a stone’s throw from Dodger Stadium, was the Beverly Hills of the late 19th century, the area for Los Angeles’ upper-middle-class socialites who earned their living in businesses such as dairy farming and warehouse construction.

The former owners of this historic-cultural monument (the home is listed with 11 other Carroll Avenue houses on the National Register of Historic Places), Cecil Dover and Edward Ellison, relocated the home and restored it to its original condition. They refinished the hardwood floors and cabinetry, added period-style stained-glass windows and updated the structure’s plumbing and electrical wiring.

They also added a separate two-story “carriage house” with a three-car garage on the bottom and living quarters above. The permitted carriage house, with high ceilings and Victorian touches, has a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen and currently rents for $2,000 a month.

“I knew when I first stood on the porch of this house that I was going to buy it,” said Dane, a photographer and artist who uses the conservatory as her studio. “The high ceilings and tall windows and the design itself are perfect for showcasing my art to clients.”

diane.wedner@latimes.com

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send high-resolution color photos with caption and credit information on a CD and a description of the house to Diane Wedner, Real Estate, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., CA 90012. Questions may be sent to homeoftheweek@latimes.com.

Begin text of infobox

Period piece

Location: Angelino Heights

Asking price: $1,495,000

Last sale price: $595,000 (recorded Nov. 16, 2000)

About this house: When Dane purchased the house eight years ago, Dover and Ellison had done most of the extensive restoration. The artist installed custom-made, antiqued red screen doors and period light fixtures and door handles. Dane also finished a basement that can be used as a studio or an office.

Size: The house has two bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms in 3,201 square feet; the carriage house is 1,663 square feet. The lot is 9,448 square feet.

Features: The home has front and rear parlors, formal dining and living rooms, mostly original hardwood floors, pocket doors, period light fixtures, wainscoting, stained-glass windows, a six-foot claw bathtub, a high-pitched gabled roof, terraces, downtown views and a wraparound veranda with intricate wood detailing.

Listing agent: Rosemary Low, Sotheby’s International Realty, (323) 660-5885.

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