Home Shopping on San Rafael Avenue

As the brochure says, "there is simply no address quite like it in Pasadena..." A South San Rafael Avenue address is an exclusive address. Yesterday I got to take a look at a property for sale at 500 South San Rafael avenue for an unheard of $3,500,000. Does that sound expensive to you? Nah. According to the agent, my friend Jeremy Hardy of Craig Estates and Fine Properties, many properties along that street are worth $6 million or more, even in this economy.

I'm standing on the second floor balcony. You're looking at the pool house, which has a kitchen and bathroom, and can serve as a private guest house. The home itself was built in 1904 by an adventurer named Frederick Burnham, who later served as president of what was then the Southwest Museum, now the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. Mrs. Alice Campbell-Johnston altered the house significantly when she lived there from 1927 to 1942. It doesn't look like a 1904 house at all. (Alice must have been related to Frances Ellen Campbell-Johnston, who built the Church of the Angels nearby.)

I enjoy visiting houses like this and felt lucky I got to see this one. It's a fantastic lot--more than 55,000 square feet. And it's mostly flat, which is unusual for a lot so close to the Arroyo. The back yard is almost completely taken up by a tennis court. When I move in I'm going to take that out and just plant stuff.

Jeremy said the house doesn't have a website. But Redfin has already picked up the MLS listing and there are several pictures. Take a look and you'll get an idea of the place. Here's Jeremy, standing below the balcony where I stood when I shot the pool house pic.
Say hi to my pal!