Housenography

As long as John and I have lived in the Pasadena area we've been aware of the huge house on North Lake Avenue. We used to drive by it every day when we lived in Altadena. We couldn't guess much from the street; the house was behind a brick fence and mostly what we could see was the high peak of the roof. The lot was huge and the house sprawled over much of it, and even though at that time the house was an unattractive pink, we coveted it.

Now the "gracious English estate" is painted white, looking more distinguished and on the market for just under two million dollars. We went to the open house last Sunday. Gracious it is, an aging beauty with good bones. The 9-bedroom house was built in the 1920s by architect Kenneth Gordon, who built other distinguished properties in this area.

Above is a rear view of the house. I decided to use it because many locals know the front view but we never get to see the house from behind. Yesterday's "secret window" photo was taken in a room we discovered by opening a door we found inside a closet, that led into a room beyond the closet. It could be a secret hiding place, known only to the house's owner. On the floor plan it's called "storage."

For a little extra fun, below are the patio and a view of the pool from an upstairs room. (Click to enlarge the photos.)

We wandered. The house is almost 4500 square feet. There's a pool house, guest house, an old-fashioned tennis court and a converted garage. The traces of the times still show in places: the tennis court has changed very little since the 1920s, for example. A peace sign is painted on the inner wall of a shed.

I won't lie. The house needs some cosmetic work. But I still covet it.