The Sam and Jane Taylor House: A Mid-Century Modern Landmark in Los Feliz Knolls

The Sam and Jane Taylor House is a 1947 Mid-Century Modern home at 3235-3247 West Waverly Drive in Los Feliz Knolls. The City of Los Angeles lists it as Historic-Cultural Monument #1216, designated November 25, 2020. Architect J.R. Davidson designed the house. Garrett Eckbo drew the original plan for the grounds. It is a private residence, and it is viewed from the public street only.

At Rooster Homes, we study the landmark homes of Los Feliz because they explain the character of a street. This post covers what the City's own report says about the house and how it earned its monument number. It also covers what that status means for an owner or a buyer or a seller. It is one of the homes on our map of Los Feliz historic homes.

J.R. Davidson designed the house. The City's Cultural Heritage Commission report says Julius Ralph Davidson was born in Berlin in 1889. He worked in London and Paris before coming to Los Angeles in 1923. He spent a few years in Chicago starting in 1933 and was back in Los Angeles by 1936. His Case Study House work for Arts & Architecture magazine included Case Study Houses #1, #11 and #15. The report counts more than 150 projects across his career and calls the Waverly Drive house one of only a few of his single-family residences still standing in Los Angeles.

Garrett Eckbo drew the original planting and grounds plan. The same report calls him one of the pioneers of Modernism in garden and grounds design. He earned a master's degree at Harvard's Graduate School of Design in 1938 and later led the department at the University of California, Berkeley from 1969 to 1975. One detail matters. City staff found that a few original trees and plantings remain but the grounds no longer follow Eckbo's plan. The designation rests on the house and on Davidson, not on the grounds.

The Los Feliz Improvement Association supported the nomination and calls the house one of only two Davidson designs in Los Feliz. The City's SurveyLA survey lists the other one nearby at 3214 Waverly Drive, built in 1950.

The City report describes a one-story house with an attached garage, built of wood frame with stucco cladding. The roof is hipped with overhanging eaves. The plan is two rectangular volumes joined by a narrower third one. The front faces southwest. A three-car garage sits to the west and a recessed entrance with a trellis-covered porch sits at the center. A flagstone path runs to the porch beside a decorative stream with a waterfall.

Inside, the report lists open living spaces and transom windows and curved ceilings. It also lists built-in cupboards and shelving, polished wood paneling and skylights. The grounds hold a swimming pool and a bathhouse. There is also a garden utility building, a badminton court and a carport. The nomination statement quoted on the LFIA page adds that the house sits on about one and one third acres with a view of Griffith Park, the Verdugo Hills, Glendale and the Los Angeles River. It calls the structure a direct expression of wood post and beam framing, with flush-mounted steel-framed windows running floor to ceiling.

The City's list of Mid-Century Modern hallmarks reads like a checklist for this house. One story. Horizontal massing. Smooth wall surfaces with almost no ornament. Bands of windows and floor-to-ceiling glass. Open interior space and built-in cabinetry.

The City's Cultural Heritage Ordinance sets three criteria, and a property needs to meet only one. The report found the house meets the third: it embodies the distinctive characteristics of a style and represents a notable work of a master architect. Here is the sequence the City report lays out.

1. May 21, 2020. The Director of Planning determined the application was complete.
2. July 21, 2020. Commission and staff held a remote site inspection.
3. August 20, 2020. The Cultural Heritage Commission heard the case. Staff recommended designation.
4. November 25, 2020. The City's monument list records the designation date.

A homeowner who believes a house qualifies can start the same process with the Office of Historic Resources.

Yes, and the City report lists the changes. A fireplace was added and the patio roof covered in 1954. A 144-square-foot addition went in during 1955. The original pebble roof was replaced with composite shingles in 1975. Rooftop solar panels went on the garage in 1981, and a pantry became a kitchen the same year. More solar panels were added in 2016. A carport was added in 2002 and the roof replaced in 2005. Between 2018 and 2019 a ramp was added and the front entry wall, hardscape, waterfall and planters were replaced.

Staff still found the house greatly intact. The report credits it with a high level of integrity in location and design and setting, and in materials, workmanship and feeling. A landmark is a house people live in. Solar panels, a new roof and an accessible ramp did not cost it the designation.

Designation changes how future work on the property is reviewed. The City report says designation ensures that future construction activities involving the property are regulated under Section 22.171.14 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code. That section incorporates the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. In plain terms, the City reviews changes to a monument against a preservation standard before they happen.

Designation also opens a door. The City's Mills Act program has been its primary financial incentive for historic preservation since 1996. It is a revolving 10-year contract that renews each year and passes to new owners when the home sells. The City's 2019 program brief says a qualifying property is a locally designated Historic-Cultural Monument or a contributor to an approved Historic Preservation Overlay Zone. This house qualifies on the first test. Two limits apply. New applications for single-family homes carry a $1.5 million assessed value cap, and a property above that needs an exemption plus a Historic Structure Report. The brief also says the City and County inspect Mills Act properties periodically and can impose penalties for a breach.

This is a City of Los Angeles designation. It is separate from the National Register of Historic Places, which is a federal list. This article explains how the process works. It is not tax or legal advice. For your own situation, talk with your CPA or attorney as well.

• Assume the grounds are protected because a famous designer drew them. Instead, read the City's finding. Here the designation rests on the house and the architect, not on the Eckbo plan.
• Assume nothing can change. Instead, read the alteration list. Solar panels, a new roof and a ramp all happened after 1947 and the house kept its integrity.
• Count on a Mills Act contract before checking the cap. Instead, compare the assessed value to the $1.5 million limit and ask the Office of Historic Resources about the exemption route.
• Plan a remodel from the tour. Instead, ask the City what review applies under Section 22.171.14 before drawing anything.

Here are two hypothetical examples. They are not real clients or real homes.

A buyer who wants a Mid-Century Modern in Los Feliz Knolls. A buyer tours a 1950s post and beam house a few streets from Waverly Drive. The address is not on the City's monument list. The buyer now knows the house carries no local designation and that a monument like the Taylor House is the exception on the street, not the rule. Before planning an addition, the buyer asks City Planning what review applies to an undesignated home.

A seller of a designated home. A seller owns a monument in the Knolls. Before the listing goes live, the seller pulls the monument number and the designation date. The seller also pulls the City report and every permit for past work. The listing tells the story the City already wrote, and a buyer's questions about future changes get answered from the file instead of from memory.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). We bring the same records-first approach to a home in Los Feliz Knolls.

Rooster Homes is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate team led by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216). Brandon has been licensed since 2015 and holds the ABR designation for buyer representation. We start every historic home conversation with the City's records, then plan from there. Our guide to buying a historic home in Los Feliz walks through the monument list, SurveyLA and the Mills Act in more depth.

If a landmark home is on your list, see how our buying process works. Then contact Rooster Homes and let us know what works best for you. We will coordinate our schedule around yours.