Today one of the original Crestwood Hills Association homes was demolished. It was an 111x model by architects Whitney R. Smith and A. Quincy Jones located at 12361 Deerbrook Lane. This was one of the 33 remaining intact homes of CHA.
In just nine days seven original CHA homes will be open for the MAK architecture tour, celebrating the architecture here in our community. It is a shame to lose one of the original homes.
Basketball court replaces original Quincy Jones house
“Good houses get demolished all the time because of ignorance, and it’s true across the board. But with A. Quincy Jones it’s truer than with most because many architects believe he was under-recognized”
Kimberli Meyer, director of the MAK Center
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This is awful and totally short-sighted. While these homes are not the size of today’s McMansions, that’s what make them special and valuable. Developers with no sense of history SUCK. Please don’t turn Crestwood Hills into McMansion LAnd!!!
It would be nice to know the names of those responsible so we can let them know how we feel about what they’ve done.
i heard that there were existing CCRs in place that were totally ignored.
could a “scorched earth” overlay be applied on this property to scare away any future illegal demolitions from happening again…
http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=10480
p.s. i am appalled at some of the responses on la curbed by the way about this…
I think that these “Flipping Out”-esqe guys, with their faux-hawk’s, leased CL550’s, and obbessive compulsive disorders are going to destroy a lot of good homes with interesting architecture.
I met the people who bought the property. They seem to have a lot of respect for the area but felt the original design had been so butchered that it was not a good enough representation of the architects’ otherwise fine work. I am certain they will not build a McMansion and I know for a fact they do not lease any CL550’s. In fact I doubt they will develop the property at all as they feel the community is already too jammed up and overcrowded. Another pet peeve of mine is people speculating on things they know nothing about and spreading malicious nonsense as in some of the comments above. The world would be a lot better place if people would do some research rather than speculate. All the best, Tom
I find it fascinating that there is such vindictive and bizarre commentary allowed on this website. As an architect I can truthfully say that the structure that was demolished was an extremely weak and badly altered example of Jones’ work and really not worth saving. I wonder if any of the above commentators even saw the house before it was torn down.
I have heard through the grapevine that the new owners intend to turn it into a garden. Development appears to be the furthest thing from their mind. If I read your attitude and morality correctly, I doubt you will publish my comments, but at least you have seen what I have to say. Victor Parsons
I don’t think commentary like that is bizzarre–in fact I think its quite understandable given the degree to which so much of our architectural heritage has been thoughtlessly demolished. There’s a lot of anger and frustration about it, legitimately so in my opinion. People are objecting as much to the “i can buy it, so I can tear it down” phenomenon as much as the specifics. That house is a grim stand-in for all that has been and continues to be lost. So to respond strongly is, it seems to me, not nonesense at all.
If the new owners are going to turn it into a garden, I would like to make contact with them. We need a demonstration garden in the community: native drought-resistant, fire-resistant plantings; backyard fruit orchards; and space-intensive vegetable gardening, including raised-bed and container gardening. I would be happy to participate in such a project. (I farm two parcels at Ocean View Farm Community Garden and have just completed the UC Master Gardener program.)
Grace
I love the landscape of this area and the modern midcentury smaller houses in Ca I currently live in Pa. in a beautiful suburb of philly. The only problem here is the Mcmansion as you call it, those things are all over the place here people do not know how to invest their money they buy these huge horrible looking houses that suck energy and money right out of their pockets. These huge house make no sense at all the landscape around here is so amazing but builders and home owners are not taking any of it into consideration when building its really ashamed. Everyone around here just wants a big house “just make it big” they say building one house uglier than the next. If you wanted to buy a midcentury house in this area youd be luck to find one. People are just so uneducated about these things I would love to have a living room with wide expanses of glass so see the amazing landscape here I think what you guys are doing out there is great! I would love to move out there one day !
Destroyed for a basketball court… WEAK!!!