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These Are the Neighborhoods Where You’ll Find L.A.’s Best Collections of Historic Homes

These Are the Neighborhoods Where You’ll Find L.A.’s Best Collections of Historic Homes

Since L.A. declared Angelino Heights its first historic preservation overlay zone in 1983, the protection has been granted to 34 other neighborhoods. The ones below are known for their unified style.

ANGELINO HEIGHTS
Victorian
Average price: $1.2 million

The stately Queen Anne and Eastlake homes perched in the hills between downtown and Echo Park were worse for the wear before a generation of restorers returned every last finial, tower, and fish scale shingle to their Victorian splendor in the 1970s and ’80s. Even if you don’t think you’ve been there, you’ve probably seen it in Chinatown and Mad Men.

HARVARD HEIGHTS
Craftsman
Average price: $998,000

It was the horse-drawn streetcars that made this district—south of Pico between Western and Normandie—attractive to downtowners at the turn of the 20th century. Landowners stipulated that new homes be built on a grand scale, leading to lavish Craftsman bungalows with wide porches and rich wood-paneled interiors. The only Greene & Greene house within Los Angeles city limits is on Cambridge Street.

WILSHIRE PARK
Dutch Colonial Revival
Average price: $1.2 million

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Norton Avenue. Wilshire Park #wilshirepark

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California architects have scoured this world (and others) looking for inspiration. For the neighborhood between Wilshire and Olympic, east of Crenshaw, they went to Holland. The tracts represent the largest grouping of Dutch Colonial Revival-style homes in L.A. The earliest homes are big, built to accommodate servants and extended families.

GREGRORY AIN MAR VISTA TRACT
Midcentury Modern
Average price: $1.23 million*

With his communist and socialist leanings, architect Gregory Ain excelled at designing shared spaces. His 1948 “Modernique” tract—the first post-World War II district to be declared an HPOZ—features clean lines, simple materials, movable walls, and magnolias and Chinese elms planted by famed landscape designer Garrett Eckbo. *Last home sold in 2015

WHITELY HEIGHTS
Spanish Colonial Revival
Average price: $1.6 million

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#secretstairs #whitleyheights

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The 1920s enclave of Spanish Colonial Revival villas, tucked into the hillsides east of the Cahuenga Pass, originally attracted the likes of Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, and the stars of silent-era Hollywood. It also helped inspire our landscape of ubiquitous white stucco walls and red tile roofs.

By Chris Nichols – October 9, 2017, LA Mag

LA Magazine Editor’s Note: This list is from our October 2017 L.A. Real Estate issue. For the rest of the L.A. Real Estate package, check out the issue.