The hillside neighborhood of Whiting Woods in northern Glendale boasts a number of notable midcentury homes, including John Lautner's Schaffer House, Richard Neutra's Taylor House, and Clair Earl's Daily House.

It is here that lesser known, but much respected Californian midcentury architect David Lopez designed this 2,219-square-foot, post-and-beam house at 3525 El Lado Drive. Built in 1954, the residence is now on the market.

The well-maintained, three-bedroom, three-bath property was recently renovated by a husband-and-wife team of design consultants, Brett Halsey and Valerie Levitt Halsey of the project consulting firm Levitt Halsey. They collaborated with Valerie’s brother, architect David Levitt of Levitt Architects, and builders Artisan Pacific.

This is the firm’s second extensive renovation of a midcentury post-and-beam with a slab foundation, and they had to work through certain challenges during its redesign.

“Because there is no crawl space above or below, we had to be especially careful when designing the systems and lighting, as there would be little room for correction once the walls and floors were closed. Our goal was to thoroughly update the house while maintaining the timeless beauty of the original design,” says Valerie.

The original windows, built-in closets, Malm-style fireplace, and vintage Fleetwood sliders were retained. A new bathroom was added, and the kitchen, along with the other two bathrooms, was reconfigured. The lighting systems and landscaping were updated, and most of the interior fit-outs were replaced.

The floors of the common areas were fitted in white oak, and carpets were installed in all the bedrooms. Two of the existing bathrooms were remodeled to include a soaking tub, Japanese tiles, and wood vanities with quartz counters.

Custom rift oak cabinetry, quartz countertops, and stainless-steel Bosch appliances outfit the new kitchen. Levitt Halsey also added new custom-designed cabinets, which were built by Brian Hollenbeck at Bellwether Millworks.

“We love midcentury modern houses for their warm, individual, ‘handmade’ feel, and close connection to the outdoors, so we tried to find new materials that reinforce these qualities while still bringing everything up to date,” says Valerie.

The refreshed house also includes a large rectangular pool that runs along the back of the property, and several new skylights that work with the existing floor-to-ceiling windows to further strengthen the connectivity between indoors and outdoors.

Claudia Desbiens of Modern Mecca is responsible for the staging of the home.

Valerie is also the property’s broker, and interested parties can contact her to find out more.

3525 El Lado Drive is asking $1,499,000. See the listing here.

Know of a home for sale or rent that should be featured on Dwell.com? Drop us a line at community@dwell.com.

Appears In

A Meticulously Updated Midcentury in L.A. Asks $1.49M