Are there today photos mixed in? What a lovely house it was. I hope it retained the feel if not the orginal entirely.

No, this is it.

Well that might be a good sign that its orginal character remains!

Wow, now that's real mid-century style. Sigh. I can envision what it may look like today.

it's probably how it is today

if yes-that realtor is genius.

Pal are they using the black and white photos or did you do that? What year did color photos come out? Edited: What I should have asked is when did color photography become mainstream. https://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/the-reception-of-color-photography-a-brief-history--cms-28333

Very cool way to market the home.

Sometimes, the colors are so vivid or jarring that they are off-putting or the colors might cause a negative emotional reaction because of their datedness. I'm guessing something like that might be the case here.

A house in my town sold recently and they also used old photos ... it was one of those case study homes, so I think it made sense to show the history of the house. Not much seemed to be changed over the years, but it looked like lots of money would need to be spent on it to make most people want to live in it. The views from the lot were good, so it will be interesting to see how much they save of the old structure.

I really like the indoor planter - it reminds me of Bachelor Father. It also looks like it is in Southern California, where the land alone would be worth several times the value of the house itself, although that is probably the case in many places.

I am not sure what the agent's approach is.

The posted photographs are black and white. These are the sort of photos that would have been taken for a designer's portfolio or published in Architectural Digest in the 1950s. My ADs from the period are all black-and-white with descriptions of the colors used. And I think when color photos were occasionally used they were actually tinted or retouched.

I think the agent is using a two-pronged, cover-the-bases approach.

The listing says that the house "transcends it's age" and with a small investment it could be brought back to life, but it also notes that the lot is "underbuilt" by some 6000 feet, so "imagine the possibilities".

So, it is showing what the ( I am assuming) essentially original but worn-out house looked like new, so some people see the charm (beyond the wear, which many people can't) --but is also saying "but tear it down if you want to".

The houses are fairly tight together and the lots that have been rebuilt on seem to have houses more than double the size.

Some other cultural observations:

zThis house is modest in size. If you transported someone from 2017 back to this lot in 1952, the majority would not build something so modest even if it was a bunch of plain drywall boxes inside. (This is and was a HCOLA)

No one who could afford a comparable new house to this in 2017 would be caught dead "forcing" their children to share bedrooms. (I've heard the word "force" on House Hunters, so that's how people feel about it). They probably would not have a kid over the age of ten sleeping in a twin bed. I would imagine that the more feminine room especially was meant to double as an occasional guest room. Now most adults would balk at sleeping in a twin bed even for a night or two. (Even though that's what they're sleeping in if they share a king).

One of my ADs of the era shows the wife's bedroom and the husband's bedroom. She slept in a full or queen. He slept on a twin bed against the wall in an adjoining bedroom. He was the president of a well-known and still existing high quality furniture brand, by the way, and the only car advertisement in AD at the time was Rolls-Royce.

This house is modest, but it is also "complete". It's fully furnished, essentially fully decorated, fully executed. It's a little jewel box, compared to today's shoe box.

"No one who could afford a comparable new house to this in 2017 would be caught dead "forcing" their children to share bedrooms. (I've heard the word "force" on House Hunters, so that's how people feel about it). They probably would not have a kid over the age of ten sleeping in a twin bed. I would imagine that the more feminine room especially was meant to double as an occasional guest room. Now most adults would balk at sleeping in a twin bed even for a night or two. (Even though that's what they're sleeping in if they share a king)."-well..then I'm an (un) happy exclusion))

(but I also don't want a new house, lol. Not what they build around here)

But very interesting perspective. Thank you!

I really would like to go see that house..there's something magical about it being in black and white..and knowing you can see it..theoretically..it's like you step into TV ..when we had TV s in black and white..and it goes colorful, like you enter the Wonderland

I wish it was somewhere near here

Do you live in California?

Yes!

It's in Bel Air/Brentwood

Interesting marketing approach. My first thought: Brady bunch type family with lots of kids.

today is one child/room. I shared w/a brother and hated it. I spent the night at a friends recently and slept in the daughter's room. Enormous. w/a queen bed, almost as big as my MB, ha. The mom told me that daughter's fave place to sleep is in a tent set up in LR. She lets her, hoping she will outgrow it.

Do college roommates have more trouble getting along than in the past, now that most of them grew up with their own bedroom and bath?

i remember visiting Mackinac Island about 20 years ago, and they were having a housing shortage for summer workers because the college kids didn't want to share rooms anymore, and all the apartments used to house 2 to 4 in a bedroom. Jeepers, it's just for the summer! Share!

When buyers go to visit the house, I wonder what they see? Is the planter even still there? The bathroom planter? The slate floors? (I have one! A neighbor was telling me how easy they are to remove and retile, but I'm keeping mine.)

There is so much I love about this house, especially the millwork on the doors. What is that style called? I agree that showing this home in B & W keeps you from the distraction of color trends of the era or recent updates such as the bathroom.

I'd call the door style "Hollywood Regency"

April, here is the address: 10891 Chalon Road, Los Angeles, CA 90077. The listing says Bel Air - Holmby Hills, all part of Los Angeles, but you have to schedule an appointment to see it. I could possibly go with you. It's 10 miles/30 minutes from my house.

Thank you Lars! That's generous of you

I'd feel bad though, if there's a need for an appointment. It's like I'm taking their time in vain, you know?

maybe they'll have an open house or something

What a sweet house. And so wanting for a cocktail party. I love the room with the two twin beds in alcoves. I just recently watched "That Touch of Mink" and Doris Day and Audrey Meadows share an apartment with the other twin setup - right angles with a corner table:

As for kids not sharing rooms, that whole thing seems to go out the window on those real estate shows where they're buying a beach/lake/mountain house or something in a foreign locale. Then it suddenly seems OK to be a family of eight in a 1BR condo with a sleeper sofa.

Houzz is acting out..comments dissappear, reappear, reappear twice, dissapear again...

Wow! I find I'm really drawn to those rooms, especially the bedroom with the separate bed cubicles. That home is much larger and fancier than the ones I grew up in, and it saddens me that siblings sharing a room is not considered good enough these days. (Fondly remembering conversations in the dark with my sister when we were supposed to be sleeping.) I was already a teenager before we got separate bedrooms, and in that house we shared a bed. A full sized bed.

I agree, the B&W photos are genius, especially for the purpose Pal suspects, as the lack of color seems to serve as a separation, a level from reality, almost like it's already just history. And that lack of color can serve as an emotional disconnection, too.

Hey, I can go too! :-)

Just checked the listing and the satellite view, and my prediction is that it will be torn down.

Open House on Sunday! 2-5 PM

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/10891-Chalon-Rd-90077/home/6829544

I'll see if I can talk my brother into going. We could do some other things in the neighborhood that day as well.

As for sharing bedrooms - I never had my own bedroom as a child - I always shared with a brother (not the one I live with now), and before that, an older cousin was living with us after his mother had died and his father (my father's brother) did not feel he could take care of his children by himself. I also did not my own room at university until my senior year, and I preferred to have roommates. Even when I lived off campus my junior year, I shared a bedroom in a house with a friend - it was a very large bedroom. My sister had her own room, however, as I only have one sister, but I have two brothers. My father (the youngest in his family) had two or three brothers (one died at age 17), and he told me he never had his own room until they all left. Soldiers in barracks don't have their own rooms either. My father may have mentioned that to me. Today, however, my brother and I do not even share a bathroom, and we are both happy about that.

Oh, please come back and tell us what it was like! Thanks for finding the listing, Lars. I always enjoy it when we can go to the source and not just have photos!

I think it's great that the listing agent is trying to appeal to buyers who appreciate old houses in addition to developers. I suspect the latter will snatch this one up and would love to be proven wrong on my guess!

The price is almost $4M. So for maybe $4.3M or so you could have a nicely restored and decorated Mid Century house with updated infrastructure. Or for about $6-7M you could have a new house on the property.

Handsome house in it's day - and was so So Cal

I particularly like the bed nooks - that look could work in a trad Hampton's style house today as well

Too bad the agent isn't Josh Flagg from Mil $ Listing LA, he loves these old/vintage homes and tries to find buyers that appreciate it as well - who will tweak instead of bulldozing

Well like I said before, it is a very complete execution and this is something that's rarely seen today.

I just noticed that the charming bedroom with the cubbies opens immediately off the foyer. I wouldn't like that at ALL in a house, that's apartment-style layout.

You can also see the ruins of another mid-century house in Solstice Canyon. I first went to the park in the mid 1990s, and while hiking on the trail, I saw a sign that identified the house, saying that it was destroyed in the 1982 fire and that it had been built "some time in the 1950s", as if that were a time before records had been kept. I think it is considered an archaeological site by now, like the Mash set in Malibu Creek State Park, where there is a museum dedicated to the TV shows and movies that were filmed in that park, which include the original Planet of the Apes. That park is full of historical markers, dating back to the 1960s.

When I first visited the ruined house in Solstice Canyon, the 1950s wall oven was still in place.

Here's another listing on Chalon Rd, Los Angeles...about 1/2 mile from the vintage Chalon Rd. house. 15 minute walk.

Other Chalon Rd. Listing

Wow Laurie, that one looks like a Las Vegas corporate retreat!

Love these time capsules.