Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » before & after: jeremy’s eagle rock reno

jlfronthousebefore
some before & afters are quick change-overs, and some involve a whole lot of work. this incredible remodel and add-on was done by jeremy levine of jeremy levine design. he transformed this 400 sq. ft eagle rock, california space into the 1100 sq. ft home that it is now. i’m so jealous of all the openness and light- gotta love california living. click here to see more of jeremy’s work, here to see additional (and full-sized) photos of the home, and here to see the full post (the photos continue after the jump).

jlfronthouseafter
[image above, top: front of house, before. image directly above: front of house, after]

fireplacebefore
jllivingafter
[images above: living room fireplace, before. living room with fireplace, after]

jlviewtokitchenbefore
jlviewintokitchenafter
[images above: view from deck to kitchen/dining room, before. view from deck to kitchen/dining room, after]

CLICK HERE for more photos of this eagle rock before & after…

jlkitchenbefore
jlkitchenafter
[images above: kitchen, before and kitchen, after]

jlbackdeckbefore
jldeckafter
[images above: exterior deck before and after]

jlgardenafter
[image above: new indoor garden space]

jlofficeafter
[image above: new office space]

I would not call this a “renovation”. This is basically a tear-down. While I love a beautiful open, modern house, Why would you buy a beautiful historic LA spanish bungalow and basically knock it down to create a modern house. What a shame. Those bungalows can never be recreated in the same way. This lack of regard for what little history Los Angeles has is pretty shameless.

My God, what a gorgeous house! I have to agree with Davina that to call it a renovation is kind of a stretch – only in the arcane world of building regulations is this a renovation. And I too hate to see LA’s Spanish bungalows desecrated – but you can see from the before pictures that this one already was (those kitchen cabinets – yikes!). At least this owner built something beautiful in its place.

looks great! Did anyone see the piece on the disappearing “bohemia” that the NYT did ran on Eagle Rock, CA today?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/fashion/26eaglerock.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=eagle%20rock&st=cse

Wow!! Is that the same house?! Amazing transformation — it looks so bright and welcoming now. I kind of like how the wood slats on the exterior create slats of sunlight inside.

Kelly (one half of DesignTies)

What an amazing transformation! However, calling this house a “Spanish mission/bungalow” style based on those photos is a bit of a stretch. Besides the tile roof, which is on a lot of houses in LA, it doesn’t appear to be anything more than a stucco house, which is another common sight in LA.

i have to say i’m kind of mixed about this one. the light is beautiful, the ceilings are beautiful. and i know what those old “before” bungalows are like inside — kind of dark and pokey, with small, crowded rooms. (the preservationist’s dream is always more romantic than the reality of actually living in one of these houses.) having said that, i do feel bad that some of the 1920’s spanish architectural cues have been eliminated. not wild about the red painted concrete in front with the stones and horizontal lattice. but clearly this was done with love, a creative spirit and great energy and that’s what our aging neighborhoods need to take them forward for future generations. kudos to the architect for having the vision to see something beyond a same-old, same-old LA bungalow.

I don’t really see “spanish bungalow” in the blocky, somewhat trashed house.

There are neighbourhoods upon neighbourhoods of old houses in Los Angeles – I’ve been househunting for a couple months and man, a couple are lovely preservationist dreams, and a whole lot more exude nothing but “old”. Besides – a 400sqft home?

I love all of the orange accents!

Nice renovation! Love this D*S!

Those that criticize Los Angeles as “shameless” for allowing this type of renovation have little understanding of the city, its history or archicture (old or new).

This house was not built by Spanish settlers trying to convert the natives to Christianity, it is not a “Mission Style” home, it is not architecturally important and was in no way “desecrated.”

Furthermore, those who criticize L.A. might want to look beyond their own little corner of the world, to the great cities of Europe, where old and new architecture often co-exist in the same building.

ps
Articles about LA in the NYTimes are a joke.

Part of what I love about LA (and Eagle Rock in particular) are the simple 1920s homes, even the ones that are not “architectually significant.” This one might have had some charm that could’ve been worth renovating, but that’s hard to tell from the few photos above. Regardless, the after pictures are stunning. So, so beautiful and livable that I doubt the original home could’ve competed with it. A gorgeous and thankfully warm & inviting version of modernity. Thanks for this!

A truely gifted architect can design a home that compliments the neighborhood in both scale and style, rather than dominate and alter the landscape to make a personal statement and express a brief moment in fashion.

The “after” shots in a before and after should be of the “before” after it has changed. Am I the only one who gets irritated when the photo is a completely different angle and bears no resemblance to the original shot? Other than that, the makeover was filled with light and style. It was beautiful.

It’s lovely. But… they might as well razed it and started over. I assume what they saw was just that: location and lot. Other than the skeleton, it’s a total demolition … not just a renovation. Nice job in the total redo however.

Note: “he transformed this 400 sq. ft eagle rock, california space into the 1100 sq. ft home that it is now. ”

Is that really true?? The before photo of the outside sure looks a lot bigger than a 400 sq ft house!! My apt. is only 700 sq ft and it could fit on the front porch it looks like!

Writing this as an Angeleno and former resident (2 1/2 years) of Eagle Rock. It is, btw, a lovely place to live, (although impossibly far from everything!) but not at all what what was described in the NYT article.

I too, have mixed feelings about this renovation. I love the new look of the house, but feel as though the architect could have compromised a tiny bit on the exterior of the house. The NY Times may have pitched Eagle Rock as an up and coming boho neighborhood, but for the most part it is working-class, especially on blocks dotted with tiny bungalows. The house probably sticks out like a sore thumb and is a bit of a reminder of the disparity of income between Jeremy and his neighbors. And shouldn’t one care about integrating with one’s neighborhood? To be part of a community? It’s not only about cheap real-estate.
Otherwise, I hope their are decent blinds on all of those windows, because that place is at times going to be painfully bright and BAKE in the summer!

I agree with the posters who challenge the 400-sq-ft measurements of the original house, and who say that this is more like a teardown than a major reno. There is NOTHING left of the original Spanish style in the new design.

It may not be a bungalow, but it was a vernacular design seen in places like LA and Miami. And there would have been many ways to preserve some of the original style in a renovation. I get a little tired of people saying “it wasn’t a SPECIAL style, so there was no reason not to get rid of it.” That’s a subjective and arrogant way to defend destroying the character of a block for one’s selfish needs for space and status.

I am absolutely loving this transformation. He had to be a real visionary to take this home from where it started to where it is now. I love the open floor plan, indoor garden and slatted window coverings.

I grew up in Eagle Rock during the ’80s and ’90s and have recently returned to the area after several years away. For people saying the NYTimes article is b.s., I have to disagree with you. Eagle Rock was a major dump of a town 20 and even 10 years ago. It may have been earthy and working class or whatever, but there were no good restaurants, nowhere to shop besides the hardware stores (which I actually really love and still patronize) and the Eagle Rock Plaza. It was basically a great place to live if you never wanted to leave your home. Coming back, I was shocked at how much cooler and more livable it was. There were suddenly good restaurants like Fatty’s and cute shops like Regeneration. The Plaza is still awful, but at least it has a Target. It isn’t a booming hipster sanctuary (and I don’t think that’s what the article was saying it was), but it had come a LONG way. It is a bummer that a lot of those cool new places are being hit so hard by the recession. I really hope it can keep some of its good new businesses.
Regarding this house, there are a lot of crappy stucco houses in Eagle Rock with a lot of hodge-podgey 1980s “updates” and very little in the way of “character.” That’s what this looks like to me … the after is amazing and a definite improvement. Though I am scratching my head over the 400-sf measurement. I’d like to see a before and after floorplan.

Why? Why? Would you buy a beautiful old bungalo filled with charm and history and turn it into something with out a heart.
It should have been restored alterted. If you wanted to do modern then why not buy a 50’s ranch style house and update it.

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