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In present-day Los Angeles, moving houses—as in, physically moving a house—seems unfathomable. The LA traffic and built environment make moving something so massive seem precarious, if not impossible. The fact is, if your house has a wooden frame and is in good structural condition, it can be done. The house is lifted off the perimeter foundation with hydraulic jacks, placed on stacks of pallets for placekeeping, and ultimately lifted onto a flatbed truck designed for oversized loads. The logistics of moving the home is the difficult part: the routes to travel, traffic slowdowns, obstacles along the way, and other factors. In late-19th and early-20th century Los Angeles, building a house was a big deal. People from all over the country and around the world came here to claim their piece of the Western frontier. This is one of my favorite photographs of all time. It depicts some 19th century mansions of Bunker Hill, dwarfed by modern skyscrapers in the background, being prepared for relocation. Old Los Angeles comes face-to-face with the New Los Angeles. This piece notes some observations about the structural relocation permits of Los Angeles from 1905 to present. The principal observation is that relocation permits, as a whole, are more common the farther back in Los Angeles history you go. There seems to be a few reasons for this. -- The most pressing reason that relocations were more common during the early 20th century is the fact that homes were were built with quality, boasting hardwood foundations, ornate architectural styles, and often bearing the name of famous architects. Many homes from this period were owner-built, adding to the home’s sentimental value. Another reason that relocations were more common in the early 20th century: the City’s built environment was less fully developed. (Above: Hill Street at the Turn of the Century) The obstacles normally presented by neighboring houses, freeway overpasses, and overwhelming congestion would have been absent. Not to mention, residential land was plentiful all over the City, at least until after World War Two. No need to purchase a plot of land elsewhere—or to demolish and rebuild—just move the existing house! An example of this occurred in Echo Park in 1925, when a one “R.R. Sutherland” sold his house in the 1400 block of Waterloo Street in Echo Park to Mrs. Gertrude Franck, who already owned a house in the 1400 block of Mohawk Street—directly over the hill. Mrs. Franck simply propped up the Mohawk Street house, moved it northeastward into the parallel alley, and onto Waterloo Street via an empty parcel between the two streets. Mrs. Franck then had the Mohawk house plopped right onto the front setback of the Waterloo lot, with no effect on the original 1907 residence on the rear of the lot. And BAM. Just like that, a guest house and a master house. This precisely demonstrates another reason that relocations were more convenient and common in the first half of the 20th century: the City’s practice of front and rear lot setbacks. In exclusive Central LA neighborhoods, homes were required to have a minimum footage of front, rear, and side setbacks on their lots. Thus, a relocated home could be placed on the front or rear of another lot without having to demolish the existing one. ___ There were other monetary factors that made these early homes worthwhile moving. To encourage large, good-quality constructions, some homeowner’s associations even established minimum construction valuations, i.e. the cost to build the house had to be above a certain threshold. It was not until the Post-World War II era of Los Angeles that the Central Los Angeles began to decline due to rapid suburbanization and general neglect, and property values plummeted. Some mansions and other gems in historic districts like Bunker Hill and Alvarado Terrace were moved elsewhere, but for the most part, they were seen as relics of an old era. ___ In short, relocations were more common the farther back in Los Angeles history you go. There are a few reasons for this, mostly economic. Homes of the era were built with quality and often by famous architects, making them valuable assets until the post-World War II decline of many Central LA neighborhoods. Furthermore, Prior to the 1940s, relocations were more of an option due to the availability of empty land, the practice of lot setbacks, and the absence of obstructions like heavy traffic and the engineered environment. ___ BONUS: How to Move and Preserve a Historic Home for $100K !?
In closing, and since these economic interruptions seem so discouraging, let me pitch something here. The cost for an empty parcel in a single-family neighborhood in a trendy Central LA neighborhood ($25,000 to $100,000) and a structure relocation ($50,000 to $250,000) could be about the same price--or less—as a purchasing a property in most districts of Central LA—which is an average of $520,000 to $590,000 as of 2018, according to real estate analytics company CoreLogic. This is assuming, of course, that you contacted the owner of a soon-to-be demolished home and obtained it for a greatly diminished price or no price at all. This is what the owners of a parcel of land in Eagle Rock did in 2005. They moved a house from 258 Mission Road in South Pasadena—which was slated for demolition—onto their corner lot on Figueroa and Oak Grove. I remember being in high school and seeing this home being lowered onto the lot and the lot being engineered to accommodate it. It was a long process, but the owners preserved a beautiful Turn-of-the-Century home. They moved it 3.5 miles—in network distance—for $66,500 and paid $5,200 in permit fees. They spent about $5,400.00 for hillside grading to fit the shape of the house, $1000.00 to reattach the electrical systems, and just under $10,000.00 for various landscaping costs. And that, my friends, is how you can relocate and preserve a beautiful old house for about $98,000.00.
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June 2020
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