CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL RESOURCES INVENTORY DATABASE
City of Pasadena
 
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Resource Summary
1617 PLEASANT Way
DPR523A - Primary [print]
State of California - The Resource Agency
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION
PRIMARY RECORD
 
 
Survey #:
DOE #:
Primary #:  
HRI #:  
Trinomial:  
NRHP Status Code: 1D 
Other Listings:  
Review Code:    Reviewer:   
Date: -/-/-
 
 
*Resource Name or #:  
 
P1.  Other Identifier:  
 
*P2.  Location: not for publication   unrestricted
*a.  County Los Angeles 
and (P2c, P2e, and P2b or P2d. Attach a Location Map as Necessary)
b.  USGS 7.5' Quad:   YEAR:   T   ; R   ;   of   of Sec   ;   B.M.
c.  Address: 1617 PLEASANT Way City: Pasadena State: CA Zip Code: 91105
d.  UTM: (Give more than one for large and/or linear resources)   Zone:   ; -118.180975  mE/ 34.132077  mN
e.  Other Locational Data: (e.g., parcel #, directions to resource, elevation, etc., as appropriate)
 
*P3a.  Description:  (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries)
Owned and occupied by the original owner, the Wirick House was designed by Calvin Straub and is in excellent condition. Much of the work on this house, one of the firm’s definitive achievements in Post-and-Beam residential architecture, was done by the owners and by subcontractors, led by framer/carpenter Tom Gage, who had worked on Straub’s own home on Sunny Slope Circle in Altadena. The house is a composition of modules woven with lines (framing) and planes (walls), based on a 2:1 ratio in plan: 24’ x 48’ long, with two feet cantilevered over the north foundation wall. It is a two-story, flat-roofed house of 1,776 square feet. The carport is separated from the house, joined by an internal staircase illuminated by a clerestory. The short run of steps to the north of the carport leads straight down to the entry. The stairway is protected with a long overhang of flat wood planks, separated from the carport roof and asymmetrically resting on beams extending from the carport to the north; this highly articulated entry sequence is further distinguished by an important character defining feature, the “exclamation point” of the large suspended glass globe hanging from first wooden beam extension. The orange-red single panel double door is offset to the south from the stair run. On the interior, the entry overlooks the open plan, double-height living room characterized by a dramatic double-height corner of glass defined by modules of slender structural framing. The beams supporting the work/art studio at the entry extend east out into the living room; these same series of beams also serves to gently define the ground-floor transition to the sofa/fireplace grouping on the west wall of the living room. Throughout, the interior exposed ceiling framing of tongue-and-groove planking supported by beams were hand stained a dark brown under the guidance of Conrad Buff. Sheet linoleum was used for flooring. Constructed in 1958, the house retains exceptionally high integrity.
 
*P3b.  Resource Attributes:  (List attributes and codes)  
 
*P4.  Resources Present:
Building Structure Object Site District Element of a District Other
 
P5a.  Photograph or Drawing
additional photos (Photograph required for buildings, structures, and objects.)
P5b.
Description of Photo:
 
*P6.
Date Constructed/Age and Source:
Historic PreHistoric
Both Neither
Year Built: 1958 - Documented
 
*P7.
Owner and Address:
Name: BARBARA WIRICK 
Address:  
,  
 
*P8.
Recorded By:
 
*P9.
Date Recorded: 08/24/2007
 
*P10.
Survey Type: Intensive
Survey Title: 2006 Recent Past
 
*P11.  Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter "none.")
 
*Attachments:
NONE Location Map Sketch Map Continuation Sheet
Building, Structure, and Ojbect Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record
Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record
Other:
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