CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL RESOURCES INVENTORY DATABASE
City of Pasadena
 
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Resource Summary
1540 POPPY PEAK Dr
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|5S1 
Other Listings:  
Review Code:    Reviewer:   
Date: -/-/-
 
 
*Resource Name or #: Constance Perkins House 
 
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  Location: not for publication   unrestricted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: 1540 POPPY PEAK Dr City: Pasadena State: CA Zip Code: 91105
d.  UTM: (Give more than one for large and/or linear resources)   Zone:   ; -118.179436  mE/ 34.130787  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)
A small (1,080 s.f.), ethereal composition of house and studio, the Perkins House is one story, irregular in plan, and asymmetrical is massing. Set in a hillside setting and oriented to the northeast, the airy flat-roofed house is set on a raised block-wall podium and consists of series of planar white-stucco walls and glass walls, balanced beneath overhanging canopies. On the downslope (east) side of the site, a flat-roofed carport--sheathed in vertical tongue-and-groove redwood--is attached to the house. Adjoining the carport is a flight of open-tread stairs, which lead to the flush wooden front door. Perpendicular to the entry is a thin, full-height parapeted wall extending from the driveway to the roofline of the house. This wall counterweights the decided lightness of the house on the other elevations. Dramatically wooden ceiling beams from the interior extend outward-as "spider legs"--on the north and south ends of the house and terminate at sharp right angles into the ground plane. At the south end of the house, the protruding spider leg rests in a shallow amoeba-shaped reflecting pool, which meanders into the interior living space beneath a large uninterrupted expanse of clear glass. The house is organized around a large open space on the interior, and the exterior walls, especially those to the south, east, and west, are highly transparent to convey an intentional integration of the inside with the outside.

Richard Neutra’s tiny 1,310-square-foot house steps up its steep site in an interlocking system of long white stucco planes and Douglas fir posts and beams. The carport is set into the hill below a run of stairs leading to the front door; its roof serves as an outdoor deck opening from the living room on the east; privacy is protected by a translucent screen on the north, to the left of the entry. At the southeast corner of the house, a small, curved pool winds in and out of the mitered glass corner to link indoors and outdoors, a gesture made more emphatic by the 4x12 lintel beam extending south past the building envelope to become one of Neutra’s signature “spider” legs, terminating in a column located in the pool. The roof deck above the carport is illuminated at night by the exterior soffit lighting to enlarge the living area outdoors at night, an important character-defining feature in Neutra’s work. The budget for this house was exceptionally low for the time, $17,000. The interior was precisely designed for an academic, Dr. Constance Perkins, and all interior detailing has been virtually undisturbed. The house has been recently restored and is well maintained. Constructed in 1955, the house retains exceptionally high integrity.
 
*P3b.  Resource Attributes:  (List attributes and codes) HP02 
 
*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: 1955 - Documented
 
*P7.
Owner and Address:
Name: JOHN FARAGHER 
Address:  
,  
 
*P8.
Recorded By:
 
*P9.
Date Recorded: 08/24/2007
 
*P10.
Survey Type:
Survey Title: 2006 Recent Past
 
*P11.  Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter "none.")
Friedman, Alice T. Women and the Making of the Modern House: A Social and Architectural History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998.
 
*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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