From SUVs to fast food, Americans love to go big. And homes are no exception. Lack of inventory and a shortage of raw land in many areas have owners and developers tearing down older homes to accommodate the preference for more square footage.
Although building a larger home on the footprint of a smaller structure is not a new concept, the practice is creating a stir among Southern California residents and leaving some areas with an architectural identity crisis as quaint charmers fall beneath the shadows of larger neighbors.
From beachside villages to tonier towns, teardowns are a welcome source of increased property tax revenues. But growing concern about the "bash-and-build" trend in Hancock Park and Windsor Square, for instance, prompted the Los Angeles City Council in April to approve an interim control ordinance, a yearlong ban that regulates demolition permits that would change more than 51% of the existing structure of homes in the two neighborhoods.
Jim Wolf, president of the Hancock Park Homeowners Assn., said a rise in the number of leveled homes there, which increased from three in 1998 to eight last year, coupled with the "mansionization" of various teardowns in recent years, raised eyebrows among some residents. But two things happened to mobilize homeowners: A "demolition derby" in 1998 and '99 razed three properties designed by famed architect Paul R. Williams, and many in the neighborhood united to protest plans to demolish a house and rebuild it as a synagogue.
"We are finally coming to the conclusion that we have something to preserve," said Hancock Park resident Marguerite Byrne, who has lived in the area for 36 years.
During the ordinance's interim,Wolf said, Hancock Park, which lies close to the heart of Los Angeles, is being evaluated for eligibility as a historic preservation overlay zone, a designation that creates a review board and allows stricter zoning regulations on the external facade of a building or property in a historic district. Windsor Square also is being considered for eligibility.
"Having the zone doesn't prevent modifications," Wolf said, "but it acts as a check on what is going to happen in the home."
Preservationists hope to save vintage properties built in the 1920s and '30s, which account for about 80% of the area's 1,207 homes. Liberal zoning regulations have enabled builders to tear down stately 4,000-square-foot homes, Wolf said, and replace them with monster-mansions twice that size. The homes appear "to virtually fill the lot, " he added, and dwarf neighboring properties.
