Silver Lake Homes and Architecture

Silver Lake housing types and eras

Most of what people buy in Silver Lake falls into a handful of types. Knowing which one you are looking at tells you a lot about construction, likely repairs, and which rules may apply.

• Craftsman and early bungalowsThe oldest houses date from the decades after the 1887 Ivanhoe tract and the arrival of the streetcars: wood-frame bungalows with porches, exposed rafters and built-ins, mostly on the flatter streets near Sunset Boulevard, Glendale Boulevard and north of the reservoir. Original windows and woodwork add value; foundations and old wiring deserve a close look.
• Spanish and period revivalThe 1920s filled the hills with Spanish Colonial Revival and other period houses: stucco, clay tile, arched windows and terraced gardens. The grandest is the Canfield-Moreno Estate in Moreno Highlands, designed by Robert D. Farquhar and completed in 1923, but smaller versions line streets across the neighborhood.
• 1930s modernIn the Depression years, Schindler, Neutra, Soriano and their circle built compact modern houses on difficult hillside lots for clients of modest means. Many cascade down the slope in several levels, with flat roofs, ribbon windows and built-in furniture. Several are now City Historic-Cultural Monuments.
• Mid-century modern and post-and-beamAfter the Second World War, Neutra built a run of glass houses along the reservoir's east shore, and post-and-beam homes went up across the hills. Original examples with intact plans, materials and landscaping draw a dedicated buyer, and that buyer pays close attention to what has been changed.
• Duplexes, courts and small apartment buildingsSilver Lake has a long tradition of the 1920s bungalow court and the small income building, especially near Sunset Junction and Glendale Boulevard. They are a different purchase from a single-family house, with tenancy, rent rules and maintenance to weigh.
• New hillside constructionInfill houses on the remaining steep lots and replacements of older homes. These are built under the City's hillside rules, which govern size, height and grading, so what was possible on one lot may not be possible next door.

Explore Silver Lake's pockets in detail

Architectural homes in Silver Lake

Few neighborhoods in America hold as much modern architecture on so little land. Richard Neutra built his own home and studio, the VDL Research House, on Silver Lake Boulevard in 1932; after a 1963 fire, he and his son Dion rebuilt it on the original foundation. It is now a National Historic Landmark, stewarded by Cal Poly Pomona and open for tours through Neutra VDL, the only regularly open way inside a Neutra house in the neighborhood. Around it, on Silver Lake Boulevard and Neutra Place, stand roughly ten more Neutra houses from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, and Neutra's 1950 office building on Glendale Boulevard is a Historic-Cultural Monument too.

R. M. Schindler worked across the hills: the Oliver House on Micheltorena Street, the Walker House on Kenilworth Avenue, the Wilson House on Redcliff Street and the Droste House on Kenilworth, the last two designated Historic-Cultural Monuments. Raphael Soriano's first residential work, the 1936 Lipetz House on Dillon Street, is a monument as well. John Lautner's Silvertop, designed in 1956, on the ridge above the reservoir, won a Los Angeles Conservancy preservation award after its restoration. Gregory Ain and Harwell Hamilton Harris, who both started in Neutra's office, built here, and Ain shared an office on Hyperion Avenue with his partner James Garrott. Eric Lloyd Wright's first solo house, completed in 1962 on Hidalgo Avenue for the writer Anaïs Nin and Rupert Pole, is a monument too.

Many of these are private homes and should be seen from the street. An architect-designed or historic home has a different buyer pool, different inspection priorities, different rules for change and often a different property tax picture than the house next door. Debbie Pisaro's architectural homes practice is documented at debbiepisaro.com, and the people behind Silver Lake's buildings are profiled in Faces of Silver Lake.

Before you buy

What Silver Lake buyers should know

None of these is a reason not to buy. Each is a question to answer before you remove contingencies, and each has an official source.

• Historic-Cultural MonumentsThe City of Los Angeles designates individual buildings as Historic-Cultural Monuments, and Silver Lake has many, from the reservoirs and the Canfield-Moreno Estate to small modern houses. Office of Historic Resources staff review proposed work on a monument before alteration permits are issued, and the Cultural Heritage Commission can delay a demolition permit. Find out whether a house is designated, or has been nominated, before you write an offer. Los Angeles City Planning: historic landmark programs.
• No HPOZ, but history still countsSilver Lake is not inside any of the City's Historic Preservation Overlay Zones, so most houses here are not subject to district design review. The nearest HPOZ is Angelino Heights in Echo Park; the City lists them all on its local historic districts page. That makes an individual designation, or an architect's name, the thing to check.
• The Mills Act programOwners of a Historic-Cultural Monument, or of a contributing house in an HPOZ, can apply for a Mills Act contract with the City: a ten-year agreement that renews automatically each year and can reduce property taxes in exchange for agreed restoration and maintenance. The contract transfers to the new owner when the property sells, so ask for the recorded agreement and its work plan. Los Angeles City Planning: preservation incentives.
• Hillside rulesMany Silver Lake lots are in the City's designated Hillside Area, where the Baseline Hillside Ordinance limits floor area, height and grading on single-family lots. If you plan to add on or rebuild, check the lot's zoning and Hillside Area status on ZIMAS, the City's zoning map, and talk to LADBS early.
• Fire zone and brush clearanceMany Silver Lake hillside streets are in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. The Los Angeles Fire Department requires brush clearance around structures in that zone and inspects each year; the seller's Natural Hazard Disclosure will say whether a property is in the zone. LAFD brush clearance.
• Streets, stairs and accessSome Silver Lake houses sit on narrow, winding streets or are reached only by a public stairway. Walk the route a moving truck, a contractor or an ambulance would take, ask where guests park, and check how the driveway works before you fall for the view.
• Property taxes and Proposition 19A purchase generally resets a property's assessed value to the price paid. Proposition 19 lets homeowners who are 55 or older, severely and permanently disabled, or victims of wildfire or natural disaster transfer the taxable value of a primary residence to a replacement home anywhere in California. State Board of Equalization: Proposition 19.

Official Silver Lake resources

The places to check facts about a specific property, straight from the source.

• Los Angeles County Assessor: property search
• City of Los Angeles ZIMAS: zoning, Hillside Area and historic status
• Los Angeles City Planning: historic landmark programs
• Los Angeles City Planning: preservation incentives, including the Mills Act
• Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety
• City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Info: find your council district and services
• California State Board of Equalization: Proposition 19