That “ob/gyn” light looks like an Ott Light. They are great! The long grab bar is strange though.
I think the grab bar is a ‘handicap’ bar because they refer to the room at the end of the hall as ‘master bedroom’, even though it does not have an attached bath. I’m guessing that is where Mom lived and probably needed the grab bar to help getting in/out of bed or something.
I know you said you wanted to start working on the slope first. Do you have to hire outside contractors to do that job?
You can Google Earth street view from several angles. You can view up the slope from the dead end street below. You can view private path and entry from dead end of street above. AND, I don’t know why Google bothered, but you can actually travel down the alley behind the house.>>>>>>>>>>>
It’s confusing to me. Does it face the street that is its address? E T N O M L E D? Or does a side of it “face” the street of address?
The front faces the street. But it is recessed behind a long path and trees.
My H was a spec builder in another Ca beach community. The lots were narrow and the houses were usually 3 stories with living area being on the 2nd floor to take advantage of the views. Extra bedrooms, laundry,garage and were usually on ground floor. Third floor would be the master suite with large bath and a deck with stairs to a rooftop deck. The decks also usually had an outside staircase from ground level. The views are great but it can be a hard job to get them properly waterproofed. In the 20 yrs he built I think almost every house was sold to retirees or as a 2nd home. Active retired people didn’t seem to mind the stairs.
I think the hard part in finding properties is that Coralbrook has to look for and buy the properties that the average homeowner is afraid of. The problem is that you never know what you will find once you start tearing stuff up.
H retired from that part of work just prior to the recession. I don’t miss that stressful time. He would get very cranky when a project was done but not sold and the construction loans coming due.
Mom60… boy do I identify with the stress of waiting for the property to sell while paying $$$ in loans per day that you wait!!
The front and front door face towards the street mentioned above (which is actually two words, but I couldn’t seem to get any extra spaces between the words). However, there is no paved street because the house is between a low elevation and top elevation - street is just dirt.
From above, you can only see the winding path and a portion of the white house.
There are some nice looking glass doorknobs in the pictures! I’m having trouble really picturing the space…but I’m specially challenged. It will all come together for me once you start to demolish.
There’s also a fascinating switch plate that looks like it’s from 1937. This will be fun.
Not that you’d do this, but with zoning for thirty feet in height, you could do a three-story house with a roof deck. If I were to do that, I have the main living space and kitchen on the third floor with a large deck plus access to roof deck, bedrooms on the second floor, and a family room on first floor with access to outdoor space, opening onto a first-floor outdoor kitchen. Fireplace and high wind-block glass surrounding the roof deck. And a residential elevator. I have a three-story house with an elevator and I LOVE it. Takes up a huge amount of space though.
Anyway, this wouldn’t maintain any of the charm of the original but boy would the views be killer!! It’s fun to fantasize about how to spend someone else’s money!! I know this plan would be outside your budget but it seems like a lot that would support a much higher-priced house.
Would the owner of this house be able to park, semi permanently, on the street at the end of the path? It looks like the across the street neighbors have appropriated their side of the street as part of their driveway.
Google streetview lets you look back at photos from 2007, 2009, 20011. The deck was there in 2007. Such a shame the neighbors built in fron of the lovely deck.
Was the two bedroom wing original to the house? When I look on google earth, that wing seems to have a different roof pitch. But then that would mean it was only a one bedroom originally, which wouldn’t make sense.
Also, would guests arrive via the walking path, or by the driveway in the back?
Finally had a chance to really look at the pictures. You can check out the waves from the property – at least see if there is a swell! Perfect place for the affluent surfers of San Diego!
The bedrooms will have a gorgeous view to CB’s newly done gorgeous yard. The other parts of the house to the water. A nice patio outside a bedroom would be so nice!
There are two things I know that I am going to try hard to fit into the budget. The deck (that must have been built before 2007 at least) is going to get moved to the SW corner of the lot with french doors accessing it from the living room. Hopefully we can re purpose the glass panels because those are expensive
The easterly side of the living room is going to open out to a covered patio (because it is on the wind break side of the house) that will function as a ‘outdoor living room’. These are very popular in San Diego. However, the dang McMansion on west side is already acting as a giant wind break 
Today I am going down to City and County to pull all of the historical records for the house. These are going to be needed by architect and draftsman for the plans.
I am working hard trying to hire specialists for the structural retaining wall project. Here is what I have learned so far:
Contacted the structural engineer that usually does my remodel plans that need to be submitted to City. He said that he might be able to do the retaining wall design but, because the wall is probably going to have to be higher than 6’, it has to go through more stringent requirements.
I have to hire a Soil Analysis Engineer to do a geo site study. First company I called said $6,000 for soil report and it will take a month and a half. I don’t have a month and a half to wait for a paper report before I can even start design!! The slope could erode even more at that point. The next reference I called said $900 and he would try to squeeze in a site visit early next week and 2 weeks for report to structural engineer. You’re hired!! How soon can you get here (well, of course, without brother seeing us crawling on hillside)???
Then I have to hire a structural engineer to do detailed plans of the retaining wall, footing, etc. From there I can submit plans to City and hope that it doesn’t have to go through historical review. I plan to take photos in of the slope erosion and beg for a speedy review. I cannot imagine how a wall down a slope could have anything to do with the historical integrity of a house up on the hill.
Turns out I have to make a decision between two types of walls, block/mortar style or ‘keystone’ style. Keystone is the type of wall that is built without grout and it is those smaller blocks that are stacked at an angle up the slope. I like that style better and I believe that it is less labor intensive. However, we don’t have an angle going up at the top (we do have a nice gentle angle in lower part of the slope) - it is straight up and down right under the edge. It’s probably going to have to be a heavily engineered vertical wall. I am desperately hoping that I can gain another 2-3 feet of flat space at the top with some backfill - reclaim some of the yard back.
First task on Day 1 is to sand bag and build a berm at property edge to redirect any water from going over the hillside.
That outdoor living room is excellent!! My SIL has that in Point Loma…never closes her French doors…just go out and in all day long. It’s fabulous! They have an outdoor kitchen too…really nice.
The property starts below the parking area at top of street. The parking area is a public street. The separate gravel driveway along that parking area is part of their property and they use it to access their property. I cannot ‘claim’ a legal parking spot on the top. However, there is plenty of parking in the back of the house for the owners, guests, deliveries, etc. In fact, I have no idea how FedEx or UPS deliver packages to this house - it will be interesting.
My agent is begging for a 3 car garage in back (another budget buster) because she says it will be a huge selling point at this price range. That allows owners to garage family cars plus the husband’s (or wife’s) pet Jaguar/Ferrari/whatever. We could even build it out behind the house and still have driveway space for 3 visiting cars.
There is plenty of street parking up on Guizot by the house and visitors would arrive via the path.
We have a three car garage…and it’s one thing I’m really glad the builder talked us into. Room for two cars inside…plus room in the third bay for the lawn stuff, yard tools, and in our case…a snowblower. We also keep put bicycles there. I’d rather that than a shed.
But don’t do it if it’s a budget breaker!!