#194-199: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 1 (Pasadena)

The bungalow court is a style of multi-family housing that places multiple small dwellings around a central courtyard or walkway. With this format, residents have a nice combination of the privacy of a single-family home and the sense of community you’d get from apartment living, all at a much more affordable cost than buying (or building) a house on its own lot.

This style of housing flourished in Pasadena between around 1910 and 1930, after which new parking mandates and zoning restrictions made it tougher for developers to build multi-unit housing in certain areas. The majority of Pasadena’s courts were demolished, though there are still about 100 left – and of those, 30 are on the National Register of Historic Places.

When I started Etan Does LA, I was skeptical that an outmoded genre of housing was worthy of that much historical attention. But as I’ve explored more, I’ve come to admire the bungalow court as a creative adaptation to the housing challenge of LA County’s four-fold population boom between 1910 and 1930. It’s also a lot of fun to see how architects stretched different styles to fit the court format, and to consider what modern developers and cities can learn from the successes and failures of the bungalow court model. Some urbanists even believe bungalow courts could play a role in easing the affordable housing crisis in SoCal.

30 of any kind of landmark is a lot. So I’m breaking my tour of Pasadena’s bungalow courts into batches. Here are the first six.

#194: Mission Court 📍 567 North Oakland Avenue

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1983

When bungalow courts first came on the scene around 1910, the units hewed towards the craftsman design style that dominated Pasadena residential architecture at the time. And while Mission Court does nod to the craftsman movement in the sculpted piers at the entryway and the lamp pedestal in the center of the courtyard, this court represents something entirely different. It’s the earliest attempt in the area to adapt the mission revival style to a court setting. Architect J.F. Walker’s cream-colored stucco and red-tiled roofs would become de rigueur for LA home-building in the 1920s. In 1913, this could’ve been the first mission-style residence on the block.

February 1919: Mission Court neighbors with flu masks on (courtesy of Pasadena Museum of History. Thanks to Jennifer Benbow for finding this.)

The format’s a simple one, with six duplexes and two single-units lining two large expanses of grass, with walkways on either side. The units themselves are simple too: broken parapet roofs with small interjections of Spanish tile on the facades, and uniform stucco siding. I’m guessing that this one used to be more of a looker than it is today – the stucco exteriors seems kinda sloppily applied, and the modern security fencing definitely detracts from the otherwise peaceful vibe of the courtyard. The inside pics on Zillow (see them here and here) suggest the owners aren’t too concerned with historic integrity. Still, this is an important one in the history of LA bungalow courts.

Pro tip: right around the corner from Mission Court you’ll find Bowen Court from 1910, the earliest Pasadena bungalow court still in its original location.

#195: Colonial Court 📍 291 – 301 North Garfield Avenue

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1983

Here’s a fine six-unit colonial revival court from 1916. It’s got a toned-down charm to it, with its clapboard siding, jerkinhead roofs (basically a gable with its head sawed off diagonally) and decorative brackets supporting the coverings over the entryways on some of the units. The landscaping here is pretty wonderful – far from uniform, it seems to evolve from plant to plant and burst from green to purple to pink as you get further into the property.

Check out some inside pics of units 291, 293 and 301 on Zillow. Unlike many other bungalow courts that operate as rentals, each of the units at Colonial Court is individually owned. One of them sold in 2023 for $755,000 – not bad for a 2 bed, 1 bathroom bungalow with under 800 square feet of living space!

Photos from the early 1980s show even more mature landscaping, given even free-er reign over the property due to its lack of any barrier separating the court from the street. As of 2023, there was a white picket fence out front, with an arbor and low gate leading to the entrance, and honestly it just adds to the domestic grace of the place.

Colonial Court was designed by J. Cyril Bennett, one of Pasadena’s leading architects between the World Wars. He worked as a draftsman with Sylvanus Marston in the early 1900s, then went off on his own in his early twenties. Bennett was just 25 when this court was built; he would go on to design the Pasadena Playhouse, the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and the Raymond Theatre among many other enduring local buildings.

Colonial Court is surrounded by younger construction. You gotta imagine what this part of Pasadena would have looked like back in the 1910s, before the Pasadena Central Library was built just a block south, and the mid-century apartment buildings were built next door, and OH YEAH before the 210 freeway was completed literally across Corson Street.

#196: Rose Court 📍 449 – 457 South Hudson Avenue

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1983

This one from architecture firm Stewart, Young & Stewart recalls the blocky mission revival aesthetic of Mission Court, but it’s even more stripped down. There’s no Spanish tile atop the broken parapets here, just textured stucco and simple arched openings to the porticos. Built in 1921-22, it’s a much less refined version of the graceful, minimalist boxes that Irving Gill was building in LA around the same time. See interior pics of one of the units on Zillow.

Rose Court is an example of a “half court,” an uncommon bungalow court sub-style with units lining just one side of the communal walkway (plus a duplex at the end). Garages are located between the units, though they appear to be used for storage now. This probably means that back in the day, pedestrians and cars would have shared that walkway. Fairly unusual for a bungalow court, which tended to separate the foot and wheel traffic.

Pictures from the ‘80s show that some awnings and decorative shutters have come and gone over the years, but otherwise the integrity level is high.

#197: Harnetiaux Court 📍 48 North Catalina Avenue

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on 11/15/1994

Harnetiaux Court sprung up in 1922 at a time when a lot of the smaller streets were filling in around the main artery of Colorado Boulevard. It’s named after its owner, Joseph Harnetiaux, who also built the thing with his brothers and uncle. The original permit lists Joseph as the architect too, though his daughter would later intimate that the City of Pasadena’s building inspector helped with the plans.

This court consists of 10 wood-frame units arranged in a U pattern, with a duplex at the far end. These are fairly simple colonial revival bungalows, with clapboard siding and more of those jerkinhead roofs. The eight single units, each a modest 28’ x 30’, have formal entrance porticos with columns, and three-paned windows on either side of the door. The two-story duplex looks almost like a barn at the back, and was built with three garage bays – though it would seem from Google Maps that a large parking lot right behind the court has taken the place of those garages.

Some memorable features of Harnetiaux Court include a tapered, square lamppost in the center of the walkway, and two squat pillars at the front, with “HARNETIAUX COURT” and “48” carved into the stucco.

Even on a sunny day, the camphors lining Catalina Avenue offer plenty of shade to the western units of Harnetiaux Court, and other trees and shrubs along the narrow walkway keep the place sufficiently jungly.

The couple stories I turned up about residents of Harnetiaux Court represent a real yin-yang of married life. There’s a 1936 marriage announcement for Richard Farm and Agnes Sandilands, who lived there together; a 55th wedding anniversary celebration, held in 1932 at the Harnetiaux Court home of Mrs. R.C. Lemon, daughter of the celebrants; and then a sad notice from 1929 about the suicide of J.F. Warrick, who jumped off the Colorado Street Bridge after learning that his wife was cheating on him.

PS: If you visit Harnetiaux Court, walk across the street to 65 N. Catalina Ave., where you’ll find Greene & Greene’s Samuel P. Sanborn house from 1903. Once a private residence, it was occupied for 25 years by the Planetary Society, then sold in 2010 to Architecture for Education.

#198: Haskett Court 📍 824 – 834 East California Boulevard

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on 2/25/1982

The corner of Lake Avenue and California Boulevard is a busy one. There’s a Pavilions market on the northwest. Pie ‘n Burger is half a block away. Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee baristas give each other the stink eye from across the intersection. And yet just two doors west of Peet’s, there’s a gated passageway to the imaginal English country village that is Haskett Court.

The five cottages (including one duplex) at Haskett have all of the charm of a medieval hamlet. The unpainted stucco walls are framed by dark brown timbers and brackets supporting the shingled roofs, which extend up at sharp angles and make them seem much taller than the one story they are. The rectangular, stucco-sheathed roofs reinforce the vertical, too.

None of these units is identical or situated exactly the same way relative to the others, which helps give a sense of privacy to each one. The gently winding walkway and formal landscaping give Haskett an air of seclusion, too.

Haskett Court was completed in 1926, and designed by architect Charles E. Ruhe for W.B. Haskett, who lived in unit 824 himself. When the court was added to the National Register in 1982, it was still owned by the Haskett family. Soon after they were sold and converted to retail shops. But in 2007 the court was acquired by Heritage Housing Partners, a nonprofit that rehabs historic properties and sells them to low-to-moderate income, first-time homeowners (same folks who worked on Greene & Greene’s Samuel Merrill House too – see visit #168). HHP finished restoring Haskett Court as housing in 2009, and earned a City of Pasadena Historic Preservation Award for their efforts.

#199: Cypress Court📍623 – 641 North Madison Avenue

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1983

Right around the corner from the venerable Bowen Court (see visit #180) you’ll find Cypress Court, a sleeper hit in my bungalow court adventures. This one came together between 1923 & 1928 and was designed and built by Arthur G. Gehrig, a civil engineer who once taught at Pasadena Junior College (the predecessor to PCC).

Cypress employs a prototypical colonial revival look on the outside. You’ll notice the same columns and gables and clapboard siding as other colonial revival courts. Somehow though, the eight units here feel more amped up than their colonial compadres at Colonial Court or Harnetiaux Court. Maybe it’s just the colors that are doing it for me: the contrast of the duo-toned green gables and porch columns, against the red brick of the entryway, all framed by a blue-sky afternoon – it’s like god hit the “enhance” button on this one before I visited.

See some interior pics on Redfin.

Also need to give the owner props for their well-polished National Register plaque, right up front.

Oh and hey: as of March 2024, the entire Cypress Court is available for $4 million, $1 million above what it sold for in late 2021. Hoping there were some tasteful updates made to warrant the price jump…any takers?

Sources & Recommended Reading

+ Anderton, Frances: Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles (Angel City Press, 2022)

+ Barrera, Sandra: “1920s bungalow court with 8 tiny houses in Pasadena seeks $3.5 million” (Pasadena Star News, September 28, 2021)

+ Bogaard, Claire, Pasadena Heritage: Haskett Court’s NRHP nomination form

+VIDEO: “Bungalow Courts: LA’s Best Housing No One Builds Anymore” (@metamodernism on YouTube, Mar 1, 2024)

+ “Burbank Pair Entertained on Wedding Date (Los Angeles Times, January 2, 1932 – via ProQuest)

+ “Bungalow Courts in Pasadena” (Pasadena Planning & Community Development Department)

+ Colonial Court’s NRHP nomination form

+ Cypress Court’s NRHP nomination form

+ Gish, Todd Douglas: “Bungalow Court Housing in Los Angeles, 1900-1930: Top-down Innovation? Or Bottom-up Reform?” (Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 91, No. 4, Winter 2009-2010)

+ Kliwinski, Leonard & James C. Wilson, Thirtieth Street Architects, Inc.: Harnetiaux Court’s NRHP nomination form

+ “Marriage Announcement 1” (Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1936 – via ProQuest)