A Remarkable Survivor: Pasadena’s 1947 Plywood House, $1.64M

Philip Ferrato August 9, 2024

The year was 1949—the U.S. was well on its way to economic recovery after WWII, but there was still a chronic housing shortage. The now-famous Case Study House program began in response to the need for economical and efficient building solutions in the LA area, but there were other innovative efforts led by architects like Lawrence Test, who designed this residence for a plywood company salesman, Henry Hernly, in Pasadena. Unlike conventional structures, plywood was set entirely within the redwood post-and-beam structure, using marine-grade plywood for the exterior-facing panels and mahogany, elm and beech instead of conventional plaster on the interior.

Photo Credit: Cameron Carothers

Perhaps just as important, the Hernly House setting was an early Southern California landscape project designed by the renowned Garrett Eckbo. Under the careful, sympathetic stewardship of only two owners in nearly six decades, home is in remarkably good condition, and as one of Pasadena’s most important Modernist structures, the Hernly House is noted in Robert Winter and David Gebhart’s essential Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, and is eligible for Mills Act tax incentives.

Photo Credit: Cameron Carothers

More: Go to the listing for additional details and images, including period Julius Shulman images; there’s also a brief IG video that tells the story best. A unique opportunity to acquire a seminal work of Mid-Century architecture and landscape design, represented by veteran architecture expert, broker Brian Lindner of Compass.