This Historic Los Angeles Bungalow is Brimming With Incredible Artistic Details

A man of many talents, Howard Arden Edwards designed sets for theaters and opera houses, taught stage design and scenic art at Pomona College and the Pasadena Playhouse, and helped catalog the collections at the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. Also a self-taught architect, in 1910, Edwards designed and built a home for himself and his family on a hillside in the community of Eagle Rock.

Awarded Historic-Cultural Monument status in 1988, the Edwards residence is a treasure trove of delightful artistic flourishes painstakingly applied by its builder’s hand. These range from colorful Art Nouveau-style stencils in the living room to realistic depictions of nature’s bounty in the dining room to pastoral Impressionist landscapes embedded in the walls of a dining nook. Other notable original details include built-in bookshelves, benches, and cabinetry, leaded glass, hand-painted Arts & Crafts tiles, iron-accented doors, and two stone fireplaces.

Sited at the rear of its 6,722-square-foot lot, the board-and-batten redwood bungalow is approached via a lengthy stone staircase and fronted by a deep, covered porch. A compact 1,502 square feet, it contains a living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry, bathroom, and one bedroom on the entry level, with a second bedroom tacked on upstairs. The cottage wraps around a central rear patio, which is anchored by a sizable rock fireplace. Elsewhere on the grounds are an above-ground hot tub, a flagstone terrace, and a detached, two-car garage.

Online marketing materials note that the 112-year-old residence’s recent upgrades include a newer electrical panel, foundation repairs, water filtration system, new fencing, and a new retaining wall between it and its neighboring property. And if living in an actual work of art isn’t incentive enough, as a Historic-Cultural Monument with Mills Act contract, the home comes with the additional benefit of low property taxes.

Last sold in 2017 for $775,000, it’s now asking $1.15 million. Erin Keegan and Benjamin Kahle of Deasy Penner Podley hold the listing.