Sun-Drenched 1920s Spanish in Los Feliz Has an Idyllic Garden and Lovely Views

We should all be so lucky as to age as gracefully as this enchanting Spanish Colonial in Los Feliz.

Perched at the top of the Franklin Hills, the two-story home was designed and built in 1927 by architect M.B. Opiquez for an estimated cost of $9,000, according to permits on file with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. [A sidenote to any public schoolteachers reading this: you might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph.] The three-bedroom, two-bath residence was commissioned by Edna Frances Case, a teacher at John Marshall High School, located a few blocks down the hill from the house. Miss Case shared the home with both of her parents until 1937. That year, her father died, and she got married, though instead of Edna moving out, her husband, one Sidney Harris, moved in.

The Case-Harris house made its first-ever appearance on the market in 1990, more than six decades after it was built. Having now owned it for the past 33 years, its current sellers have come to the downsizing phase of life and are ready to turn the well-loved home over to its next stewards.

It’s easy to understand why the property has had so little turnover in nearly a century. Hidden from the street, its entry is reached via a garden pathway shaded by a canopy of mature trees. On the other side of the wood front door is a stunner of a living room, replete with vaulted ceilings, stenciled wood beams, a massive fireplace, hardwood floors, stained glass insets, wrought iron sconces, and expansive picture windows.

The dining room continues the theme with wood beams and vintage built-ins and sits adjacent to the kitchen, outfitted with floor-to-ceiling cabinetry, butcher block countertops, period-style lighting, and a professional-grade range/oven. A laundry room with a craft sink leads to the first-floor bedroom, featuring casement windows, an ensuite bath and French doors opening to the front porch lined with horseshoe arches.

An elegant staircase with a wrought iron railing ascends to a reading nook with a built-in window seat. Also on this floor are the sizable and sunny primary bedroom — which contains three closets, a seating area with a desk, and a wall of built-in bookshelves — and a second bedroom that opens to an enclosed sun porch offering cinematic views of the Griffith Observatory and the surrounding hillsides. Between the two bedrooms is a full bathroom with original cupboards, a built-in full-length mirror, and period-style tile.

Outside, a large patio set under the shade of a majestic Italian Stone Pine leads to numerous meandering pathways and places to linger. Comprised of two parcels totaling 10,098 square feet, the idyllic grounds are a gardener’s paradise, with avocado, fig, orange, grapefruit and persimmon trees, and a water-conserving irrigation system. Completing the pastoral picture is a chicken coop with four hens-a-laying in residence.

Listed at $2.489 million, the property is represented by Alyssa Valentine and Kurt Wisner of the Local Real Estate Group at Compass.