Few places in Los Angeles put more architectural history on a single street than Silver Lake, and few make construction harder. The slopes that gave Neutra and Schindler their sites make caisson foundations, cantilevered decks and stair street access ordinary conditions here rather than exceptions. The budget on a Silver Lake, California hillside job is set by what holds the house up and how material reaches the site, long before anybody picks a finish. Burbank Remodeling Contractor works that out first, because it is the part that moves the number.
If your house is on a stair street, yes, we can still work on it, and we will tell you honestly what that access adds rather than discovering it in week three. On a mid-century modern the discipline is knowing what not to change: the proportions, the glazing lines and the way the house meets the slope are the reason it is worth what it is worth.
Five generations of carpentry stand behind the company, better than 120 years in Los Angeles County, with an Air Force veteran of more than 30 years on job sites running it today. Call (747) 330-0305 and we will walk the site, look at the slope and the route in, and give you numbers that hold up once the caissons are priced.
Renovating in the Neighborhood Where Los Angeles Modernism Was Built
This is where modern architecture in Los Angeles happened. Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler pioneered radical modern houses on Silver Lake's slopes, followed by Gregory Ain, Harwell Harris, Raphael Soriano, John Lautner and Eric Lloyd Wright. That legacy is the neighborhood's value and it dictates how these houses should be treated.
Working on a modernist house means understanding that the flat roofs, the horizontal massing and the window wall composition are the architecture rather than incidental to it. Adding a pitched roof element, replacing steel-framed glazing with something thicker, or breaking the horizontal line with a bump-out destroys the thing that makes the house worth owning. The right interventions are usually invisible: systems, insulation, roofing and waterproofing done properly while the composition stays untouched.
The 1920s Ridge Villages and What Came Before Modernism
The first development wave here was 1920s Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival villages on the ridges, mixed with Craftsman bungalows and Streamline Moderne further down. Those houses are still a large share of the stock and they want an entirely different approach from the modernist ones.
That mix is the practical challenge of working in this neighborhood: two houses on the same street can be from different decades and different design philosophies, and the correct remodel for one would be the wrong remodel for the other. We start by establishing what the house actually is before proposing anything.
Caissons, Cantilevers and Stair Street Access
Steep hillside lots make caisson foundations, cantilevered decks and stair street access ordinary conditions here rather than exceptions. Drilled piers taken to bearing and tied with grade beams are the standard foundation solution. View-side living space and decks project over the slope on engineered cantilevers, and their connections back into the structure are where problems appear years later if they were detailed poorly.
Access is the constraint that surprises owners most. On stair street properties there is no vehicle access to the house at all. Material is carried or lifted, debris goes out the same way, and concrete is pumped from the nearest truck position. Every phase of the job costs more, and a bid that has not accounted for it is not a real bid.
Working Near the Neutra Colony
The Neutra Colony around Silver Lake Boulevard and Earl Street is a recognized historic resource, and work on architecturally significant houses in that area draws preservation-minded scrutiny. The unornamented wall planes and steel-framed glazing that define those houses are the value rather than an obstacle to be worked around.
Our approach on any significant modernist house is conservative: document the original condition thoroughly, restore rather than replace where a component can be saved, and where something must be replaced, match the original sightlines and detail rather than approximating them with a stock product.
Where We Work in Silver Lake
Get a Silver Lake hillside budget that holds
Tell us the address. We will look at the slope, the access and the foundation before quoting, so the number does not move later.
Call (747) 330-0305Frequently asked questions
Can a mid-century modern house be modernized without ruining it?
Yes, and the trick is putting the intervention where the architecture is not. Systems, insulation, roofing, waterproofing and kitchens and baths can all be brought up to date. What should not change is the roof profile, the horizontal massing and the window wall composition, because that is the house.
What does a caisson foundation cost compared with a normal one?
Substantially more, and how much depends on how deep the piers have to go to reach bearing, which a soils report establishes. On steep Silver Lake lots it is frequently the single largest line in the budget. It is also not optional where the soils report calls for it.
My house is on a stair street. Can you still work on it?
Yes. We plan the logistics before pricing: material by hand or lift, debris out the same way, concrete pumped from the nearest truck access, and a schedule that accounts for slower handling. It costs more than the same project on a driveway, and we say so during estimating rather than after.
Is my Silver Lake house historically designated?
Some are individually designated and the Neutra Colony area is a recognized historic resource, but most of the neighborhood is not under district design review. We check the status against your parcel before design, since it changes both what is possible on the exterior and how long approvals take.