Altadena Rebuilds: Heirloom Architecture!
Altadena Rebuilds: Heirloom Architecture!
The Bunch Design “Like for Like” for like program has been going strong for the last year. We have been continuously meeting, helping anyone we can. Residential architecture is a specialized business. It quickly gets deep and personal. In light of helping families in need, we are a good resource on how to navigate personalities and desires as well as the complexity of design, drawings sets, coordination and permitting. We figured there were many catalog approaches, but we could help people get their unique homes back in a quick and custom manner, making changes as they desire.
And so we have been studying Jane’s cottages, Mid-century ramblers, Mountain sprawlers, Spanish and Craftsman Bungalows, and other eclectic styles. And man, what a journey it has been! We have been recreating steep roof pitches, crenelating parapets, making rotundas and details unlike anything popular today. We get to go back in time and ask: What would Wallace Neff do? Eichler? So many design trends were popular in their time. And they were popular for a reason: cozier, warmer, intimate. Like planting a delicious heirloom tomato seed—a type not destroyed by monoculture—to grow a unique and delicious fruit. We are designing and building Heirloom Architecture!
We have been resurrecting old styles and modernizing them for today. This differs from historical renovation because it’s all new. We implement modern changes while learning from old masters and listening to homeowners' stories and photos to recreate their homes. However, these folks never asked for this, so they are new to the long and tedious process of designing, permitting and building. It’s been a journey.
Now, over a year in we have several wonderful houses under construction. 27 total in design or build. The door of Jane’s cottage was made with reclaimed Altadena wood from Angel City Lumber. It was made by Altadena awesome maker Kagen with Know How Shop. Our first project was a Mid-century house that the homeowner had remodelled two months before the fire—a choreographer who knows how to get folks stepping! She moved in in December of 2025! So many projects to show over the next few months.
Please enjoy these photos, taken by Bunch Design and friend Odin Rusch, Grand Arts HS student, who is following our entire rebuild journey. Stay tuned.
Check out Bunch Rebuild website at www.bunchrebuild.com.
