Up the driveway
The house does not show itself from Madelia Avenue. A long driveway climbs through mature trees, and the wood-clad facade, walls of glass and a wide deck arrive together at the top, with the San Fernando Valley spread out below. The county carries the house at 1951, when it was raised as a single level, and puts an effective year of 1965 on the same record; the listing says the second floor was added over the years, and neither source dates it or names who added it.
Two stories of air
The living room rises two stories under clerestory windows, maple floors running to a fireplace, with a step-down dining room alongside it. The kitchen keeps warm wood cabinets under skylights, with Qortstone quartz counters, Viking appliances and a peninsula bar, and a breakfast room that looks out to the outdoors. A long hallway leads to three bedrooms, among them the original primary suite with its own fireplace and French doors to the outside.
The 1990 remodel
In 1990 the whole house was remodeled by architect Ruben Ojeda, by the listing's account. A Los Angeles architect of that name, Ruben S. Ojeda, practices today as RSO Architects, a studio that describes itself as specializing in high-end custom residential work and its own approach as a treatment of light and space, though the record does not tie that studio to this house. The remodel added a new primary suite on the second level, under pitched ceilings and wood beams, ringed by a bank of windows that takes the view; its bath, in mid-century character, has dual sinks, built-in cabinets and a separate tub and shower. The pool went in the same year, in its own enclosed area, and the two-car garage was rebuilt to carry the floor above it.
The grounds
Outside, the deck is the gathering place and a few steps down there is a smaller garden for a quieter one. Plumbing, electrical, two-zone HVAC, sewer and drainage have been updated, the roof is newer, and the wood siding was recently stripped and resealed by the Pink Painter, as the listing has it; a Southern California firm of that name says it was started by Bill Suplee at West 12th and Greenwich in New York and has painted Southern California for more than forty years. Around the corner, stairs lead down to Ventura Boulevard.
