The Linda Vista area, located at the base of the San Rafael Hills on the west side of the Arroyo Seco, developed somewhat later than central Pasadena. Winter visitors from Pasadena hotels made day trips to enjoy its natural features, as well as the Park Nursery that was established in 1887. Among the large homes built in this neighborhood was a 1930 Colonial Revival style mansion originally named “Fairview”, and renamed “Pegfair” in 1939 – incorporating the name of one of its new owners, and making reference to the celebrated “Pickfair” estate in Beverly Hills. (You can see the Pegfair sign from the intersection of Wellington Avenue and Afton Street.)
Mobile Tours
In 1960, part of the property was sold as a site for the Art Center College of Design, and additional land nearby was subdivided for new homes – this subdivision was named Pegfair Estates. Southern California experienced a rapid increase in population after World War II, and a strong demand for housing. Many housing developments in this period utilized the low-scale, informally arranged ranch house – which was seen as a response to Southern California’s history, climate and lifestyle, and had been popular since the first decades of the 20th century. After 1955, the more rustic and picturesque Traditional Ranch style began to evolve into the Modern Ranch and then Contemporary Ranch styles. In common with the tenets of Modern design, these later forms of Ranch design emphasized clean lines, structured forms highlighting undecorated wall planes and glass walls, and celebrated updated materials and technology.
In addition, in Southern California – and particularly in Pasadena – the increasing sophistication in the evolution of the Contemporary ranch style included restrained Asian design influences. Aspects of Japanese design, construction, and landscape sensibilities had already had a significant role in Pasadena – from the work of Greene & Greene to the enthusiasm for Japanese gardens early in the 20th century. The use of Asian forms and design in homes such as those in the Pegfair Estates development expressed this sophistication of the Contemporary Ranch style, and a blending of the traditions emphasizing the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces.
This tour of the western half of the Pegfair Estates development shows its significance as an intact neighborhood from this period, including its integrated site planning and landscaping, remembering Linda Vista’s earlier “country atmosphere”. Although they are similar in scale and built within a few years of each other, the Pegfair Estates ranch houses exhibit a range of Traditional, Modern and Contemporary, some with Asian elements.
All of the properties on this tour were listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Pegfair Estates Historic District in 2010.
Please remember that these homes and their yards are private property – please enjoy them from the sidewalk!
You can click on any house in the list below to jump to information about that property in the California Historical Resources Inventory Database. Known as the CHRID, this program promotes and protects cultural heritage through documenting and sharing information on historical resources.
1. 1530 Pegfair Estates Drive ( Link)
The hipped roof of this linear 1965 Contemporary Ranch house displays Asian influence in the screen detail of the attic gable over the attached garage. The façade features vertically-oriented wood cladding and glass doors linking interior and exterior spaces, with a low concrete wall at the front steps defining the recessed entry area.
2. 1540 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
This 1961 Contemporary Ranch house was the model home for the Pegfair Estates development. Designed by Neptune & Thomas, it has thin vertically-oriented wood siding and the low-pitched side gable roof has exposed, angle-cut rafter ends under extended eaves. Glass doors open to a front patio adjacent to a flagstone-faced wall at the recessed front entry; a later front door and entry surround emphasizes its connection to earlier Craftsman designs.
3. 1560 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
Designed by William Pauli, this custom 1964 Contemporary Ranch has side-facing attic gables with Asian influenced lattice screens. Minimalist Modern elements include the stucco exterior finish and full-height aluminum framed windows, with a recessed front entry. A full width low brick wall separates the house from the landscaped front slope.
4. 1570 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
Oriented toward Carnarvon Drive, the Asian influence on this 1961 Contemporary Ranch is seen in its hipped gable roof and the wood screen enclosing part of the front yard. Exterior finishes include textured stucco with vertically-oriented wood siding at some of the windows, and Modern features such as the square, top-hinged windows near the entry
5. 1340 Carnarvon Drive (Link)
Located at the end of Carnarvon Drive, this U-shaped 1964 custom Contemporary Ranch designed by George T. Kirkpatrick has a center entry section clad in flagstone, and projecting wings with board and batten finishes. Low pitched hipped roofs provide an Asian influence, with Modern details in the four picture windows and lower fixed windows adjacent to the recessed entry.
6. 1335 Carnarvon Drive (Link)
A custom home, this 1967 Contemporary Ranch design by John Corey combines Modern forms and a continuous fascia detail above slightly recessed vertically-oriented windows, with an Asian design palette including the hipped roofs and boxed eaves. Flagstone was used at the chimney and the walls and planter at the stairs leading the raised site’s entry.
7. 1345 Carnarvon Drive (Link)
The recessed entry area linking this 1962 Contemporary Ranch house designed by Wilfred H. Noble, Jr., with its garage features a round window, and highlights the house’s gable end – clad in flagstone and rising to a flagstone chimney – with exposed wood members that extend the framing of the roof and create a pergola effect.
8. 1600 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
The Modern forms of this 1963 custom Contemporary Ranch design, whose hipped roof garage and side gabled house face the driveway and recede from the street, feature thin, vertically-oriented wood siding, metal-framed fixed and sliding windows, and a recessed entry with bottle-glass sidelights. Beneath mature pines, a slumpstone masonry retaining wall intersects the rising slope.
9. 1620 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
The 1962 Wenzlaff Residence designed by Heitschmidt & Thompson includes a gravel-topped flat roof with hipped attic projections, Polynesian vent details, and flared corners at the extended, boxed eaves. The house has jalousie windows, a recessed entry and an Asian-influenced grill. The walls of the house and glazed screen facing the street feature framing and details expressive of Japanese screens.
10. 1630 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
This 1-1/2 story Contemporary Ranch house designed by Clifford F. Hatch in 1964 responds to the slope of its site with a base level of painted brick at the garage, and a painted brick planter beside the concrete steps leading to the second floor arched entryway. Beneath the hipped attic roof with an aluminum vent, the upper story has a stucco finish with three-part metal-framed windows featuring a large fixed center pane and operable casement sashes on each side, and a bulls-eye window above the garage.
11. 1645 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
Located at the top of Pegfair Estates Drive, this linear custom 1965 Contemporary Ranch with a low-pitched hipped roof is clad with random courses of stone facing and an irregular stone-faced chimney. The facade features large windows of rippled glass near the recessed entry, and the wood framing of the garage doors is expressive of Japanese screens.
12. 1635 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
This 1962 Contemporary Ranch design by William Pauli has an open breezeway between the projecting garage section and the main house. The garage has a low-pitched roof with extended eaves and three extended beams in the glazed gable end expresses its characteristic post and beam construction. The textured stucco finish is accented by vertical wood siding, with sliding glass doors and a terrace of parquet brick and grass panels in front of the garage.
13. 1625 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
The horizontal shiplap siding and vertical bands of this 1965 custom Contemporary Ranch convey the appearance of a traditional screen, and together with the wood screen adjacent to the garage and stone garden near the front door, contribute Asian influences to this design. The vertical flagstone pilaster at the street-facing gable, bottle-glass panels, and iconic 1950s-era globe lamp express California Ranch traditions, and a mature fruit tree adjacent to the driveway recalls earlier times in Linda Vista.
14. 1615 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
The prominent front-facing attic vent with screen detailing and exposed rafter ends suggest an Asian element in this 1964 Contemporary Ranch design by Harold Levitoff. Its recessed entry, metal framed sliding and bay windows, textured stucco and brick facing at the exterior of the house, and board and batten wood siding at the garage, are characteristic of this period of ranch house design.
15. 1605 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
This 1966 Contemporary Ranch design by the firm of Denn Engineers is encompassed by a low-pitched side gabled roof which extends on the west side to create a porte-cochere. The exterior cladding and chimney are composed of slumpstone, with textured stucco at the metal-framed windows. Pebblecoat pavers and planters lead to the recessed entry. It is part of the Pegfair Estates Historic District.
16. 1595 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
The Asian and Polynesian influences in this 1965 Contemporary Ranch house design are evident in the hipped roof’s attic gable vent detail with a projecting ridgepole, and extended eaves. The flagstone cladding, planters and chimney include dark lava rock details.
17. 1585 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
This 1965 California Ranch based on a design by Hiawatha Estes includes horizontal wood clapboard siding contrasting with vertical board and batten adjacent to the recessed entry. The projecting east wing has extended eaves and exposed rounded rafter ends, with brick details and chimney. A postwar dovecote detail with board and batten siding crowns the attached garage.
18. 1575 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
The façade of this custom 1965 Contemporary Ranch design is clad with courses and irregular pieces of stone facing, beneath a low-pitched hipped roof with extended eaves and a secondary hipped roof at the west end. A full height picture window is adjacent to the recessed entry, with a band of metal framed casement windows at the center of the façade. It is part of the Pegfair Estates Historic District.
19. 1565 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
The low-pitched hipped roof of this 1963 Contemporary Ranch features two front-facing attic gables, one with an aluminum vent detail, and is supported by a single metal pipe column as it projects over the recessed entry. The façade and chimney are clad in random-patterned stone facing, with metal framed sliding and corner windows, and textured glass panels at the entry. It is located in the Pegfair Estates Historic District.
20. 1555 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
This custom 1962 Contemporary Ranch by Harold Levitoff includes numerous Asian elements, among them the side-facing traditional hipped attic roof with decorative Japanese roof tiles, horizontally-oriented gridded wood screen at the west end, and vertically-oriented elaborate metal grilles at the recessed entry. It is a contributor to the Pegfair Estates Historic District.
21. 1535 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
This linear 1962 Modern Ranch with Asian and Polynesian influences exemplifies the increasing sophistication in ranch design in this era. Its low-pitched side gable roof has a front-facing gable with projecting shaped ridgepole and vent detail, whose extended eave creates an entry porch supported by a single wood post. The entry is flanked by large picture windows, which are framed by panels of vertically-oriented wood siding, suggesting sliding screens. A low planter of Roman brick emphasizes the horizontality of the design. It is part of the Pegfair Estates Historic District.
22. 1525 Pegfair Estates Drive (Link)
Designed by E. Beaumelle, this 1962 Contemporary Ranch composed of receding horizontal sections is balanced by the vertical emphasis of its monumental entry steps and chimney block. The hipped roof’s front-facing attic gable with vent detail, extended eaves, and vertical wood siding suggest an Asian influence, while stone cladding details reflect California ranch elements. It is located in the Pegfair Estates Historic District.
