I first posted a picture of this house in 2010 (HERE). We have countless beautiful Craftsman homes in the older neighborhoods of our city, but I've always thought that this one was a particularly fine example. I drive past it almost every day on the way to my studio. One day several weeks ago, I noticed that the entire front of the house, the porch, and part of the yard had been, well... destroyed! I couldn't figure out what had happened, but since I was always behind the wheel and rolling past in traffic, there was never any oppportunity to get a truly good look at it until recently, when I got stuck at a red light long enough to really look it over. I noticed that there was a brand new electric pole on the corner, and I realized what must have happened. This house sits on the corner of El Paso, Fontanero and Paseo streets. Normally, drivers only have to deal with two streets coming together at any given intersection, but with three streets converging in this spot, it can be confusing for anyone unfamiliar with it. My theory is that someone was probably driving too fast, failed to navigate the intersection, jumped the curb, and hit the electric pole, causing the pole to topple onto the house. I imagine the accident happened at night, and maybe the driver was drunk, on the phone, or texting. Who knows? Can you imagine being sound asleep, and having an electric pole come crashing through your roof and a car land in your front yard? Holy moly! I hope no one was injured!
The other day I noticed that after many weeks of looking sad and ramshackle, the house is finally getting repaired. You can see a workman on the roof in this picture. The entire front of the building had been smashed from top to bottom, including the foundation on the left side of the porch, so I imagine there was a lot of wrangling with insurance companies, discussions with engineers, and quotes from various contractors before they could commence work (I wish I'd gotten a picture of the carnage for you -- it was bad). I hope that they can bring it back to its former glory!
1 comment:
Ouch! The poor house...
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