Burbank Remodeling Contractor works in Silver Lake, California, a neighborhood of roughly 33,000 people eight miles south of Burbank down Glendale Boulevard and the 2. Few places in Los Angeles put more architectural history on a single street, and few make construction harder.
Silver Lake permits through LADBS, with the hillside ordinance applying broadly across the neighborhood's slopes. Call (747) 330-0305 and we will look at the house, the slope and how material is going to reach the site.
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.
Talk to a Burbank general contractor about your project
Tell us what you have in mind and we will give you a straight answer on scope, permits, timeline and price.
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.