Seldom do you find a home that has been beautifully renovated, yet retains so many original details. Our Saturday Six Hundred is a Hollywood Heights English Tudor at 707 Cordova. It’s one of the best examples we have seen in many years of how to properly take a 1933 home into this century and yet honor the homes origins. So often, renovating means the entire interior is gutted and refashioned to mimic new construction. The interior character is completely lost. That is not what Hollywood Heights is about. Not by a long shot.
“When you buy a home here it’s because you appreciate those original details,” Emily Larkin said. Larkin and her husband Ben did not change the footprint or increase square footage, which is also rare, but then Larkin is a gifted interior designer and knows exactly how to make clever use of space.
The Larkins had long dreamed of living in the neighborhood, and when they discovered this Hollywood Heights English Tudor with a two-story guest cottage, they knew exactly how to turn dated into dreamy.
The guest cottage was the deal sealer as Emily wanted to run her business from home. “I had been in a high rise, and I never saw my husband,” Emily said. “When we saw the guest cottage we knew this was the house!”
Emily took charge of the inside and Ben set about turning the exterior into enchanting gardens. There were three major renovations including the master, kitchen, and guest house office space.
“I measured down to the inch in the kitchen to ensure everything had a place,” Emily said. “I made sure every cabinet had a purpose. It was intense. There is a trash can pull out and a pull out for the dog bowls. In a home of this age, you have to maximize space and make sure it’s all functional.”
The original details are what separates this home from so many and keeping the vintage bathroom was essential to the plan. “You don’t see these bathtubs very often anymore,” Emily said. “Our friends call it bathing on a stage.” While the tub held center stage and the vintage tile remained, the sink and toilet were updated to create just the right blend of old and new.
The garden has been Ben’s purview for the past six years. He’s added multiple Japanese Maples and a secret garden with a fountain, which the couple will dearly miss.
The Hollywood Heights English Tudor has 1,724 square feet, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The two-story guest cottage has living space downstairs, a bedroom or extra office space upstairs and a newly renovated bathroom.
The home was featured on the Hollywood Heights home tour three years ago. The Larkins have continued to renovate the interior and add to the garden because creative people never stop creating. The house has been featured in The Dallas Morning News, Style Me Pretty Living, and most recently in Better Homes and Gardens Cottage Style magazine.
Finding a Hollywood Heights English Tudor that has been completely renovated with so many original details is almost impossible, yet here it is. We suggest you give David Bush Realtors listing agent Joe Kacynski a call immediately as, at $689,000, this is an absolute steal.
Open House: Sunday, April 8, 1-3 p.m.
Karen Eubank is the owner of Eubank Staging and Design. She has been an award-winning professional home stager for more than 25 years and a professional writer for 20 years. Karen is the mother of a son who’s studying music at The University of Miami. An ardent animal lover, she doesn’t mind one bit if your fur baby jumps right into her lap. Find Karen at www.eubankstaging.com
