Home&Real Estate Home Front
START THOSE VEGGIES ... Pam Scott will teach a class on “Starting a Veggie Garden” from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, at Common Ground, 559 College Ave., Palo Alto. Scott will cover the fundamentals, including soil, composting, watering, seeds and choosing plants. Cost is $31. Information: 650-493-6072 or www. commongroundinpaloalto.org SALADS TO DESSERTS ... Two cooking classes will be offered this week through Palo Alto Adult School. Yannette Fichou Edwards will teach a class on “Salads from around the World” on Tuesday, May 21, and Cindy Roberts will offer “Sensational Summer Desserts” on Thursday, May 23. Classes include demonstration, participation and sampling. Each class is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Room 103 of Palo Alto High School, 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, and costs $50. Information: 650-329-3752 or www. paadultschool.org FILOLI CLASSES ... Classes at Filoli tend to fill quickly. Upcoming classes include “Citrus Care” from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5; “Carrying the Summer Garden into Fall” from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 8; and “Summer Pruning” from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 8. Each class is $40 for nonmembers, $35 for members, and will be taught by Mimi Clarke. Information: 650364-8300 or www.filoli.org WHACK INVASIVE PLANTS ... Volunteers are needed every Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon to remove invasive, non-native plants — including yellow starthistle and French broom — at Foothills Park. Friends of Foothill Park volunteers meet at the Orchard Glen picnic area, but are advised to check the website, www.fofpark.org, in case the group is heading for more remote areas of the park. Information: Bob Roth at 650-321-7882 or bobroth@lavabit. com
by Carol Blitzer / photos by Katie Brigham
I
t would have been much easier to simply tear down the 1909 Craftsman that caught Azar Lohrasbpour’s eye as she was taking a shortcut through Crescent Park to work one day in 2008. At least that’s what close to 20 architects and builders advised her. Instead, she chose the builder who understood her vision for the home that reminded her of the similarly aged red brick house where she grew up in Tehran. Lohrasbpour’s efforts will be honored this weekend with a Palo Alto Stanford Heritage (PAST) Preservation Award for residential restoration and addition. Her home was cited as “an extraordinary example of neighborhood preservation” for replicating “the original 1909 design, footprint, room layout, woodwork and unusual brick siding.” Working with architect Charles Brown and Joe Bettencourt of Straightline Construction, Lohrasbpour spent close to two years figuring out what to do with the home that was badly damaged in the ’89 earthquake and sported sloping floors. And then construction, which involved taking the house down to the studs, took another year. Today much of the interior resembles the original with its coved ceilings and five-light windows. The front door was rebuilt in fir — twice — ultimately with the window in the correct place. “The biggest challenge was the hand-chiseled bricks,” Lohrasbpour said, explaining that she had 5,000 bricks salvaged from a nearby home when the (continued on page 55)
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Honoring one’s elders
A new stairway was constructed, above, but most of the front rooms in Azar Lohrasbpour’s Craftsman home were restored to their original Craftsman design. New lighting, left, also reflects Craftsman origins.
Palo Alto Stanford Heritage (PAST) recognizes significant remodels, restorations
Thousands of handchiseled bricks were carefully removed from the front, then cleaned, stored and re-installed to today’s code.
COLDWELL BANKER KUDOS ... Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage recently honored three sales associates from the Palo Alto Downtown office: Greg Stange earned placement in the International President’s Circle, meaning he was among the top 5 percent of the 3,600 Northern California agents for sales volume in 2012. Maha Najjar made it into the International Diamond Society, among the top 9 percent of sales agents, and Tom Huff was named to the International Sterling Society, or the top 14 percent. N Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or email cblitzer@paweekly. com. Deadline is one week before publication.
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