This new enormous home has enraged the amorphously named Valley Glen. People have denounced it as grotesque, oversized, and disrespectful of its modest neighbors.

Yet it has some qualities that are appropriate to a corner home. It respectfully parallels the street, the entrance is angled to meet the sidewalk, and the two story high facade looks just fine next to the wide boulevard. Like a bank building from the early 20th Century, the home has symetrical windows, imitation stone on the lower half, tall vertical double hung windows and an ornate iron front door.

Some of the detailing is silly: the gutters and window mullions are vinyl, the landscaping is too little too late, and the high fencing around the home is hostile and unfriendly.

But this overeaching grand house should not have to apologize to its less attractive and ambitious neighbors. Just across the street, one older home has jail bars on all its windows, while another has protruding hideous skylights defacing the front roof. This 1950’s neighborhood is typical Valley mediocrity. It is full of those truly ugly houses with diagonal window panes and bird feeder wooden carvings above the garage. Switzerland meets Beaver Cleaver. Strange that none of the previous houses here were objectionable when they presented security bars and garage door fronts to the passerby.

The future of development in Los Angeles will mean more intense land use on less land. Cities are always changing and the best ones adapt to the times.