A husband-woman duo created a plan to regain the versatile essence of the Altadena architecture and at the same time end the reconstruction costs of the homeowners.
“We returned to a destroyed community,” said architect Cynthia Sigler. “We really had the feeling: 'What can we do to help?'”
Sigler and her husband Alex Athenson, who supported the Sears catalog of houses in the early 20th century, created their plan, the Foothill catalog.
“We were obliged to navigate the people who may not have the opportunity nor the means or the knowledge of finding a way themselves through the construction process,” said Athenson.
Like the project that is inspired, the couple's plan will contain a variety of home designs by local architects, all of which are popular in Altadena in front of the Eaton Fire.
“I was so disappointed with the loss of so much architectural character and history,” said architect Bryce Buckley. “Many of the details cost money. The construction costs are astronomical these days.
He believes that the plans approved in advance would help the homeowners to limit the costs.
“There will be cost savings on a scale,” he said.
The architects presented the project in the early phases of a pack house in the recently reopened Altadena library on Friday evening.
Mary Herbert was at the meeting. She lost her home of 50 years against the Eaton Fire. She was worried about the burden of reconstruction in her phase of life.
“That would help me because I don't know the first of it,” said Herbert.
Nicole Comstock