This Old House

By Julie Jaskol | March 25, 2026

When Jen Dunbar, an architect who specializes in restoring or reconstructing historic homes, first toured the San Fernando Valley house that would become her home, she loved its “cute and quirky” touches. The 1925 Spanish-style house retained many of its original features, along with idiosyncratic Storybook detailing that had been added by its former owner.

“He made these gates across the front and did little carvings on the beams over the carport and around the front door. There was a sign in Olde English lettering that read ‘Best Poppets Under the Sonne,’” Dunbar said.

The house had been owned by John and Vivian Brunner, puppeteers who had launched the Popcorn Theater in the 1960s, traveling the country to perform shows featuring marionettes they crafted themselves. In the 1980s John Brunner created puppets for special effects in films, including the Christmas film “Prancer,” starring Sam Elliott and Cloris Leachman, and the zombie vampire film “Lifeforce,” starring Peter Firth.

The house was old, unique, charming, and had an interesting story. But could it be called historic?

Maybe, muses Dunbar.

“If I wanted to apply for a historic designation, I clear the first hurdle: it’s over 50 years old,” she said. “It retains a lot of original features. I could also add that the owners were puppet makers and did lots of things to the house. I could most likely get it listed at the local level.”

Or she could forego the research and the paperwork, and simply consider the house “vintage,” worthy of respect and consideration, even if it might fall short of historic designation. “We’re going to treat it like it has that potential and do all the things that would enhance and maintain its integrity,” she said.

There are clear and defined processes in place at the state, local, and federal levels to determine whether a place is historic. Was it designed by a famous architect? Was it owned or occupied by significant people? Did something historic or culturally significant take place there? Does it feature a unique design or use of material? Is it the last of a particular kind of building? Is it part of a largely intact historic neighborhood?

“Understanding those basic questions can help define a historic property,” Brett Waterman said. He’s an architectural designer and host of the television show “Restored.” “The real truth is that any building can be considered historic at any point during its existence. A very nondescript structure may play an important role in history, thus making it historic.”

But sometimes the real historic value of a home is less tangible. “Landmark status or inclusion in a historic district is one way of recognizing significance, but it is not the only way a place can matter,” Bridget Lawlor, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, said. “There are many buildings that may never meet those criteria and still deserve care and consideration.”

The National Park Service includes more abstract aspects of an old building in considering eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. “A home’s significance can derive from its association with important events or people, distinctive design characteristics, or ability to yield important historical information,” Jennie Lyons, a Park Service spokesperson, said. “How a home ‘feels’ can be a part of how it conveys this significance. ‘Feeling’ is one of the seven aspects of historic integrity, along with location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, and association.”

Lawlor agrees that setting and context can be as important as the house itself, or what may have happened within its walls. “A relatively modest house can be essential to the character of a street or neighborhood, helping maintain a sense of scale, rhythm, and material continuity that would be difficult to recover once it is lost,” she said. “A building may not be associated with a single well-known event or person, but it can still reflect broader patterns of how people lived, worked, and built over time. Those layers of everyday history are often just as important as the more obvious milestones.”

This is not to say there’s no value to historical designation. Landmark status highlights historic events and communities, offers some protection from insensitive development, and may provide tax benefits for owners. And it’s a source of pride for people who have lovingly restored their home.

“However, a property doesn’t need to go through the process of designation at the local, state, or federal level to be considered historic,” Dunbar said. “They can be determined ‘eligible’ for historic designation if they meet one or more of the criteria, which would allow them to be treated as a historic property.”

According to Dunbar, that eligibility determination is typically done through a municipal Historic Resources Survey. Survey LA, for example, was a multi-year program overseen by the City of LA’s Office of Historic Resources to identify as many eligible resources as possible across Los Angeles. It is now integrated into the city’s information system so that anyone can quickly determine whether a property has been identified.

“Sometimes, there are clusters of homes that individually may not be strong candidates for eligibility, but the grouping as a whole can make for a strong candidate—for example, the Balboa Highlands in Granada Hills—the midcentury modern tract neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley developed by Joseph Eichler,” Dunbar said. “This is where historic districts come into play. A house that shares specific characteristics of a particular district is considered a contributor to the district and is eligible to be considered a historic property within the district.”

Whether or not an old home can be considered historic, Waterman believes it deserves our protection. “I am driven by the beauty of these places and the stories behind them,” he said. “I love to see them as they were originally envisioned. It gives us a chance to look back at our history and see what life was like at a different time. These old places carry the memories of those before us, and I believe that they deserve respect for the investments in time, labor, and money to create them.”

Both Waterman and Dunbar see restoration projects as opportunities to bring homes back in line with their original form and function, even if many of the original details have been lost.

“As an architect, the first thing I look for is whether a property has been surveyed or identified as historic or eligible for historic designation. If it hasn’t, but is more than 50 years old, we treat the house as ‘vintage.’ We begin to look at what architectural characteristics are still intact and what has been removed or modified,” she said. “You can remove years of Home Depot kitchen remodels and open concept plans to make a Tudor home feel more coherent,” Dunbar said.

Waterman harkens back to the original intent behind the design. “I always try to remember that structures are built to serve a purpose, following the old rule that form follows function,” he said. “In short, there was a reason for almost everything in the design, but we have lost sight of those original functions with changes in modern living. I believe that any well-built structure can be beautiful and purposeful today if we look back to understand the designs and try to see what is still there, waiting to be rediscovered.”

Furthermore, Waterman said, “It’s wasteful to destroy what has already been created, and we are often destroying places that we would find challenging to create today.”

He also believes contemporary buildings should be designed for posterity. “We should be restoring and designing our homes, our schools, our businesses, our places of worship, and our public spaces to endure the test of time, as that is the most responsible way to provide for our children and future generations.”

After all, Dunbar points out, the United States is young, compared to other countries with buildings that are many hundreds—even thousands—of years old. “When we think about what will become historic, we want to be building for a period of time much longer than the next 50 years,” she said.

Who knows when today’s “cute and quirky” could become tomorrow’s historic landmark?

“Ultimately, preservation is not about freezing a building in time,” Lawlor said. “It is about guiding change in a way that respects what is already there, even when that significance is quiet or not formally recognized.”

Keep Reading

• A Labor of Love
• The Secret Lives of Eichler Homes
• See the entire Old California Learning Center