Home of the Month

Touring historic North Park one house at a time

A masterful remodel on Pershing

At home with Sharon and Larry Wasserman

By Tom Shess

Larry Wasserman came to California from Vancouver, Canada as a teenager. He attended UCLA, from which he has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Fine Arts. During that time, the revival of the Arts & Crafts movement was prevalent and greatly influenced Larry’s work.  He taught ceramics at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa and UC Irvine, retiring after 33 years. A few years ago, at the behest of his wife, he took some cabinet-making and furniture design classes, preparing to involve himself in home remodeling projects.
Sharon Wasserman was born in Oregon and graduated from UC  Berkeley, but has spent most of her life in Southern California. She is a marriage and family therapist with practices in Orange County and San Diego. With no formal background in fine arts, she has been, nevertheless, in charge of the interior design details of their homes. The craftsman style of architecture has always been aesthetically pleasing to both of them, so when the opportunity to remodel a North Park property arose, they relished the challenge.

Q. Right off we’d like to say the recent remodel of your Pershing Avenue Craftsman bungalow is one of the finest we’ve seen anywhere. Why did you insist on such rigorous standards for yourselves?  What motivated you to stay so true to the architectural heritage of your home?
A. We both like attention to detail and appreciate the historical integrity of the homes we’ve lived in or remodeled. Also, our architect, Bob Bollus, was a stickler for the fine details of craftsman design.

Q. What  is the history of your home? Master builder? Are you finished with the remodel?
A. We don’t know much, but the house was originally designed and built in 1923 by builder J.A. Robinson for homeowner Roy S. G. Horton. A Google search says he was in the military. We are finished with the remodel, except for minor adjustments here and there.

Q. What’s the square footage?  Before? After? What did you add?  Subtract?
A. Before the remodel the square footage was 1,200, after 1,856 plus garage and work rooms of 819 for a total of 2,665 square feet. We kept the front portion of the house, including the living room, dining room and old master bedroom, which we opened to the living room and converted into a den/TV room.  The rest was razed and replaced with new guest bedroom and bath, laundry room, kitchen and master suite. The garage and driveway were removed and replaced with a patio and covered outdoor entertainment area.

Q. San Diego is lucky to have so many terrific bungalow neighborhoods. What attracted you to North Park?
A. Larry wanted to work on a Craftsman and this was the best of those available at the time.

Q. What hidden treasures did you discover in prepping the home for the remodel?
A. The beautiful gumwood that appeared in all its splendor after lots of sanding and oiling by Larry.

Q. Describe the major “redo’s” to the home.
A. The fireplace, which was not so great, had to be completely rebuilt.  Larry, being a ceramic artist, was a natural for hand-making all the beautiful tiles appropriate for a Craftsman home.

Q. Larry, with your experience in working with wood, name some of the craftsman, who assisted you? How much did you do yourself?
A. For the most part, I did all the work based on our research and preferences. I did all the interior work, from the tiles for the fireplace to all the cabinetry. The remodel was done by an architect and builder and the floors and patio by local companies.

Q. What are your favorite accomplishments in the  remodel inside the home and out?
A. The see-through built-in buffet from the dining room to the kitchen, which originally backed up to a wall, the fireplace and the display case/room divider in the kitchen for our collection of pre-Columbian art. Also, we enjoy the large kitchen, which, although contemporary, stays in tune with the Craftsman theme.

Q. Who did the interior décor?
A. Sharon.

Q. Where did you obtain most of your furnishings and accessories (favorite pieces)?
A. Just things we have accumulated over the years. The Victorian pieces, including the bed in the master bedroom, are heirlooms from Sharon’s family. The bed was reconfigured from a full to king by Steve at Steve’s Wood Working in National City. One of our favorite finds was an original claw-footed bathtub, in horrible shape, covered in decals from the ‘70s, but salvageable.  It’s in our master bathroom.

Q. As a couple, what do you find enjoyable about North Park?
A. Its diversity, not only in population, but also as individualism shows up in each of the homes that has managed to exist for the last 80-90 years.
Pershing Avenue is also special because of the First Friday potluck dinners hosted at various homes on our street. Walking to many new restaurants and galleries and the park are wonderful too.

Q. What are your favorite restaurants?
A. The Mission, Alexander’s, Urban Solace, the Japanese restaurant at 30th and Upas.

Q. What was your last book read?  Movie watched?
A. Sharon: “The Lacuna” by Barbara Kingsolver.  Larry:  Construction manual for a hand-made kayak, a Christmas gift from their kids.
Last night we watched “Lolita” (the original, with James Mason, Peter Sellers and Shelly Winters) from Netflix.

Q. What would you like to see happen in North Park?
A. With an improving economy, we’d like to see our area become designated as a historical area, as well as continued homeowner property improvement. We’re excited every time we see new landscaping or construction with these old homes, with fingers crossed that the work will enhance the original designs. We’d also like to see a more active neighborhood watch, not just the helicopters overhead.