Santa Monica, Calif.— On a breezy spring afternoon, trial attorney Otto Haselhoff stood halfway between his house—a circa-1926 English Tudor—and a contemporary glass railing at the edge of the backyard. “Right around here, it stops being landmarked,” he said, drawing an invisible line with his hand.

Any changes to the house, designed by the Beverly Hills Hotel architect Elmer Grey, require approval from the city’s Landmarks Commission, Otto explained. “You can’t change the facade,” said Otto, who paid $16 million for the home in 2018 with his wife, Lara Haselhoff. But the back of his roughly 1.2-acre property on La Mesa Drive, overlooking the Riviera Country Club golf course, isn’t landmarked. For that reason—and because it is hidden by the house—a prior owner was able to create the cantilevered backyard, which is supported by concrete caissons drilled into bedrock.

More so than its neighbors, the juxtaposition of old and new at the Haselhoff property reflects the nuances of historic-preservation guidelines on La Mesa Drive, a locus of historic homes designed by noted architects including Paul R. Williams, J.R. Davidson, Oscar Niemeyer and Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright. The street is a rare concentration of architecturally significant properties, with four out of about 60 on the street designated as landmarks. Over the years, it has attracted Hollywood icons like Mel Brooks and Julie Andrews. 

With mountain views and a canopy of century-old Moreton Bay fig trees, La Mesa Drive is a coveted enclave in the heart of Santa Monica, where prices have climbed steadily in recent years. In December, OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder paid $22.95 million for a newly built home, according to property records and people familiar with the deal. The record for the street was set by a circa-1925 home designed by William W. Ache, which Seagram heir and affordable-housing developer Jeremy Bronfman purchased for $29.35 million in 2020. 

The Haselhoffs renovated the backyard of their property, which has an infinity-edge pool and a poolhouse connected to the main home via a breezeway.Adam Amengual for WSJ

As prices rise, so does the tension between deep-pocketed buyers drawn to La Mesa’s prime location and those who want to preserve the street’s historic homes as they are. In 2019, Otto unsuccessfully sued the city in an attempt to remove the landmark designation on his property. “Anything you want to do requires approval,” he said. “There are constant questions. Is it your property if you can’t change it?”

When the lower court ruled against him, he petitioned the California Supreme Court. It declined to hear the case in 2024. 

Others argue that the restrictions are a positive thing for the neighborhood. “A lot of people at this price point don’t want to be restricted by what they can do with their home,’” said Jeremiah Eden of Sotheby’s International Realty, who has done several deals on the street with colleague Wendi Woods Chandler. “It’s counterintuitive, but these restrictions increase property values.”

A newly built house purchased by Ryan Tedder has a skylit atrium. The grounds have a pool, fire pit and cabana, as well as a detached guesthouse. Adam Amengual for WSJ

Southern California has many architecturally significant homes, but they are in danger of being destroyed by those who want to renovate extensively or tear them down to build new houses, said Alan Hess, an architect and preservation advocate. Across the region, “we have lost quite a number of excellent houses,” he said.

The ultimate address

La Mesa is a curving, eight-block street shaded by trees, whose intricate root systems erupt through sidewalks covered in sticky figs. The picturesque enclave is walking distance to the historic Brentwood Country Mart shopping center.

“It’s sort of the ultimate address on the West Side,” said David Offer of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties. In 2023 Offer brokered the sale of a circa-1926 Spanish Colonial Revival designed by George Elmore Gable and Stanley Wyant on La Mesa for $14.3 million. The buyer was Daniel Stern, co-CEO of Reservoir Capital Group, who declined to comment. 

It is known for its Moreton Bay fig trees.Adam Amengual for WSJ

La Mesa Drive dates back to the early 1920s, when Santa Monica’s founders divvied up parcels of land to build grand country homes, said Nina Fresco, vice president of the Santa Monica Conservancy, a preservation nonprofit. The lion’s share of homes on La Mesa were built between 1920 and 1940; at least seven were designed between 1924 and 1926 by the architect John Byers. The fact that so many have been preserved, Fresco said, “has to do with the status of the people and architects who built those buildings.”

Around 1924, the Santa Monica Land & Water Co. built the first spec house on La Mesa: a Tudor Revival designed by William W. Ache. Dr. Richard Corlin, a retired gastroenterologist, and his wife, Catherine Corlin, were the home’s third owners when they purchased it for $1.2 million in 1995. It had never been remodeled, Richard said, and they expanded the kitchen, opened up the family room and finished the attic.

Dr. Richard Corlin’s brick house has a copper roof. In the backyard, the Corlins added a pool and freestanding fireplace.Adam Amengual for WSJ

They kept original arched doors and stained glass. “I love all the intricacies,” said Catherine, who grew up in Quebec and had walked by the house for years before they bought it.

The late film director Roger Corman and his wife, Julie Corman, moved to La Mesa in the 1980s after paying about $1.2 million for a circa 1938 J.R. Davidson house. “They needed another bedroom because they found out they were pregnant with me,” said their daughter, artist Mary Corman, who said the curved lines of the International-style home inspired her paintings.

In 1997, Corman’s friend and mentee, film producer Brad Krevoy, and his wife, Susanne Krevoy, bought a nearby home from Andrews and her husband, the late director Blake Edwards. The Spanish Colonial Revival-style house was designed by Franklin Harper. Houses on the street are like “little museums,” said Krevoy, the CEO of the Motion Picture Corporation of America, whose movie credits include 1994’s “Dumb and Dumber.” “All these great architects who lived here and worked together and were peers and contemporaries, and set the tone for architecture for years to come.”

John Byers’ Monterey Revival-style residence was built around 1924.Adam Amengual for WSJA Modern house designed by Lloyd Wright.Adam Amengual for WSJA Spanish Colonial Revival purchased by Jeremy Bronfman.Adam Amengual for WSJA J.R. Davidson International-style home.Adam Amengual for WSJ

Around 1964, Niemeyer, a Pritzker Prize-winning Brazilian architect, designed a Midcentury Modern house on the street for the late director and producer Joseph Strick and his wife, writer Anne Strick.

Designer Jill Wickert, whose late husband was TV producer and Warner Bros. executive Jim Paratore, bought the Strick house for $11.295 million last year. Wickert, who lives in Manhattan Beach, said she used to bring her Brussels Griffon, Ruthie, to play in the nooks and crannies of La Mesa’s fig trees. When the landmarked property hit the market, “I just knew I had to have it,” she said.

She has since hired architecture firm Marmol Radziner to do a careful restoration, which requires approval from the city. “Somewhere in the purchasing process it dawned on me that there’s a responsibility attached to this house,” said Wickert.

Jill Wickert’s Midcentury Modern house was the only U.S. home designed by Oscar Niemeyer.Adam Amengual for WSJThe ‘rim’ side of the street

The most valuable homes on La Mesa are on the “rim side” of the street, overlooking the Riviera Country Club golf course, said Sotheby’s Eden.

They can fetch twice as much as houses on the opposite side of the street, which abut busy San Vicente. 

In recent years, homes without historic designation have fetched the highest prices, in part because they allow owners more flexibility. Vitamin mogul Andrew Lessman is currently renovating a 1981 Peter Choate-designed house on the rim side, which he bought for $22.5 million in 2023. It previously sold for $16.1 million in 2016.

Older homes are still in demand. “Every week or two, people ring the bell and ask if we’re interested in selling,” said Corlin, whose 1924 house isn’t landmarked. “We’re not.” 

The Haselhoffs’ house is on a double lot that is roughly 200 feet wide. ‘It’s the best lot on the best street,’ Otto said.Adam Amengual for WSJPreservation protections

The Haselhoffs’ roughly 6,000-square-foot house was the longtime home of the actress Kathryn Grayson, who owned it from the 1940s until she died in 2010, historical documents show.

A developer later renovated the property and turned it into a party venue known as the House of Rock. After buying the house, the Haselhoffs wanted to remove the “party” persona, Otto said. It took about a year to get permission to do the work, which involved rebuilding the pool and updating the interior, which has original rounded archways, pitched ceilings and a wall of stained glass windows. An antique servants’ call box has buttons to reach the “boys room” and “sewing room.”

Ryan Tedder in 2025Getty ImagesMel Brooks in 2024Getty ImagesKathryn Grayson in 1993Getty Images

Otto said he sued the city because he feels the architectural-review process is subjective and burdensome. “It isn’t because I necessarily wanted to demolish the house or do something extreme,” he said, cradling a Larry David mug in his kitchen.

Preservation guidelines are “meant to be a public benefit,” said Fresco, who is a planning commissioner. “The focus is really how the building appears from the street.” For that reason, construction of the Haselhoffs’ cantilevered backyard was permitted in the mid-2010s, said Scott Albright, who was a city planner at the time.

Haselhoff acknowledged the value of preservation guidelines. “It keeps the architectural integrity of the street intact,” he said. Still, he is not done renovating and would like to utilize the space underneath his backyard, possibly for parking. Plans are being developed “in conjunction with the city,” he said.

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