HISTORY
Built in 1927, this Storybook cottage with Tudor Revival influences exudes rustic charm. Both Tudor and Storybook styles feature an asymmetrical form with steeply pitched roofs, but while Tudor asymmetry is deliberate, balanced and linear, Storybook homes feature a non-linear, hand-crafted appearance, with irregular, cobbled-together elements, as in this house. The steeply pitched, swaybacked roof reaches nearly to the ground on one side and swoops in a catslide across the timber porch entry on the other; the enclosed courtyard with two towers, wooden gates and flagstone paths creates a playful, almost enchanted Storybook feeling. Among the Tudor features of the house are the plaster-finished exterior walls with half- timbering. Dovecote vents under the central gable, irregular stonework embedded into the plaster on the façade and a narrow, arched porte-cochère add to the fairytale ambiance. Perhaps most magical of all are the twisted juniper trees flanking the front of the house and growing directly into it – by design.
Landscape architect Charles Weaver (1905-1982) built this Storybook cottage for his bride, Nellie, at the same time his parents, Sarah and Eugene Weaver, were constructing their own home just three doors away at 1411 North Central Avenue, a magnificent Spanish Colonial Revival residence now listed on the Glendale Register (No. 105). Only 21 years old, Charles Weaver listed himself as the contractor on the original building permit for his home.
The elder Weavers’ home was designed by renowned architect Ben Sherwood, who was particularly known for his Storybook buildings, leading to speculation that he also designed the newlyweds’ cottage. Although we found no documentation of this, it seems highly plausible based on the family relationship, the proximity of the two homes, Charles Weaver’s youth and lack of any known architectural training and the plethora of whimsical elements that were hallmarks of Sherwood’s style. His most famous known work is a fanciful Storybook bungalow court constructed in 1931, built adjacent to the former Walt Disney Studios at 2906-29121⁄2 Griffith Park Boulevard. Constructed for Lois M. Sherwood, it is rumored to have been the inspiration for Snow White’s cottage in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).