Second-Story Additions in Hancock Park

City Planning describes Hancock Park as a 1920s subdivision of two-story single-family residences in Period Revival styles: Tudor Revival, English Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Mediterranean Revival, Monterey Revival, and American Colonial Revival. Most houses sit 50 feet back from the street, with side driveways leading through a porte cochere to a rear garage.

That character sets the terms for any new floor. City Planning points applicants to the district's Preservation Plan for the massing, style, and materials a project should consider. So I start any Hancock Park addition by looking at the rear of the lot and the least visible roof first, and I ask the architect to test the street view early. Your architect designs to the Preservation Plan; I build to what the City approves.

1. Status. Check whether the house is Contributing, Contributing Altered, or Non-Contributing in the district's Historic Resource Survey. ZIMAS shows it. That status and the scope of the project set the review procedure.

2. HPOZ review. City Planning staff advise on next steps once the application is filed, and the review formally begins when the application is complete. Depending on the project, it runs as a Certificate of Appropriateness, a Certificate of Compatibility, or a Conforming Work review. The Hancock Park HPOZ Board meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month.

3. Decision and appeal period. City Planning issues a Letter of Determination. A Certificate of Appropriateness or a Certificate of Compatibility has a 15-day appeal period; conforming work reviews are not appealable.

4. Permit clearances and plan check. With an approved, unappealed decision, planning staff sign off on the plans and issue permit clearances, and the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety completes plan check and issues the permit.

A new floor is a new load path down through the house and into the ground. Before design goes far, I expose the foundation where it matters, check the framing below the new floor, and document the walls that will carry shear. A house of this age may need new footings, new shear walls, and hold-downs, and sometimes the honest answer is a different plan. You get that answer before you pay for a full design set.

Written scope first. You approve a written scope and agreement before work starts, with each payment stage tied to a milestone you can verify on site.

Weather and dust. Any opened roof sits under a temporary weather structure, and each section is dried in the day it is framed. A sealed barrier at the stair keeps the occupied side of the house clean.

Neighbors. Deliveries are sized for the street, debris leaves covered, and the neighbors hear about the loud days before they come.

Inspections and handover. Every stage passes its City inspection. At final we walk the addition together, close the punch list, and I hand over the documents for everything we built.

An addition is priced by the structure the existing house needs, the area added, and the finish level the district and you expect. I put a written number on a defined scope after the structural look and the plan review. Share the budget range you plan in the build request below.