Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 29, 2010

13

Homes & Property

 Mountain Views News Saturday, May 29, 2010

One Of A Kind: Featuring unique homes & gardens and the people who create them Story and Photos By Chris Bertrand


Progress At The Pinney House

 
“Welcome to the Money Pit!” chuckled Pinney House owner and 
chief restorer, plumber, painter and carpenter, Greg Asbury last 
week to two civic groups, The Sierra Madre Chamber of Commerce 
and the local Rotary Club.

Invited by Asbury and his wife to hold their meetings at their 
10,000 square foot historic home in the midst of restoration and 
renovation, both groups enjoyed a tour of the family’s progress on 
restoration since they purchased the property in 2003. 

 Constructed in 1887 for retired civil war surgeon, Dr. Elbert 
Pinney, the Asburys have been delighted by contact and visits 
from descendants of the original 
owner, and now have copies of family 
and historical home photos for their 
archives. They’ve learned that early 
civic meetings took place at the home, 
in lieu of a town hall.

When I last visited the Pinney House 
for a 2007 article, Asbury calmly 
chatted with me while workers were 
busily lowering decades of plaster and 
lathe room dividers right behind us. 
I saw a warren of rooms, 1960’s era 
kitchens, 6’x10’ windowless “hotel” 
rooms from a century old design and 
dust, dust, dust.

 Back in the 1800’s, a modestly priced 
hotel room at a place like the Sierra 
Madre Hotel sometimes meant a 
“room with only room for a bed” to 
fall into after a day of hiking in the San 
Gabriel Mountains, or later a room to 
“dry out” in a Betty Ford-style Center 
in the Jimmy Durante era. Even later, 
those windowless rooms became part 
of nine apartments within the Pinney 
House. (One was occupied by new city 
council member, Josh Moran, in his tender years.)

 Today those windowless hotel rooms are gone, and work is well under way for six new 
bedrooms and baths befitting this Sierra Madre treasure. The Asburys reflected that it was 
financially possible to do some much renovation only because they shouldered most of the 
work themselves. Hence, they’ve drawn heavily on Greg’s experience rehabbing old homes, begun way 
back in college.

Asbury fascinated the groups with anecdotes and near horror stories of remodeling. Asbury discovered 
an old style of house framing called ballooning was used for the construction of part of the home. 
Common until modern building codes required firestops and shear walls stiffening the structure, the 
good news is that “the balloon framing allows air to flow from under the house that is naturally temperate 
and moderate both hot and cold days. It actually provides flexibility to the structure” evidenced by the 
home’s survival though several other Sierra Madre structures fell in the 1990 earthquake, including 
several homes on Grove behind them, and the monastery on Sunnyside. 

 In one harrowing incident, work on an outer wall uncovered that only one 2”x6” beam fully supported 
the turret room, or oriel, on the third floor. Wide eyed, Asbury hustled up to the turret, currently 
occupied by a crowd of nine at a meeting his wife was holding. He didn’t rest until the turret was 
emptied and the framing reinforced. 

 In completing the turret, Asbury ruefully recalls, “I will never forget climbing up to the top of the 
roof to plant the spire on the turret as the wind whipped me around.” Oh, the joys and adventures of 
restoration! 

Another time, an unsent love letter by a senator contemporary of Abraham Lincoln was uncovered 
when baseboards were removed in one of the bedrooms. Written in the flowery Victorian language of 
the era, it was penned at another hotel stop for the senator, Pasadena’s Hotel Green. Alas it was never 
sent and somehow slipped behind the baseboard a century ago.

 In 2006, when I first started traversing Lima Street in Sierra Madre on daily treks through town, 
my eye was drawn to the tired but still majestic “Lady on Lima”… the Pinney House. Its faded color 
was one we’ll call “formerly white.” After years of work, including a period with scaffolding around 
the structure, the house now sports an intricate Victorian color palette that fits beautifully in the 21st 
century as well. 

 If I’d been painting, I’m not sure I could have kept all of it straight with all the curlicues and spindles 
in multi colors, but the finished effect is stunning, with olive and tan and maroon. I’m truly afraid to 
ask the number of gallons required. 

 Designed by San Francisco then Los Angeles based brothers, Samuel and Joseph H. Cather Newsom, this 
huge Queen Anne Victorian 
structure was intended as a 
country inn, and as such, 
not meant to be elaborate. 
The Asburys are slowly 
purchasing accoutrements 
for their Victorian, 
sometimes searching out of 
state for pieces. In Arizona 
recently, they found an 
elaborate walnut fireplace 
facing manufactured by 
the Newsoms. Now it’s the 
beautiful focal point of the 
main parlor.

 More “over the top” 
examples of the “Gruesome 
Newsom” brothers’ work 
is available at the Carson 
Mansion in Eureka, CA, 
reputed to be one of the 
most photographed and 
ornate Victorians. A much 
closer example is the fully 
restored San Dimas Hotel 
about 15 miles east of Sierra 
Madre, completed in March, 2009.

 We wish the Asburys the best in their endeavors to restore one of the most recognized and historic 
buildings in Sierra Madre!

For more information about the Pinney House, visit www.PinneyHouse.com.

Chris Bertrand


Greg Asbury recounts their home restoration 
journey.

The Hotel Sierra Madre in the late 1800’s (inset) and The Pinney House today. 

Historical photo courtesy of www.pinneyhouse.com. 


Pinney House offers some of the most breath taking views 
of the San Gabriel Valley from the second and third floor 
balconies.

 In today's real estate climate, 
you want to be sure to take all 
the necessary steps to squeeze 
every possible penny out of 
the sale of your home. Small 
oversights or missteps can be 
costly when it comes to your 
bottom line. However, there 
are some common mistakes 
that are easily avoidable if 
you listen to the experience 
and advice of your real estate 
representative. 

 One error that can cost you 
is to put your home on the 
market before it is truly ready for presentation. Image is everything, so get all the cleaning, painting, 
patching, and lawn care done well in advance of your first showing. 

 Another costly stumbling block involves your initial listing price. Remember that you control the 
asking price, but not the selling price - that is finally determined by the buyers and what the market 
will bear. Try to detach yourself emotionally from what you want to net, and price your home 
aggressively against your competition, right from the beginning. 

 Emotional attachment can keep you from perceiving and presenting your home as what it now is, 
a commodity. Present it, market it and price it as you would any new product on the market. Your 
agent will make sure it gets exposure to the right demographic, and will help you avoid costly errors 
along the way to a successful closing.

Luther Tsinoglou has just been named the top producing sales agent in Dickson Podley Realtor's Sierra Madre 
office for 2009, making the top 10% at the company overall. Luther has been licensed and practicing real estate 
since 1992. He specializes in residential and income property in Southern California. Luther can be reached at 
his direct line (626) 695-8650 or at luther@tsinoglou.com.