From a river-rock bungalow in Stonehurst to a Spanish Revival waiting to be restored, seven Southern California homes with something worth noticing.
Finding an older home with genuine character for less than $1 million is not easy in Southern California—but it is still possible if you know where to look and can recognize what is worth preserving.
Affordable History is a recurring look at historic, vintage, and character-rich homes throughout the Verdugos, Foothills, and surrounding communities. Some are beautifully preserved. Others have evolved thoughtfully, or are waiting for someone with the vision to bring them back.
The name is not meant to suggest that these homes are inexpensive, or that every house featured has a formal historic designation. It is about looking for places where age, architecture, craftsmanship, or possibility can still be found below the million-dollar mark. What connects these seven homes is not perfection. It is that each still has something worth seeing.
OPEN THIS WEEKEND · SEPTEMBER 5–6
590 Prescott Street
Saturday, 12–3 PM
956 E Villa Street
Saturday and Sunday, 2–4 PM
245 Laun Street
Saturday, 2–4 PM
Open-house schedules can change. Please confirm the current time on the individual listing page before visiting.
ONE
Character You Can Live With Now
SUN VALLEY · RIVER-ROCK BUNGALOW
11103 Allegheny
$899,000 · 3 beds · 1 bath · 693 sq. ft. · Listed as built in 1928
Few houses announce their material story as clearly as this one. The river-rock walls, chimney, low profile, and deep porch give the house a handmade quality that feels inseparable from Stonehurst, a neighborhood known for its distinctive stone construction. The bungalow is compact, but it sits on nearly a third of an acre, giving the property a scale that the interior square footage alone does not convey.
It is not a polished showpiece, and that is part of its appeal. The irregular stonework and modest proportions make it memorable. This is the sort of house that deserves curiosity, research, and a careful hand before anyone decides what should change.
Listing Agent: James Sanchez · Listing Office: Time To Sell Realty
MLS #SR26186427
PASADENA · EARLY-TWENTIETH-CENTURY CHARACTER
956 E Villa Street
$998,000 · 2 beds · 1 bath · 1,132 sq. ft. · Built in 1907
This 1907 home offers a quieter kind of preservation. Its welcoming porch and Craftsman-era proportions establish the character from the street, while the interior carries the story through hardwood floors, original built-ins, a bay window, and a window seat in the dining room.
The house has also been allowed to evolve. The kitchen has been refreshed, and important systems have received attention, without stripping away the details that give the rooms their identity. For someone who loves older homes but is not looking for a major restoration project, this may be one of the most approachable houses in the group.
Listing Agent: Kerry Jackson · Listing Office: Coldwell Banker Realty
MLS #P1-28615
PASADENA · TRADITIONAL BUNGALOW
590 Prescott Street
$960,000 · 2 beds · 1 bath · 1,072 sq. ft. · Built in 1938
Full disclosure: this one is my listing, and it belongs here for the same reason I was drawn to represent it. From the street, the 1938 bungalow is quiet and understated. Inside, it is the accumulation of surviving details that makes the house special: original hardwood floors, the fireplace and mantel, the dining-room doorbell and chimes, and a remarkably intact kitchen with its period stove and original salt-and-pepper shakers.
Located within Pasadena’s Craftsman Heights Landmark District, Prescott is a reminder that character does not require grandeur. Sometimes it lives in the ordinary things that generations of owners simply chose not to remove.
Listing Agent: Stefan Doomanis · Listing Office: Coldwell Banker Envision
MLS #BB26178879
ALTADENA · POSTWAR TRADITIONAL
245 Laun Street
$999,000 · 3 beds · 2 baths · 1,598 sq. ft. · Built in 1947
Laun sits at the later edge of the history represented in this first edition. It is not being presented as a time capsule or a formally historic property. Its appeal is the balance between its postwar Traditional character and the practical work that has already been completed.
The brick chimney, front bay, defined rooms, plantation shutters, and fireplace still give the house a clear identity. Newer windows, updated bathrooms, a newer roof, and an updated electrical panel make it easier to imagine living here now. Stewardship does not always mean returning a house to an earlier moment. Sometimes it means allowing it to keep evolving without making it ordinary.
Listing Agent: Cariy Hernandez · Listing Office: Keller Williams Realty
MLS #P1-28541
TWO
Waiting for the Right Vision
The final three homes ask more of their next owners. They are not simply opportunities to choose finishes. Each requires someone prepared to understand the building, the work, and the consequences of the decisions ahead.
PASADENA · SPANISH REVIVAL
1791 Navarro Avenue
$999,900 · 3 beds · 1 bath · 1,665 sq. ft. · Built in 1932
Of the restoration candidates in this group, this may be the most architecturally legible. The simple stucco walls, clay-tile roof, recessed entry, and steel windows still read unmistakably as a 1932 Spanish Revival home. Time and deferred care are visible, but the essential language of the house has not been designed away.
The approximately 10,000-square-foot lot adds possibility, but the house itself should remain the starting point. This is not a project to approach casually. Inspections, repair costs, and any previous alterations deserve careful investigation. For the right buyer, though, the opportunity is not to invent character. It is to uncover and strengthen what is already there.
Listing Agent: Sebastian Stofenmacher · Listing Office: Edgestone Real Estate, Inc.
MLS #PW26190549
PASADENA · RESTORATION OPPORTUNITY
1622 Navarro Avenue
$899,000 · 4 beds · 3 baths · 1,838 sq. ft. · Built in 1920
The broad front porch and second-story balcony give this 1920 house a presence that survives even though the building has clearly changed over time. Its four-bedroom layout and 1,838 square feet offer more room than many older homes below this price point, but the listing also makes clear that repairs and updating are needed.
This appears to be more than a cosmetic project, and that makes the early decisions especially important. Which features belong to the original house? Which later layers have earned their place? Not every old home should be forced back to a single year. A thoughtful renovation can respect the building’s age while still allowing it to become a practical home for its next chapter.
Listing Agent: Sabrina Cole · Listing Office: Keller Williams Realty College Park
MLS #CV26187572
GLENDALE · STUDS-OUT RESTO!
3115 Piedmont Avenue
$780,000 · 3 beds · 1 bath · 1,130 sq. ft. · Built in 1940
Piedmont has the lowest asking price in this edition, but it is also the most demanding project. The interior has been stripped to the framing, so this is closer to a rebuild than a conventional fixer. Cash, hard-money, or construction financing may be required, and the true cost cannot be understood from the asking price alone.
Yet the 1940 exterior still offers a useful starting point: a low roofline, projecting bays, modest scale, and a comfortable relationship to the street. With so little interior finish left to preserve, stewardship here means resisting the temptation to turn the house into a generic product. The opportunity is to rebuild thoughtfully around the proportions and identity that remain.
Listing Agent: Ed Sanchez · Listing Office: EMPOWER Real Estate
MLS #BB26191686
Seven homes, and seven very different definitions of value. Some offer original details that have quietly survived. Some show how an older house can be updated without losing itself. Others need a new owner prepared to make difficult and consequential choices.
That range is the point of Affordable History. Finding a home with character is not only about identifying an architectural style or a construction date. It is about looking closely enough to see what is there, what has been lost, and what might still be carried forward.
LOOKING FOR A HOME WITH CHARACTER?
Tell me what is worth finding.
If one of these homes speaks to you—or you would like a search built around a particular neighborhood, era, or architectural style—I would be glad to help you look more closely.
Listing information was current as of September 3, 2026, and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Prices, availability, property details, and open-house schedules are subject to change. Buyers should independently verify all information and investigate property condition, permits, historic status, financing requirements, and other matters that may affect a purchase.
