Here’s a house that sits on the southern slope of Belmont Heights, far enough above the lowlands to get a peek over the rooftops at the Pacific. It’s a lovely view from a nice section of the Heights, about a one-block stroll to the western end of Belmont Shore and all of its dining and shopping options.
The house is at least somewhat evocative of the Spanish style that’s frequently found in the area. But after a recent addition, it’s described now as Modern Spanish, which to me suggests that when it was renovated a few years ago it could’ve used an architect more adept at maintaining its original style when it was built in 1932 when there was no such thing as Modern Spanish, which is not to be confused with Spanish Revival. It’s more of a fusion style, with modernist touches and the two styles don’t fuse particularly well.
But your tastes may well be different from mine and it’s your money that you’ll be putting up for this three-bedroom, three-bath home at 212 Prospect Ave., listed at $1.95 million.
It’s an undeniably great location, with Belmont Heights being attractive for its quiet neighborhoods, yet close to the action of Second Street and, being on a rise, this home is ideally situated to get the freshest blasts of ocean breeze.
And the interior of the house is beautiful, with a light and welcoming living area, with its white walls and ceilings above dark-stained wood floors and a nice wood-burning fireplace. It leads to a fully modern kitchen all done up in white and stainless steel and packed with pro-grade appliances.
And let’s pull up a stool at the kitchen’s bar and imagine this spot, give or take a foot or two, back in the days following the end of World War II, when the house was the home of the Frank E. Nichol family. Frank and his guest and new partner John Moffatt would be working at this, their new company’s first office, just as their new firm was on the brink of taking off.
They weren’t new kids—the founders of what would become the engineering firm of Moffatt & Nichol had been busy during the war, having worked for Guy F. Atkinson Co. in the building of the Navy Shipyard and the naval base in Long Beach and Terminal Island in 1940, a project which Nichol oversaw as the chief engineer.
Moffatt & Nichol’s first job for the city of Long Beach was the reconstruction of the Anaheim Street Bridge and the firm rapidly grew, taking on such projects as the Gerald Desmond Bridge (now replaced by the Long Beach International Gateway), the THUMS oil islands and the Alamitos Bay Marina. They built or improved more than 60 piers on the California coast and were program managers for the Alameda Corridor. Today, the company, still headquartered in Long Beach on Conant Street, employs more than 700 people worldwide. And great, now I’ve got Starship’s “We Built This City” earworming into my brain.
So let’s get back to the present, with the home’s historic kitchen flowing easily into the adjacent dining area and on through the living room and den, with French doors allowing you to take leave of most of the rooms out into the various sections of the back yard, including a patio, a conversation-friendly barbecue area, and separate little yards. A dog or two would have a blast out here, as would a raft of little cousins in a family get-together.
A sturdy polished wood staircase takes you upstairs to the three bedrooms, including the added-on master suite with his-and-her walk-in closets and doors that open to a balcony with views of the neighborhood and the ocean beyond.
Frank Nichol died in Nov. 1971 at the age of 71. By that time, he and his family had moved to a larger and more modern home in Park Estates. Taking the family’s place in the Belmont Heights home was the family of Milton Gabrielson, who was notable in his own right as pastor for 38 years at Bay Shore Community Congregational Church from 1935 until 1973.
