{"nrhp_refnum":"09000176","name":"Gill, Merwyn C., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1385 El Mirador Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pasadena","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.16725141100005,"lon":-118.17989964699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-12-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, post-and-beam, flat-roofed single-family house of about 2,600 square feet at 1385 El Mirador Drive in the Linda Vista area of west Pasadena, California. It was designed by Buff, Straub and Hensman and dates to 1964.","why_significant":"The house is presented as a masterwork of the architectural firm Buff, Straub and Hensman. It blends the client's wartime-developed plastics, such as fiberglass and foam-core panels, with the firm's usual wood, brick and stone. It also shows the firm's close integration of building and site, and a collaboration between architect and client lasting more than fifty years.","narrative":"Set on a 1.4-acre flag lot in Pasadena's Linda Vista hills, this one-story house was designed by the firm Buff, Straub and Hensman for an inventor and industrialist who made advanced plastics. The T-shaped, post-and-beam house uses an 8-foot module, glass walls facing mountain views, and outdoor rooms, patios and a pool. Its materials include fiberglass and foam-core roof panels, skylights, walnut-faced glue-laminated beams and custom dark red brick, much of it produced in the owner's El Monte factory. Its design reflects Japanese influence, and the south elevation is compared to Katsura Imperial Villa. The house was listed for its architecture. It is described as a masterwork that combined wartime-era technology with the firm's natural-material palette, and as an example of postwar Pasadena experimentation. Alterations over the decades, including new glass and skylight units, were made with the architects and left the footprint and layout intact.","period_of_significance":"1948 - 1968","architect_builder":"Buff, Straub and Hensman","architectural_style":"Modern Movement","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling; interior alterations and minor exterior changes were made in collaboration with the architects and are said not to affect integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.668212-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/09000176.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"16000468","name":"Big Creek Hydroelectric System Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/california/big-creek-hydroelectric-system-historic-district-16000468/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857478","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133286082"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/gill-merwyn-c-house-09000176/"}