Mid-Century Modern • Balboa Highlands
The listing calls it a 1977 home. Its permits tell a richer story: a Claude Oakland-designed Eichler erected in 1962, then repaired and dramatically expanded by architect-owner W. Gayle Daniel after fire damage fifteen years later.
The twilight aerial clearly shows the home’s original low-slung massing and the second story added during its post-fire reconstruction. Listing photo via CRMLS.
The year-built field does not tell the whole story
At first glance, the current listing for 17042 Lisette Street appears to describe an unusually convincing 1977 interpretation of mid-century modernism. Redfin repeats a public-record year built of 1977, while the listing promotes the property as an expanded architectural home in Granada Hills’ sought-after Balboa Highlands neighborhood.
But the original building permit pushes the house back fifteen years. Issued by the City of Los Angeles on August 10, 1962, the document identifies the project as a one-story single-family dwelling with attached garage. It names Eichler Homes, Inc. as both owner and contractor and Claude Oakland as architect. The permit also records the address as 17042 Lisette Street and lists a 57-by-59-foot building footprint.
A 1977 fire changed the house
A second permit documents the turning point in the home’s history. Filed in 1977, it describes work to repair fire damage and add a second floor. The permit names W. Gayle Daniel as both owner and architect. Rather than treating the property as a blank slate, Daniel’s intervention expanded the original Eichler into a much larger two-level residence.
That sequence explains the apparent conflict in today’s records. The house was not first constructed in 1977; that was the year of its substantial post-fire reconstruction. Its present 3,223-square-foot form combines Oakland’s original Eichler-era design with Daniel’s later addition.
SFV Blog finding: The most accurate description is a 1962 Claude Oakland-designed Eichler, reconstructed and expanded in 1977 by W. Gayle Daniel after fire damage. Calling it simply “built in 1977” erases the home’s original Eichler provenance.
Two architects, two chapters
Claude Oakland was one of the principal architects behind Joseph Eichler’s modern residential vocabulary. Oakland’s work helped translate post-and-beam construction, open plans, exposed structural elements and a strong indoor-outdoor relationship into Eichler’s California subdivisions. The 1962 permit connects this Lisette Street property directly to that body of work—not merely to an Eichler-inspired style.
W. Gayle Daniel brought a different chapter to the property. According to his obituary, Daniel was born August 2, 1931, in Tatum, New Mexico, earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Arizona State University in 1961 and married Adriana Mostert in Los Angeles in 1956. He died in Malibu on May 13, 2009, at age 77. The permit indicates that Daniel was not just the designer of the 1977 work; he owned the house at the time, making its reconstruction a notably personal architectural commission.
Daniel in the architectural press, 1975
A Los Angeles Times clipping published on February 9, 1975—two years before the fire-repair permit—adds useful context to Daniel’s professional standing. The article identifies him as the outgoing president of the Southern California chapter of the Society of American Registered Architects. It also says he remained a chapter director and would oversee its newsletter.
The same report records a second-honor design award to Daniel for Bethany Church and day school. It also notes awards involving Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall for the Santa Monica College library and the Daniel, Mann firm for a health center. The clipping does not discuss the Lisette Street house, but it shows that the architect who would soon reshape it was active in regional professional leadership and recognized design work.
What survives—and what changed
The listing emphasizes the features that continue to read as distinctly mid-century: clean horizontal lines, post-and-beam character, open living spaces, abundant natural light and walls of glass opening toward the rear yard. The original ground-floor relationship between living areas and the outdoors remains central to the experience of the house.
Daniel’s second level makes the property an outlier among the predominantly single-story homes associated with Eichler. The expanded plan now offers five bedrooms and three bathrooms, including primary suites on both levels. Upstairs, a large family or media room takes advantage of mountain views, while the main level preserves the option for single-floor primary-bedroom living.
Outside, the approximately quarter-acre lot contains a private swimming pool, multiple lounging areas and drought-tolerant landscaping. The result is neither an untouched Eichler nor a conventional remodel. It is a layered house whose architecture records both a destructive event and the ambitious response that followed.
Photo gallery
50 listing photographs. Select any image to open the gallery; use the arrows or keyboard to move through the set.
Listing photography via CRMLS/Redfin. Listed by Julia Uber, DRE #02019847, Pinnacle Estate Properties.
Property details
The home is listed by Julia Uber of Pinnacle Estate Properties under CRMLS number SR26124608. As of August 27, 2026, the asking price is $1,599,999, or approximately $496 per square foot. The listing also advertises a potentially assumable 2.75 percent mortgage; buyers should independently verify the balance, eligibility requirements and terms with the lender.
The property is near O’Melveny Park in the Balboa Highlands area of Granada Hills. Its combination of verified Eichler origins, a documented post-fire transformation and a substantial 3,223-square-foot floor plan makes it a particularly unusual entry in the neighborhood’s architectural record.
Location
17042 Lisette Street, Granada Hills, California 91344.
Related stories
Sources & further reading
- Redfin / CRMLS listing for 17042 Lisette Street (accessed August 27, 2026)
- City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, original building permit issued August 10, 1962
- City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, 1977 fire-repair and second-floor-addition permit
- “Keller Installed by Architect Society,” Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1975
- Los Angeles Daily News obituary for W. Gayle Daniel, published May 20, 2009
Listing note: Price, availability, open-house information and financing terms can change. SFV Blog is not affiliated with the seller, listing agent, brokerage, Redfin or CRMLS. Architectural conclusions above are based on the cited City of Los Angeles permit records.
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