About the Building
Faubourg St Denis is a French Normandy apartment building of 1928 at 308 North Sycamore Avenue, converted to condominium ownership in 1987 and reported at twenty-two homes. Its exterior survives with the vocabulary intact: a slate tile roof, louvered dormers, quoined corners, pinnacles and wrought-iron finials, balconies with balustrades, decorative corbels and steel casement windows with leaded glazing. That combination is rare in this district. The pre-war stock between La Brea and Highland was mostly built as courtyard apartments or duplexes, and buildings designed with this degree of formal ambition were the exception even when they were new.
The conversion history is worth understanding because it shaped the homes themselves. Condominium directories describe the building as originally holding one apartment per floor, subdivided into four homes per floor in the 1987 conversion. The arithmetic does not quite reconcile with the reported total of twenty-two units across a building variously described as four or five storeys, so treat both the storey count and the unit count as unconfirmed. What the description does establish is that today's homes are subdivisions of much larger original apartments, which explains the unusual sizes and the irregular plan shapes.
Those sizes are the building's most distinctive commercial feature. Directories report two-bedroom homes of roughly 1,514 to 1,944 square feet, three-bedroom homes of about 1,917 to 2,155 square feet and four-bedroom plans around 2,154 square feet. Almost nothing else at this price in Mid-Wilshire offers floor areas in that range, and certainly not with ten-foot beamed ceilings, stone fireplaces and leaded casement glazing. The trade is that a 1928 building converted in 1987 will have plan quirks, service runs in awkward places and rooms whose proportions were set for a different way of living.
The architect is credited by one condominium directory to James N. Conway. That attribution could not be corroborated in an architectural database or a preservation record for this page, so it should be treated as unconfirmed rather than as established authorship. Los Angeles has a substantial record of period-revival apartment design from the late 1920s by architects who left thin documentary trails, and single-source attributions from listing material are frequently repeated without a primary reference behind them. If authorship matters to you, the original building permit, held by the city, names the architect of record.
The building carries no historic designation that could be verified for this page, and its location one block east of La Brea places it outside the Hancock Park HPOZ, whose preservation plan puts the district's western edge at both sides of Highland Avenue. That has two consequences. Exterior work is not subject to HPOZ design review, which gives the association latitude the district's period houses do not have. It also means the fabric is protected only by the association's own rules, so the governing documents and architectural guidelines carry more weight here than usual.
Amenities & Services
The Residences
Directories describe the building as originally one apartment per floor, reconfigured into four homes per floor in 1987. That history explains almost everything about the plans. Rooms are large because they were laid out for a single grand apartment; circulation is idiosyncratic because it was inserted later; and service cores were adapted rather than designed from scratch. Expect an entry sequence that does not follow modern convention and at least one room whose proportions read as generous rather than practical. Read the recorded condominium plan carefully, because these boundaries are less regular than in a purpose-built building.
The reported mix runs from two-bedroom homes of roughly 1,514 to 1,944 square feet, through three-bedroom plans of about 1,917 to 2,155 square feet, to four-bedroom homes around 2,154 square feet. Those areas are large for a condominium in this district and are the building's principal commercial argument. The overlap between the two and three-bedroom ranges is itself informative: bedroom count here reflects how a given owner divided the space rather than a fixed developer schedule. Verify area and room count from the condominium plan, not from marketing. Ask as well whether any home has been recombined with a neighbouring unit, which happens in converted buildings and complicates both title and lending.
Listing material describes beamed ceilings above ten feet and stone fireplaces, both consistent with a 1928 building of this ambition. Ceiling height of that order transforms rooms of ordinary footprint, and it is the single feature most often cited by buyers who choose pre-war stock over newer construction. It also has practical consequences. Heating and cooling a tall volume costs more, light fittings and window treatments become bespoke items, and any ceiling penetration for ducting or recessed lighting is a more delicate operation than in a modern flat. Ask what the association permits before budgeting for either.
The original steel casements with leaded lights are the exterior's defining detail and the most consequential maintenance item inside any individual home. Steel windows of this era are repairable and, properly restored, last indefinitely, but they conduct heat, admit draughts and rust at the glazing bar if neglected. Replacement in kind is a specialist trade and expensive; replacement in aluminium or vinyl would compromise the elevation and, in most associations of this type, requires board approval. Establish who is responsible for the windows under the governing documents before you buy.
A slate tile roof is the most durable covering a building of this age could carry and, at close to a century, is also the most expensive to maintain properly. Slate fails at the fixings and the flashings long before the tiles themselves fail, and repairs demand a roofer who works in the material rather than a general contractor. In a twenty-two home association, a slate roof project is a serious number per owner. Ask directly when the roof was last worked on, by whom, and what the reserve study allocates to it.
Directories describe secure parking, but buildings of 1928 were not designed around the car in the way later stock was, and parking is frequently the weakest point in a pre-war conversion. Establish exactly how many spaces convey with the specific home, whether they are tandem, whether they are on site or in an adjacent structure, and whether they are deeded or assigned. Ask the same questions about storage. In converted pre-war buildings, storage is often exclusive-use common area allocated informally rather than deeded property. Establish too whether any space is on the street rather than the site, since that changes the calculation entirely.
Due Diligence
The Hancock Park HPOZ preservation plan describes a district bounded by Melrose on the north, both sides of Rossmore on the east, Wilshire on the south and both sides of Highland on the west. This address stands one block east of La Brea Avenue, west of Highland, and so lies outside that area. No HPOZ design review should apply to exterior work here. Confirm the parcel on the city's parcel viewer before relying on it, since overlays and Community Design Overlays are mapped lot by lot rather than by neighbourhood name.
One condominium directory credits the design to James N. Conway. That attribution could not be corroborated in an architectural database or preservation record for this page, and single-source authorship claims in listing material are repeated far more often than they are checked. If the architect matters to you, the original building permit held by the Department of Building and Safety names the architect of record, and the city's permit records for 1928 construction are generally retrievable. Do not price a purchase on an unverified attribution.
A five-storey building of 1928 will be either reinforced concrete, steel frame with masonry infill, or unreinforced masonry, and the answer changes the diligence entirely. Los Angeles required retrofit of pre-1934 unreinforced masonry bearing-wall buildings under its long-running programme, and its non-ductile concrete programme reaches concrete buildings whose permit application predates 13 January 1977. Ask the association what the structural system is, whether any retrofit was performed, when, and whether the city has ever issued an order against the property.
The 1987 conversion is now itself nearly forty years old, which means two generations of systems sit inside a 1928 shell. Ask what was replaced at conversion and what was left, then ask what has been replaced since: supply and waste risers, the electrical service and unit panels, the boiler or central plant if one exists, and any common-area ventilation. Original galvanised supply piping and cast-iron waste stacks are the classic failure points in buildings of this age, and they are common-area work rather than an owner's.
In most condominium schemes, windows are exclusive-use common area rather than unit property, which means the association controls their appearance and often their repair. With original steel casements and leaded glazing on a period elevation, that distinction becomes financially significant. Establish from the CC&Rs who pays for casement restoration, whether the association has adopted a standard for replacement, and whether any owner has been permitted to substitute modern units. An inconsistent elevation is a sign the association has not held the line.
California Civil Code section 5550 requires a reserve study with visual inspection at least every three years, reviewed annually by the board. In this building the schedule should be dominated by the slate roof and its flashings, the exterior render and stone detail, the windows, the plumbing risers and the pool plant. Ask for the study, the percent funded figure and the assessment history over a decade. Twenty-two owners is a narrow base for a slate roofing project, so funding discipline matters more here than in a large association.
No pet or leasing policy for this association is published in sources a buyer can reach. California Civil Code section 4741 prevents a rental cap below twenty-five percent of units and permits a ban on tenancies of thirty days or less, but only the association's adopted rules govern. In a building of twenty-two homes, a handful of owners set policy and enforcement tends to be personal rather than procedural. Read three years of minutes to understand how the board actually behaves before you rely on any written rule.
No historic designation for this property could be verified for this page. If the building were ever listed as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument or placed under a Mills Act contract, both the tax position and the permitting position would change materially, and the association's records would show it. Ask the question directly rather than assuming either way. Pre-war buildings of this quality are periodically nominated by owners seeking the Mills Act property tax reduction, and an active contract carries maintenance obligations as well as benefits.
Everything above is drawn from public records, city permit data and published sources. The association’s statutory disclosure package is the only authoritative answer on dues, rules, reserves, insurance and litigation — Ben will request it and read it with you before you remove contingencies.
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