The Woodruff House, the Sidney Woodruff Residence at 3185 North Durand Drive, is the mid-1920s Spanish Colonial Revival model home that John DeLario designed for Hollywoodland developer Sidney H. Woodruff, built by the Western Construction Company. It is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 681, designated June 14, 2000.
Powered by Side: #1 California-based brokerage, No. 9 in the nation.
Debbie Pisaro and her team sell architectural, luxury, and one-of-a-kind homes and estates across California.
What is the Woodruff House in Hollywoodland?
There are houses you admire from the street, and there are houses that make you stop and wonder about the people who imagined them, built them, and lived in them. The Sidney Woodruff Residence on North Durand Drive is one of those houses.
When I think about the early development of Hollywoodland, I keep coming back to this particular property. It tells a story that goes beyond its architecture. It tells the story of a developer who understood that selling a hillside required more than selling a view. He had to show people what life on that hillside could look like.
Sidney H. Woodruff understood that.
In the mid-1920s, Woodruff built this Spanish Colonial Revival residence as the model home for Hollywoodland, the ambitious hillside development he had conceived above Beachwood Canyon. This was not simply another house in the subdivision. It was an example of the promise he was selling. Prospective buyers could walk through it, see how a home could sit on a steep lot, and imagine themselves living in the hills above Los Angeles.
I find that idea particularly interesting. Before the Hollywoodland sign became one of the most recognizable images in the world, there was a house intended to help sell the place beneath it.
An architect's hand
The house was designed by John DeLario, the architect associated with much of Hollywoodland's original development, and constructed by Western Construction Company.
DeLario is one of those architects whose work deserves more attention than his name generally receives. His architectural presence can still be read throughout this part of the canyon. Castillo del Lago, Wolf's Lair, and the original commercial buildings near the Beachwood entrance all belong to the story of his work in Hollywoodland.
What interests me is the relationship between the individual houses and the larger development. These were not isolated architectural statements. They were part of a larger vision, one in which architecture, landscape, topography, and marketing worked together.
The Woodruff Residence is particularly revealing because its original purpose was so closely tied to that vision.
More than a beautiful house
The property is now Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 681, designated on June 14, 2000.
I think historic designations are most meaningful when they help us understand why a particular building matters, rather than simply telling us that it is old or beautiful.
Here, the significance is layered. There is the architecture itself, the connection to John DeLario, the association with Sidney H. Woodruff, and the house's role in the original marketing and development of Hollywoodland.
It is a physical record of a moment when Los Angeles was expanding into its hills and inventing a new kind of residential landscape.
And that is what makes it worth looking at closely.
What I look for in a house like this
When I encounter an architecturally significant property, I am interested in more than its style or its photographs. I want to know who designed it, who commissioned it, what was original, what has changed, and what documentation supports the story being told.
The distinction matters.
A house can be attributed to an architect through historical research, but a documented commission is something different. The original building permit, historic designation report, and archival records help establish that distinction.
A house can be attributed to an architect through historical research, but a documented commission is something different.
For the Woodruff Residence, the city's historic designation provides an important starting point. It gives us a documented connection to the people and development that shaped this part of Los Angeles.
That is the kind of research I believe should accompany the marketing of an architectural home. The story should be as carefully considered as the photographs, and the claims should be supported by the record.
Why I keep coming back to Hollywoodland
Beachwood Canyon has a remarkable architectural history. Its houses reflect an era when developers and architects were experimenting with how to build in the hills, how to create a sense of place, and how to make a residential neighborhood feel like a destination.
The Woodruff House brings those ideas together.
I don't think of it simply as a 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival residence or even as a historic monument. I think of it as one of the surviving pieces of the original Hollywoodland vision.
The famous sign may have brought the world to the hillside, but houses like this gave people a reason to stay.
And for me, that is the difference between a house with history and a house that helps explain the history of an entire neighborhood.
If you own a house like this
A house with a name attached to it deserves a real estate agent in Los Angeles who reads the record before the comps. Debbie Pisaro pulls the permit, the designation file and the survey findings before she prices, the method behind pricing a one-of-a-kind architectural home, and the architects behind these houses are collected in her architects guide. Designated houses across the ridge in Los Feliz are laid out in the Los Feliz HCM guide.
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across Los Angeles and the surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. This house is not a Debbie Pisaro listing, and nothing here is an offer to sell it. Start at debbiepisaro.com, read more about Debbie's work with these houses, or request a valuation from Debbie Pisaro.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Woodruff House?
The Sidney Woodruff Residence is at 3185 North Durand Drive, Los Angeles 90068, in the Hollywoodland hills above Beachwood Canyon. It is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 681, declared June 14, 2000, and it sits within a short walk of DeLario's Wolf's Lair and Castillo del Lago.
Who designed the Sidney Woodruff Residence on Durand Drive?
John DeLario, the lead architect of the Hollywoodland tract, designed the Sidney Woodruff Residence in the mid 1920s, and the Western Construction Company built it. It was the tract's model home for Sidney H. Woodruff, the developer who put up the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in 1923 to sell lots on the same hill.
Who was John DeLario?
John Lucian DeLario was born in Wyoming in 1888 and practiced in Los Angeles from the mid 1920s until his death in 1950. He was Hollywoodland's lead architect, drawing the Woodruff model home, Wolf's Lair, Castillo del Lago, and the shops at the Beachwood entrance, plus an unbuilt estate for Mack Sennett.
How do I find out who designed my house in Los Angeles?
Pull the original building permit from the city's online building records, searchable by address or parcel number. Permits from the 1920s onward usually name the architect, the contractor, and the first owner. If the house is designated, read the monument nomination report next, then the citywide historic survey findings, and only then the archives.
Does a named architect add value?
It can, and documentation is what makes the difference. A documented architect gives an appraiser something to cite when there are no comparable recent sales, which is the usual condition for a one-of-a-kind house. An undocumented claim gives them nothing, and an appraisal is where undocumented claims go to die.
Can a listing say "designed by"?
Only when the record supports it. Otherwise use "attributed to," and say what the attribution rests on. California advertising rules and the Realtor Code of Ethics both require accuracy, and a buyer who later finds the permit says something different has a real grievance. The honest version is also the more persuasive one.
What is a Historic-Cultural Monument?
A Historic-Cultural Monument is a City of Los Angeles designation, each one assigned a number and adopted by council action. The Sidney Woodruff Residence is No. 681, adopted June 14, 2000. The city publishes the full monument list with addresses, so you can check your own address against it directly in a few minutes.
What should I pull before listing an architecturally significant California home?
Pull the original permit, the designation resolution and its list of protected features if designated, any recorded Mills Act contract, and the full permit history for later work. Those four documents answer most of what an appraiser, a buyer's agent, and an underwriter will ask, and getting them takes longer than getting photographs does.
Who is a good real estate agent in Los Angeles for a historic or architect-designed home?
Look for a real estate agent who reads the permit and the designation file before the comps. Debbie Pisaro, founder of Coastline 840 and an Inman Luxury Leader, works on architectural and historic homes across Los Angeles and California, and many of the homes she sells never reach the open market.
Coastline 840 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90026 · DRE #01369110
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, a boutique California practice, and an Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. Coastline 840 is a DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, responsible broker. Powered by Side: #1 California-based brokerage, No. 9 in the nation. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com, and coastline840.com. Published November 2026.
Los Angeles Department of City Planning, Historic-Cultural Monuments List (Sidney Woodruff Residence, HCM No. 681); Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, online building records; SurveyLA findings, Office of Historic Resources; Hollywoodland tract history.
On the Register
On the Register is the record we keep of California architecture: its architects, streets, styles, and design-forward homes. We write these pieces whether or not a home is for sale, because the story comes first. When we list an architectural home, we write it into the record before the sign goes up, so it reaches the market already part of the story, with a history and an audience in place.
© 2026 Debbie Pisaro, Coastline 840 · ontheregister.com