The Morrell House is an old home that is being restored by my church for the City of Redondo Beach, and the Redondo Beach Historical Society. Today I had a class in the morning, so I wasn’t able to get over to the Morrell House project until the afternoon to help out. By this time, most of the people had left and there wasn’t any work to do, so I took some pictures to document the current state of the building, and chatted with Vic, the general contractor who is leading up the project.
Since my last visit, they have gotten a lot done! The exterior paint is finished, and the scaffolding is down, and the interior plaster is finished too! See the pictures below for the full story.
 This picture is taken from the North East corner (rear). You can see the handicapped access ramp that we installed that leads up to the rear porch. Soon we will put on the handrail for the ramp. The little room next to the ramp is the handicapped bathroom. Several of the windows still need their glass installed, but doesn’t the paint look great! |
 This view is from the North West corner. You see the front of the house that faces Flagler. We added those front steps and cement slab going up to it. |
 This is from the South West Corner. You can see more of the wrap around front porch. I wish they had these porches on current houses! The blue stuff you see in some of the windows is painter’s tape. The wood on the inside of the windows still needs to be painted. |
 This is from the South East corner. The electrical cords are going up to the two windows since some of the electrical is still not finished. The Air Conditioning compressors will go on the pad next to that big green electrical box. |
 This is a view of the Dining Room. It is in the South East corner on the first floor. The plaster is not completely dry yet. I think it is kind of unusual that the plaster has a rough texture. Similar to stucco on the exterior of a home. The two furniture pieces you see are actually part of one built in china cabinet that they are working on installing. The large darker piece will be placed on top of the one on the left. It fits between the two smaller windows. There is a built in bench beneath the two larger windows. |
 This shot is the living room in the South West corner of the first floor. The two built-ins are cabinets on the right hand side. |
 This is the parlor, or entry room, on the North West corner. I really like the seat under the window. Just behind the photographer is the stairway that leads up to the upstairs. |
 This is the Kitchen in the North East corner. They are getting ready to install that big built in cabinet. They will probably change the yellow pine that forms a T on it with Douglas Fir that will match the rest of the wood. In the corner is a door that is leaning against the cabinet. This forms a cooler that used cool air flowing up from under the house past ice or wet towels to keep food cool in the cabinet above it. Between the kitchen and parlor, you can see a pantry area. Soon we will reinstall the sink and then have the counter tiled. |
Well that is the state of the Morrell House after little more than a year. There have been 56 Saturdays that we worked on it. Vic says that the amount of work done by the team is much greater than he could have gotten done with one of his regular crews even if the work had been done straight through. It shows you what can be done when God is involved in the project!