PV Corp

The plan

In 1925 the Vanderlip syndicate reorganized as the Palos Verdes Corporation, incorporated in Delaware. The same year, the Olmsted Brothers — Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and John Charles Olmsted, successors to their father's firm — were already several years into Job #05950, the Palos Verdes master plan. The Library of Congress holds 385 plans from that job. (Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., who designed Central Park and the Biltmore estate, died in 1903; the PV work was his son's.) FLO Jr. was closely enough involved to build a personal residence at 2101 Rosita Place in Malaga Cove, designed by Hunt & Chambers, completed 1925-27.

The plan that emerged had four enforcement mechanisms: an architectural review body ("the Art Jury"), a community association with municipal-style powers, a district system that zoned use and height, and a covenant regime that bound every lot conveyed out of the corporation's hand. The 1923 Declaration No. 1 established the framework for Palos Verdes Estates and Miraleste. The Red Tile District is the visible residue.

Declaration 100

On October 7, 1929, the Palos Verdes Corporation recorded Declaration No. 100 in Book 9436 pages 155 through 178 of the Official Records of Los Angeles County. It was filed for recording on October 10, 1929, at 8:31 AM, with a filing fee of $19.70 — Copy #908 — by Security Title Insurance & Guaranty Co. The signatories were Jay Lawyer (Vice-President) and Donald K. Lawyer (Assistant Secretary) of the Palos Verdes Corporation, Delaware. The document was notarized by Nellie Grace Frantz, commission expiring May 8, 1932.

Declaration 100 runs twenty-three pages. Article I lists thirteen substantive sections — prohibited uses including saloons, foundries, cemeteries, and oil drilling; a racial occupancy covenant (Section 2) now void under Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) and Cal. Civ. Code § 12955; a preservation of natural drainage (Section 11). Article II establishes the Community Association of Palos Verdes, with twenty-six enumerated powers (a) through (z) including a building department, public works, police, fire, health and library boards, and general-welfare powers equivalent to a city of the sixth class. Article II Section 5 provides that if the Association fails to meet for ninety consecutive days, fifteen owners of record title to fifteen separate parcels within the declaration boundary may publish notice, call a meeting, and elect a three-member Board of Trustees with the Association's full powers. Article III creates the Art Jury — five members: one PV Corp nominee, one Association nominee, and three from the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Article IV defines Use Districts A through K and Height Districts 1 through 3.5-story; architecture types are limited to four Mediterranean / Italian Renaissance styles. Article V sets duration — in force until January 1, 1965, then 20-year automatic renewal. The current renewal runs through January 1, 2045. Amendment requires 80% by area plus 70% of all owners plus Association consent.

Simplification

The same corporation that wrote the 23-page 1929 Declaration 100 later recorded a much shorter instrument, Declaration No. 160 ("Flying Triangle"), in 1939. Kelvin C. Vanderlip — Frank Vanderlip Sr.'s son — admitted in November 1947:

"Practically all of the provisions which were contained in Declaration No. 150, ... were removed by our attorneys as far back as the Flying Triangle Declaration [Declaration 160] for the purpose of simplification."

This admission surfaced during Colyear v. Rolling Hills Community Association (B308382, 2nd Appellate District, Division 4, partially published March 1, 2024), seventy-seven years later. The appellate court's holding — that a master declaration does not bind a property unless its chain of title clearly incorporates it — turns, in part, on how freely PV Corp chose to omit clauses from subsequent instruments. The Era 4 covenants inherit this problem.