Corona del Mar was built on small lots and modest ambitions.

 

When developer George Hart purchased 700 acres of Irvine ranch land in 1904 for $150 an acre, he laid out a grid of 30-by-120-foot lots along streets named after flowers—Acacia, Begonia, Carnation, and on down the alphabet to Poppy. What eventually filled those lots were beach cottages: small, unpretentious homes built by people who simply wanted to live near the ocean. For decades, that was the whole idea.

 

At their peak in the 1960s, an estimated 1,800 of these cottages lined the Flower Streets. Today, fewer than 525 remain. The Corona del Mar Historical Society began a formal survey in 2020 and found that 70 percent of the originals have already been demolished. Fewer than one in four lots in the Village still have a cottage on them. The neighborhood is changing fast, and the pace is only accelerating.

 

513 and 515 Goldenrod Avenue are the latest chapter in that story.

 

Both cottages are among the oldest surviving structures in the neighborhood. 513 was built in 1930 and 515 in 1936, during one of the slowest construction periods in CdM’s history. The Depression had kept development sparse, which means relatively few homes from that era were ever built here to begin with. The ones that made it to 2026 did so largely by staying out of the way of progress. Now, like so many of their neighbors before them, they are making way for something new.

 

And on Goldenrod, new tends to be very good.

 

The street connects directly to the Goldenrod Footbridge and the coastal path beyond, putting the beach within a short walk of the front door. It is one of the most desirable blocks in the Village, and what has replaced the original cottages along the Flower Streets over the last three decades reflects that. Buyers here build with intention. The homes going up today are thoughtfully designed, beautifully finished, and built to take full advantage of the location in ways that a 960-square-foot Depression-era cottage simply could not.

 

513 and 515 Goldenrod represent a rare opportunity on one of Corona del Mar’s most coveted streets. Once the original cottages come down, the two existing lots will become three new front-and-back homes, a thoughtful evolution that reflects the direction much of the Village has taken over the last two decades. Opportunities to create new construction this close to the sand are increasingly scarce, particularly on a block that connects directly to the Goldenrod Footbridge and the beach beyond. Nearly a century after these cottages first became part of the neighborhood, the property is preparing for its next chapter.

 

Few people know the Flower Streets better than Julie Grenz of Coldwell Banker Realty. Over the years, she has represented buyers and sellers throughout Corona del Mar, with transactions spanning both publicly listed properties and discreet off-market sales. In a neighborhood where many of the best opportunities are secured long before completion, local knowledge and long-standing relationships matter. The three newly built residences planned for 513 and 515 Goldenrod will represent the next generation of Village living on one of CdM’s most desirable streets.