Pacific Grove, City of Homes, #52: 508 4th Street

508 4th Street

Between Spruce Street and Eardley Avenue
2 beds, 2 baths, 1,209 SF on a 5,500 SF lot
Built, 1930
Last sold, 2026

On Forest and Pine’s Monterey-facing side, the numbered streets angle toward Eardley Avenue, which runs along the divide with New Monterey. Eardley carries traffic along that dividing line from the Lighthouse Avenue area, while the streets leading back from it remain strictly residential. The house sits just inside that line, on a flat block near town.

Past the fence, the front of the house opens into lawn. A concrete walk crosses the grass to the porch, with flowering shrubs and potted plants gathered near the stucco wall and entry. The setback leaves room for the lawn to extend across the front of the cottage; on the left, it broadens into a side garden beneath the pine, where a wood pergola stands beside the house.

Nothing about the house begins grandly: white stucco, a low porch, a broad roof of weathered red tile. Then the straight porch line gives way. Above the front door, the tiled edge rises in a long, loose curve, crossing the white wall before settling beside the small arched gate. The curve has an irregular, handmade quality, closer to plasterwork than to the crisp geometry of an ordinary gable.

The same softness appears below. A deep stucco arch cuts into the front wall, leaving the wood door in shadow; another arch encloses the side gate. Dark window frames, copper gutters, the rough stone chimney, and the unfinished-looking wood fence bring brown, gray, and rust into the pale façade. Together, the materials keep the house from looking precious: its red tile, plaster, stone, copper, and wood have the varied, weathered character of parts chosen to age in place.

Three Things I Love About the Home

1.The porch and entry arch
The porch recedes beneath the tile roof, with the front door set farther back inside a rounded arch.

2. The tiled entry
Small brown diamond tiles give the front step a crisp pattern.

3. The pergola
A wood pergola makes a shaded place to sit beside the house.