Armak Home Stands Architecturally Alone in Long Beach

It’s the last home standing in Long Beach among several built in its Greek-Revival style.

So states the Long Beach Historical & Preservation Society’s guide booklet about the Armak House, at 260 E. Olive St., one of six stops on its 2011 Heritage House Tour.

“Setting this home apart from all others in Long Beach,” the booklet reads, “is the impressive double-columned supported pediment and portico that extends over the front balcony, seemingly standing as sentinel to the main entrance.”

The owners, Melissa and John Armak, last opened their home for the annual tour in 2002. “I think it’s important to foster an appreciation for architectural forms,” said Melissa Armak, a native of historic-rich Fairfax County, Virginia, about deciding to feature it again.

The Armaks and their five sons are the fourth family to own the home that Israel Miller, a popular shoe designer in his day, built in 1918.

“He chose this architectural style because he was a Jewish man in New York who at the time could not belong to a country club,” Armak told tour-goers in June. “He could not do a lot of things. But he worked very hard and established himself and was a man of means. And this house was kind of his way of saying I’ve arrived. This is my summer house.”

Miller went on to establish his presence in Long Beach by investing in building Temple Israel, the community’s first synagogue, in 1924. After his death, his family honored his memory by financing the construction of the temple’s school building that today serves as the Long Beach School District’s Adult Learning Center.

The Armaks purchased the three-story home in 1995 and restored its concrete block and stucco structure. They kept the original wood floors and paneling, imported from England, in the living room and dining room; the music room that adjoins the center hall; the original stained-glass window in the main staircase; and a butler’s pantry that connects the kitchen to the dining room, where exposed radiator pipes still run up and down the walls.

“You want to respect the architecture, regardless of the age, whether it’s a modern or historic home,” Armak said. “But also remember that throughout history, people have had bad taste, just as they had good taste. So you don’t have to always put something back that you’re not able to live with.”

While the family before her chopped up the original grand piano in order to get it out of the house, Armak bought a chandelier in the dining room similar one that Miller owned. “It’s from Russia,” she said. “It’s the closest I could get to the original.”

Now she may paint the living room a deep green, and possibly restore the original stained-glass windows in the living room and music room that a financially burdened daughter of the home's second family took out and sold.

“You have to try to find something that’s either reclaimed from the same age and same area, or alternately you have to find a studio that’s willing to make eleven stained glassed windows,” Armak said about her potential restoration efforts.  

The Armaks must still decide whether to open their home again for the house tour, but the Historical Society will clearly welcome its inclusion.

“We’re very lucky in Long Beach to have the I. Miller home owned by the Armak family, who have a respect and regard for history,” said Roberta Fiore, a former president of the Historical Society. “They have historically always shared their little treasure with architecture and history lovers.”