Houses for the Birds

With the cost of San Fernando Valley real estate soaring, those dreaming of a second home can settle for a back-yard fantasy: the far-from-basic birdhouse.

These birdhouses offer more than just a roof and walls. At Country Rose in Woodland Hills, an adobe Santa Fe-style home with tin roof and green corncob cactus landscaping comes with a one-time mortgage payment of $32.50. There’s also a quasi-saltbox model with a cinnamon-stick roof, $54.50, or an impressive pink Greek Revival residence with four tall round columns and three wide steps up to the entry, $72.50. Simple one-story white-washed models, no bathroom, go for $27.50. The most expensive birdhouse on this block: An antique metal home for $400.

Birdhouses are enjoying a resurgence, says Country Rose owner Kay Davison. “The popularity of birdhouses goes in streaks, but I like them so I always carry them.” Susie Silvers at Country Habit, also in Woodland Hills, thinks that birdhouses give suburbanites a greater sense of the country life.

Some bird lodgings look like they were just pulled off a Hollywood set. There’s a Jail House birdhouse complete with “U.S. Marshal” sign, a barn that sells “Fresh Picked Corn,” or a basic bank, each for $28 at Country Habit.

For those insisting on the authentic look, down to the dual fireplaces and multi-paned windows, $500 buys a 20-pound white colonial birdhouse, adapted from a historic 18th-Century home in Litchfield, Conn., featured on the cover of the Smithsonian’s current catalogue.