Maybe your kitchen still has the layout a 1950s builder chose, or the only full bath sits at the end of a long hall. Homes in Fig Garden went up one parcel at a time over many decades, so no two remodels start from quite the same place.

From fig orchards to a county island

In 1912 J.C. Forkner took an option on 6,000 acres of the old Bullard lands north of Fresno, later expanded his holdings to 12,000 acres and planted roughly 600,000 fig trees. In 1919 he and Wylie M. Giffen subdivided the section closest to town into home parcels, mostly an acre each, and the company planted every acre with fifty Kadota fig trees.

That 1919 tract is the core of what’s now called Old Fig Garden, an unincorporated county island that the city has grown up around. Van Ness Boulevard and its deodar cedars still anchor the neighborhood, and each December those trees become Christmas Tree Lane, a tradition that dates to 1920. Streetlights and sidewalks are scarce, and the tree canopy is mature.

Every era on one street

The City of Fresno’s 2013 historic context for the area calls diversity its defining trait. Early homes include a 1919 Spanish Revival, a 1920 American Foursquare and a 1922 airplane bungalow, and one short block of East Hampton Way holds Colonial Revival, Tudor, Minimal Traditional, ranch and contemporary houses. Architect-designed homes on large lots line Van Ness Boulevard, while side streets often have modest homes from the 1940s and 1950s.

The neighborhood is also known for its adobes. Some were built from mud bricks made on site; others used the stabilized adobe brick that Hans Sumpf began making in Fresno after the Herndon Canal flooded these blocks in 1938.

What the Census estimates show

For the Old Fig Garden census-designated place, Census estimates show about 5,400 residents and a median home built around 1956. Roughly six in ten homes were built before 1960 and about a third before 1950, while only a few percent are newer than 1990. About 71% are owner-occupied.

Planning around older walls and systems

In a house from the 1920s through the 1940s, expect plaster walls, cast-iron tubs, galvanized supply lines and wiring that was never sized for a modern kitchen. Licensed plumbing and electrical trades evaluate those during the in-home consultation, and any home built before 1978 falls under federal lead-safe rules for paid work that disturbs painted surfaces.

Postwar ranches bring closed kitchens, soffits over the cabinets and original tile baths with tub and shower combinations. Adobe walls are their own case: thick masonry limits where new fixtures, vents and lighting can practically go, so we look at that first. Our guide to remodeling older Fresno homes covers the usual surprises.

Keeping the character you bought

If original built-ins, tile or wood floors are in good shape, keeping them preserves what makes the house distinctive and can free up budget for the rooms that need it. Finishes that suit the era, like painted cabinetry, simple subway or hexagon tile and unfussy hardware, tend to look right here, and a kitchen refresh can update counters and lighting without disturbing the rest.

Permits: county first, city for some addresses

Because Old Fig Garden is unincorporated, building permits there come from Fresno County’s Department of Public Works and Planning rather than the City of Fresno. Other acreage from the original fig colony, along with the Fig Garden Village shopping center, is inside city limits, so your parcel decides which office applies. Which permits your scope needs gets settled at the consultation, and our Fresno County permit guide explains the county side.

Distance and next steps

The neighborhood sits about 15 minutes from our Fresno shop on East Madison Avenue. Answer a few questions in the kitchen estimator or its bathroom counterpart to see a planning range first; kitchen projects start around $25,000 and bathrooms around $15,000, and if the range fits, you can choose a consultation time on the calendar.