On bended knee, Alex Athenson proposed to Cynthia Sigler on the front step of their Pasadena home. Renovations to the 1947 ranch-style house were still in flux, they had no furniture and so much needed painting, but it was Thanksgiving, both their families were visiting and it felt good and right.

Years later, by the time the couple fled the Eaton fire raging blocks away, the feeling they were leaving the home of their early history was palpable.

“We’ve only been here less than five years, but that’s how special this place is,” said Athenson, 30. “It’s rubbed off on us, and we feel like this is our home, and we share that sentiment with others who have been here 40, 50 years. This is such a special place.”

Days later, he and Sigler, 28, would return to find their home, which straddles the border of Altadena, intact. But mere blocks away on Lincoln Avenue, others were not so lucky.

Coming to terms with the knowledge that their home was OK but their neighborhood was far from it, the two architects came up with the idea for their nonprofit, The Foothill Catalog Foundation. Gathering fellow building and design professionals, as well as a lawyer friend, Athenson and Sigler envisioned the catalog as “a collection of pre-approved home designs for displaced residents to affordably and expeditiously rebuild, while collectively retaining our community identity and local architectural character,” according to the foundation’s website.

They knew so many of their neighbors would find navigating the rebuilding process daunting, as well as financially draining. Thinking especially of Altadena’s older residents, a staple and core of the community, Athenson said the foundation’s mission is to save Eaton fire homeowners time and money, especially since so many of them “would never think in their life they would be tasked with building a custom home from the ground up.”

“If it becomes too difficult at all, it’s easier for them to just put their hands up and walk away and that’s really what we don’t want,” Athenson said. “We want to keep as many people in this community as possible, maintain the diversity and character of the place from a demographic standpoint that’s also reflected in the architectural diversity and character of the place.”

Taking their inspiration from 20th century Sears catalogs, popular from the 1900s through 1940s, the nonprofit’s mission has been greeted enthusiastically by architects, designers and builders, as well as community groups.

Los Angeles County officials from the departments of regional planning, building safety and public works are meeting with them to discuss plans. Sigler and Athenson are also hoping to collaborate with the Altadena Historical Society, Altadena Heritage, Pasadena Heritage, the Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association and other community groups.

“At the end of the day we just want to give agency to homeowners,” Sigler said. “Altadenans are tight-knit and proud that this is their home and they should be. This is such a special place. The community sentiment to try to remain and protect this place is very strong and another reason why we’re here.”

Giving homeowners the choice and control comes with a healthy heaping of hope for a community that sorely needs it, they said.

“To provide hope from the very beginning, two months out, that ‘I don’t know where this path is going to lead but I know there will be resources in the future and I can have that optimism to stick it out with my neighbors,’ that’s worth fighting for,” Athenson said.

A seventh-generation Chicagoan, Athenson said his great-grandfather Herb Faulks bought and built his own home “kit” via catalog in Illinois.

“He just ordered the parts and built it himself, built that American dream,” he said. “You were given that ability to choose what your home was, choose how your home reflected how you wanted to live, gave you that ownership and sense of place and pride.”

The catalog includes some designs already, but the goal of assembling a wide variety of affordable, sustainable and fire-hardened home plans goes on.

“The character of Altadena is eclectic so there will be variety,” Sigler said.

The idea is to capture the heritage and traditional feel of homes that may have been designed in 1925 but with the intelligence of building in 2025.

Real estate agent Claire Smith, a member of the Altadena Heritage board of directors, said she can’t wait to see what The Foothill Catalog Foundation comes up with.

“Architecture in Altadena is a key component of our identity,” Smith said.

From the time homes began being built in Altadena, in the late 1880s, the diversity of residents was reflected in their abodes.

“On a singular block, you would find a traditional, midcentury, Spanish, Craftsman, Italianate, or Colonial Revival all next to each other with great neighbors living inside of them,” Smith said. “We have spectacular examples of one-of-a-kind architecture built in part because Altadena was a blank canvas where architects and designers could explore their talents with whimsy and freedom. We’ve always had the most wonderful uniqueness.”

Smith said she’s hopeful the foundation can offer designs that can be preapproved and ready for anyone to use, “with different sizes and different styles paying homage to our past but with eclectic notes of our soon-to-be-unmistakable Altadena future.”

Athenson, Sigler and Smith are especially worried about those among the 40,000 Altadenans who are underinsured, uninsured and older. Offering affordable and close-to-ready home options is one way to protect them.

“As a community, we stand for each other, and we hold each other. This is what neighbors do. This is what Altadena does,” Smith said.

Aside from working on the foundation’s ramping-up workload, Sigler remains at her day job. Athenson has stepped back from his work at a Pasadena firm, seeing for himself the enthusiasm with which the community has met their mission and reinforcing the passion he’s discovered for something he feels he needs to do.

They remain grateful that their slice of Altadena, for the most part, has come back: the Super King Markets, the gym at the corner, the two coffee shops they can walk to and the HomeState Tex-Mex restaurant, with its flour tortillas and relaxing outdoor patio.

Even the San Gabriel Mountains, so recently gutted, are showing signs of spring growth. That was where they took their engagement photos after their Thanksgiving proposal not yet five years ago. It’s where Athenson and Sigler say they see themselves living out their family history. It’s a hope they want to give to anyone who’s lost their home to the fire.

“Let’s get the idea out there that there will be a resource for you when you’re ready to rebuild,” Athenson said. “Let’s create a collective hope and optimism that the community can come back and stay.”