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cm\historic\templates\Broadway N 1601 (Head Apt)
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NAME Head Apartments REF. NO. 66
ADDRESS 1601-1½-03-3½ North Broadway
CITY Santa Ana ZIP 92706 ORANGE COUNTY
YEAR BUILT 1939 LOCAL REGISTER CATEGORY: Contributive
HISTORIC DISTRICT NEIGHBORHOOD N/A
NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION B, C NATIONAL REGISTER STATUS CODE 5D1
Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted
USGS 7.5” Quad Date: T R ¼ of ¼ of Sec : B.M.
Prehistoric Historic Both
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival
DESCRIPTION/BACKGROUND RELATED TO PERIOD ARCHITECTURE:
The Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival style, as its name implies, encompasses two major subcategories. The Mission Revival
vocabulary, popular between 1890 and 1920, drew its inspiration from the missions of the Southwest. Identifying features include
curved parapets (or espadana); red tiled roofs and coping; low-pitched roofs, often with overhanging eaves; porch roofs supported by
large, square piers; arches; and wall surfaces commonly covered in smooth stucco. The Spanish Colonial Revival flourished between
1915 and 1940, reaching its apex during the 1920s and 1930s. The movement received widespread attention after the Panama-
California Exposition in San Diego in 1915, where lavish interpretations of Spanish and Mexican prototypes were showcased. Easily
recognizable hallmarks of the Spanish Colonial Revival are low-pitched roofs, usually with little or no overhangs and red tile roof
coverings, flat roofs surrounded by tiled parapets, and stuccoed walls. The Spanish vocabulary also includes arches, asymmetry,
balconies and patios, window grilles, and wood, wrought iron, tile, or stone decorative elements.
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cm\historic\templates\Broadway N 1601 (Head Apt)
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CONSTRUCTION HISTORY: (Construction data, alterations, and date of alterations)
December 29, 1939: Four-unit apartment house with 18 rooms.
August 5, 1948: Convert into doctor’s office.
January 6, 1950: Alterations of office building.
August 1, 1955: Alter and add to doctor’s office.
RELATED FEATURES: (Other important features such as barns, sheds, fences, prominent or unusual trees, or landscape)
None.
DESCRIPTION: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, settings, and
boundaries.)
Late Spanish Colonial Revival styling characterizes this two-story, four-unit apartment building. Rectangular in plan, the wood frame
building rests on a concrete foundation, has stucco-clad walls, and a shallow-pitched gable roof clad in red clay tile. Eaves are very
shallow with rafters exposed. A flat roof tops the rear portion of the building. Windows consist of multi-paned steel sash on the
façade and one-over-one double hung wood sash on the side elevations. A small, round, four-pane window is centered in the area
above the entrance door. There is a full-height bay window in the south bay of the front elevation, the upper portion of which is
sheltered by an extension of the main roofline. This extension is supported by wood framing that rests on beams projecting from the
exterior wall. Brick facing wraps the bay below the window sill on the lower story. Alterations appear to be relatively minor in
character and include the addition of metal awnings to the first floor windows and a metal railing to a rear balcony.
HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS:
Horace Head built this four-unit, 18-room apartment building in 1939 for $10,000. In 1948 Mrs. B.H. Sharpless converted the
building to a doctor’s office. The first tenants were Joseph and Florence Woolley (he was a partner in the engineering firm of
Woolley & Hillyard and also served as the Tustin City Engineer), J. Henry and Kay Hicks, and Charles and Margaret Snavely.
Horace Head was one of Orange County’s most prominent attorneys (Santa Ana’s Historic Treasures).
RESOURCE ATTRIBUTES: (List attributes and codes from Appendix 4 of Instructions for Recording Historical Resources, Office
of Historic Preservation.)
HP3. Multiple-Family Property
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cm\historic\templates\Broadway N 1601 (Head Apt)
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RESOURCES PRESENT:
Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other
MOVED? No Yes Unknown Date: Original Location:
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: (Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme,
period, geographic scope, and integrity.)
Santa Ana was founded by William Spurgeon in 1869 as a speculative townsite on part of the Spanish land grant known as Rancho
Santiago de Santa Ana. Early growth and development was stimulated by the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1878 and the
Santa Fe Railroad in 1886. Following its incorporation as a city in 1886, Santa Ana was recognized as one of the leading
communities in the area in 1889 when it became the seat of the newly created County of Orange. Beginning in the 1880s and
continuing through the first three decades of the 20th century, Broadway emerged as a prominent residential corridor and was
eventually lined by comfortably scaled homes shaded by rows of street trees. In the 1920s and 1930s, Broadway experienced new
growth as elegant multiple-family residences, several of which were oriented around interior courtyards, were introduced to the street.
Several examples of both periods of development have survived, evoking a distinctive sense of time and place, when a Broadway
address was a distinguished and desirable one.
This building retains good exterior integrity and clearly continues to convey its original style and period of significance. It is
architecturally noteworthy as a representative example of the late Spanish Colonial Revival style and historically interesting for its
association with attorney Horace Head. Character-defining exterior features of the Head Apartments which should be preserved
include, but are not limited to: roof configuration and materials; smooth stucco cladding; original fenestration; and the wood detailing
on the façade bay and in the eaves.
SUMMARY/CONCLUSION:
This property is currently listed in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Property. It is significant under Criterion 1 in that it embodies
the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural building period associated with a specific period of development. The Head
Apartments have been categorized as “Contributive” because the building “contributes to the overall character and history” of North
Broadway, are a “good example of period architecture,” and have “not been substantially altered” (Municipal Code, Section 30-2.2).
OWNER AND ADDRESS: Joy M. Johnson
1603 North Broadway
Santa Ana, CA 92706
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RECORDED BY: (Name, affiliation, and address)
Leslie Heumann & Liz Carter
Science Applications International Corporation
35 S. Raymond Avenue, Suite 204, Pasadena, CA 91105
DATE RECORDED: April 25, 2001
SURVEY TYPE: (Intensive, reconnaissance, or other)
Intensive Survey Update
REPORT CITATION: (Cite survey report and other sources)
City of Santa Ana. Santa Ana’s Historic Treasures.
REFERENCES: (List documents, date of publication, and page numbers. May also include oral interviews.)
Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York, WW Norton, 1998.
McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984.
National Register Bulletin 16A. “How to Complete the National Register Registration Form.”
Washington DC: National Register Branch, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior,
1991.
Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1969.
EVALUATOR: Leslie J. Heumann DATE OF EVALUATION: April 25, 2001
EXPLANATION OF CODES:
• National Register Criteria for Evaluation: (From Appendix 7 of Instructions for Recording Historical Resources, Office of
Historic Preservation)
B: that are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.
C: that embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the
work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity
whose components may lack individual distinction.
• National Register Status Code: (From Appendix 2 of Instructions for Recording Historical Resources, Office of Historic
Preservation)
5D1: Is a contributor to a fully documented district that is designated or eligible for designation as a local historic
district, overlay zone, or preservation area under an existing ordinance or procedure.