HomeMy WebLinkAbout040308_Template-GardnerHouse_1325SCypress.pdfState of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #______________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #__________________________________________________
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial______________________________________________
NRHP Status Code _____________________________________
Other Listings _____________________________________________________________________
Review Code ________ Reviewer________________________ Date_______________
Page _1_ of _4_ Resource name(s) or number (assigned by recorder) Gardner House P1. Other Identifier:
*P2. Location: oNot for Publication nUnrestricted *a. County Orange County
*b. USGS 7.5’ Quad TCA1667 Date:
*c. Address 1325 South Cypress Avenue City Santa Ana Zip 92707
*e. Other Locational Data: Assessor’s Parcel Number 014-022-07
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, s etting, and boundaries.)
Rectangular in plan and clad in horizontal wood siding, this one-story Colonial Revival bungalow features a low-pitched,
slightly bellcast, side-gable roof. Overhanging eaves terminate in plain vergeboards and fasciae. Symmetrical in
composition, the façade features a full -length porch with a centered portico. Paired, paneled posts support a segmental
arched pediment. A rectangular vent pierces the gable end. Two decorative beams project from the ends of the porch gable.
Additional paneled posts support the porch roof to either side of the portico. Elevated three steps, the entry is framed by a
wood surround that is topped by a slightly extended lintel. Pairs of eight-light casement windows are equidistant from the
entry to e ither side. Side elevations are fenestrated with multi -light casement and double-hung sash windows with wood
surrounds and flared lintels in a variety of configurations. A secondary entrance elevated three steps and sheltered beneath a
pergola, marks the south elevation. Located in the southeast corner of the property, the original garage features a front-gable
roof, wood siding, and paired doors. Alterations include metal screen gates on the entrances and an iron fence across the
driveway. The residence i s otherwise highly intact.
*P3b. Resource Attributes: (list attributes and codes) HP2. Single-family Property
*P4. Resources Present: nBuilding oStructure oObject oSite oDistrict oElement of District oOther
P5b. Photo: (view and date)
West elevation
January 2008
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Sources: nhistoric
1923/City of Santa Ana Building
Permits
*P7. Owner and Address:
Frances Medina
1325 S. Cypress Ave.
Santa ana, CA 92707
*P8. Recorded by:
L. Heumann and D.Howell-Ardila
Sapphos Environmental, Inc.
133 Martin Alley
Pasadena, California 91105
*P9. Date Recorded:
March 4, 2008
*P10. Survey Type:
Intensive Survey Update
*P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter “none”)
*Attachments: oNone oLocation Map oSketch Map nContinuation Sheet nBuilding, Structure, and Object Record
oArchaeological Record oDistrict Record oLinear Feature Record oMilling Station Record oRock Art Record
oArtifact Record oPhotograph Record o Other (list)
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
P5a. Photo
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #__________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#______________________________________________
BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
Page 2 of 4 *CHR Status Code _5S1__________________________
*Resource Name or #: Gardner House B1. Historic Name: Gardner House
B2. Common Name: Same
B3. Original Use: Single -family Residence B4. Present Use: Single-family Residence
*B5. Architectural Style: Colonial Revival
*B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations): Constructed 1923
March 1923. Residence and garage constructed, $3,500.
September 1, 1937. Reroof, $115.
September 2, 1948. Reroof, $300.
February 2, 1960. Reroof, $200.
*B7. Moved? n No o Yes o Unknown Date:______ Original Location:_ ____________________
*B8. Related Features:
Garage.
B9a. Architect: Unknown b. Builder: Unknown
*B10. Significance: Theme Residential Architecture Area Santa Ana
Period of Significance: Circa 1920-1958 Property Type: Single-family Residence Applicable Criteria: NR: C; CR: 3
(Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme, period, and geographic scope. Also address integrity)
The Gardner House is architecturally significant as an intact example of a typical Colonial Revival bungalow from the earliest period
of residential development of Madison Park. According to the original building permit, dated March 1923, the first owner of the
house was Harry G. Gardner. Gardner and his wife Edith owned the property for over a decade, during which time Gardner was
employed in a garage and in a dry cleaning company. In the mid -1930s, residency shifted twice. From approximately 1935 to 1936,
Earl P. Ladd, a salesman, and his wife Grace resided in the home. Frank T. Calvin, a chemist, and his wife Gladys occupied the
property from 1938 to 1939. By 1940, the home was occupied by Hollis B. Carr and his wife Marie. Carr, who was e mployed at a
Huntington Beach billiards room, resided in home with his wife throughout the early 1940s. By 1947, residency shifted again, when
George Gilbert, a weaver with Santa Ana Woolen Mills, Incorporated, and his wife Mary moved into the property. The Gilberts
remained until at least 1960. In subsequent decades, residency changed several times.
(See Continuation Sheet 3 of 4.)
B11. Additional Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes)
*B12. References:
City of Santa Ana Building Permits
Santa Ana History Room Collection, Santa Ana Public Library
Sanborn Maps
(See Continuation Sheet 4 of 4.)
B13. Remarks:
*B14. Evaluator: Leslie J. Heumann
*Date of Evaluation: March 4, 2008
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
Sketch Map
(This space reserved for official comments.)
1325 S. Cypress Ave.
014-022-07
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________
Page 3_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Gardner House
*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell -Ardila *Date March 4, 2008 x Continuation o Update
DPR 523L
*B10. Significance (continued):
Santa Ana was founded by William Spurgeon in 1869 as a speculative town site on part of the Spanish land grant known as
Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. The civic and commercial core of the community was centered around the intersection of
Main and Fourth Streets. Stimulated by the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad and incorporation as a city in 1886, and selecti on
as the seat of the newly created County of Orange in 1889, the city grew outwards, with residential neighborhoods
developing around the city center. Agricultural uses predominated in the outlying areas, with cultivated fields and orchards
dotted with widely scattered farmhouses.
The Gardner House is l ocated in the Madison Park neighborhood. Located southeast of the original borders of Santa Ana,
Madison Park is bounded by McFadden Avenue on the north, Standard Avenue on the east, St. Andrew Place on the south,
and South Main Street on the west. Described in 1880 as the “Egypt of America” (Wilson, History of Los Angeles County)
because of its fertility, the land south of Santa Ana’s original town site was purchased in the 1860s by two pioneering Santa
Ana families: the Cozads, who owned an 800 -acre parcel east of Main Street, and James McFadden, a rancher and
businessman from New York who settled in Santa Ana in 1868, at which point he purchased 4,000 acres south of the city.
McFadden, who had moved to California with his wife Agnes and three brothers, John, Robert, and Archibald, soon acquired
the Cozad tract and settled in the brick residence constructed by the Cozad family at the corner of South Main Street and
McFadden Avenue, the northwesternmost corner of present-day (2008) Madison Park.
By 1883, McFadden had established a 2,500 -acre ranch and had become “one of the most energetic, progressive and
prosperous farmers in Southern California” (Los Angeles Times, 1 December 1883). In 1886, McFadden, along with William
Spurgeon, H.H. Wakeman, Miles Crookshank, and Samuel Preble, established the Santa Ana and Newport Railway
Company, connecting Santa Ana on a 10-mile line to the harbor at Newport. The line followed the route of present-day
Highway 55, the Costa Mesa Freeway. In 1888, James and Robert McFadden constructed a wharf in Newport to facilitate
delivery of lumber and other goods to Orange County. The Newport Pier, located at the southeast corner of Ocean Front and
McFadden Place in Newport Beach, is now a California State Historical Landmark (No. 794).
The McFadden presence in south Santa Ana’s development continued in the 1920s. In January 1922, Jeanette McFadden,
Archibald’s daughter, offered for sale parcels in the subdivision of the McFadden Home Place No. 1, located in the
neighborh ood’s northwestern corner. Jeanette McFadden was head librarian of the Santa Ana Public Library from 1901 to
1935; during her tenure, she greatly expanded the library’s collection, with a focus on regional history. The original plan of
the McFadden Home Place reflects existing lot sizes and configurations, with lots approximately 60 feet wide by 160 deep, in
a six-block subdivision spanning 168 parcels. Two similar subdivisions in adjacent land soon followed, with the McFadden
Home Place No. 2 (March 1922, co-owned by A.B. and F.A. Rousselle) and McFadden Home Tract No. 3 (February 1922),
with similarly modest-sized parcels of approximately 50 feet wide by 125 feet deep. Proximity to one of the many routes of
the Pacific Electric Railway line, which traversed Madison Park along Maple Street, encouraged settlement in the new
neighborhood. Improvements constructed in the early 1920s in McFadden Home Place tracts, as well as subdivisions in the
neighborhood’s southwestern strip along St. Andrew Place, reflected modest versions of the residential styles popular at the
time, including Craftsman Bungalows and Colonial Revival bungalows, many of which are extant.
Construction in the neighborhood was brisk in the early 1920s. By 1925, nearly 200 improvements lined the streets,
according to a count in city directories. Included in the residential parcels of the McFadden Home Place was the east side o f
South Main Street, from the 1200 to 1900 blocks. In the early 1930s, the residential character of South Main Street started to
shift increasingly to commercial uses. By 1947, most of the residential parcels showed improvements, with the eastern half
of the neighborhood (as yet not annexed to the City of Santa Ana) dominated by agriculture, with walnut and orange groves,
several farm houses, and pea fields. The mid- to late 1950s and 1960s brought the piecemeal annexation and gradual
dissolution of the large orange and walnut groves on the neighborhood’s eastern portion, with housing developments
consisting mostl y of ranch-style homes, arranged on a street grid dotted with cul-de-sacs. The late 1950s also brought
construction of Madison Elementary School and Madison Park near Hobart Street and Standard Avenue. In 1984, the last
agricultural holdout in Madison Park, consisting of a 3 -acre walnut grove and farmhouse on Hobart Street, was annexed and
developed with residences.
(See Continuation Sheet 4 of 4.)
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________
Page 4_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Gardner House
*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell -Ardila *Date March 4, 2008 x Continuation o Update
DPR 523L
*B10. Significance (continued):
The Gardner House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1 for its
exemplification of the typical characteristics of a Colonial Revival bungalow. Typical features of this style illustrated by the
house include its one-story massing and rectangular plan; symmetrical composition; and full-length porch with centered
portico, supported on paneled posts. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Contributive” because it “contributes to
the overall character and history” of Santa Ana, and, as an intact example of a Colonial Revival bungalow in the Madison
Park neighborhood, “is a good example of period architecture.” Character-defining exterior features of the Gardner House
that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to, materials and finishes (siding); roof configuration and detailing;
massing; original windows and doors and their surrounds where extant; porch configuration, detailing, and main (west) entry;
and architectural details such as paneled porch supports, segmental arched pediment and decorative porch beams.
*B12. References (continued):
Aerial Mapping Company, Boise, ID. Santa Ana aerial photograph 25 March 1959 (#3-15-102, 261). Orange County
Archives.
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Santa Ana. Aerial photogra phs, 22 June 1938 (AXK-56-
36) and 28 June 1942 (AXK-1B-24). Orange County Archives.
Donaldson, Steven E., and William A. Myers. Rails through the Orange Groves: A Centennial Look at the Railroads of
Orange County, California (Vol. 1). Glendale, CA: Trans-Anglo Books, 1989.
Fairchild Air Photo, Los Angeles. Santa Ana aerial photographs, 1947, 1970. Orange County Archives.
Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York: WW Norton, 1998.
Los Angeles Times. “A Santa Ana Fa rm: James McFadden’s Prolific Rancho Described by Editor Campbell.” 1 December
1883. Available at ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles times (1881-1986), p. 2.
Los Angeles Times. “The Railroads: Rumor of More Southern Pacific Land Purchases.” 27 August 1891. Available at
ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles times (1881-1986), p. 8.
Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana, An Illustrated History. Encinitas, CA: Heritage Publishing, 1994.
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 Dept. of the Interior, 1991.
Office of Historic Preservation. “Instructions for Recording Historical Resources.” Sacramento: March 1995.
Orange County Plat Maps, 1912.
Pacific Air Industries, Long Beach, CA. Aerial photograph of Santa Ana, 5 -33, 21960-4. 15 July 1955. Orange County
Archives.
Santa Ana and Orange County D irectories, 1905 -1962.
Santa Ana Register. “Pioneer Resident Called By Death” (Jeanette E. McFadden obituary). 2 July 1943, p. 1.
Sleeper, Jim. Turn the Rascals Out: The Life and Times of Orange County’s Fighting Editor Dan M. Baker. Trabuco Canyon,
CA: California Classics, 1973.
Thomas Brothers Maps of Orange County, 1957 and 1964.
Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780 . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1969.
Wilson, John Albert. History of Los Angeles County. Oakland, CA: Thompson & West, 1880.