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HomeMy WebLinkAbout040308_Template-MitchellHouse_212EBerkeley.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) Mitchell House P1. Other Identifier: *P2. Location: oNot for Publication nUnrestricted *a. County Orange County *b. USGS 7.5’ Quad TCA1667 Date: *c. Address 212 East Berkeley Street City Santa Ana Zip 92707 *e. Other Locational Data: Assessor’s Parcel Number 403-184-03 *P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, s etting, and boundaries.) Clad in shiplap wood siding, this one-story Folk Victorian residence features decorative elements common to the Queen Anne style. The box-like residence is capped with a truncated hipped roof that terminates in shallow boxed eave s. Carved brackets punctuate the eaves and an encircling friezeboard. Plain endboards mark each corner of the residence. Centered on the symmetrical façade, an attached porch is topped with a pedimented gable faced with patterned wood shingles. A molded cornice encloses the pediment, which is accented with carved brackets. Two slender turned columns support the gable and are echoed by engaged columns where the gable joins the house. Porch ornamentation includes a decorative post frieze and carved brackets. Although the original door has been replaced by a more recent eight-panel door, the proportions of the opening and of the transom above it are original. The porch is elevated on two steps and accessed from the front and east side. Tall and narrow, o ne-over-one, double -hung sash windows with plain wood frames, slightly flared cornice, and projecting sills flank the central entry. Fenestration on the side elevations matches that of the façade, with wood-framed, double-hung sash windows. Alterations i nclude an extension of the rear porch, an additional room on the rear elevation, and a non-original metal fence. The residence is otherwise highly intact. *P3b. Resource Attributes: (list attributes and codes) HP2. Single-family Property *P4. Resour ces Present: nBuilding oStructure oObject oSite oDistrict oElement of District oOther P5b. Photo: (view and date) North elevation January 2008 *P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources: nhistoric Circa 1898 *P7. Owner and Address: HSCB Bank USA NA Series 2783 S. Diamond Bar Blvd. Diamond Bar, CA 91765 *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”) 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 oPhotograp h 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 #: Mitchell House B1. Historic Name: Mitchell House B2. Common Name: Same B3. Original Use: Single -family Residence B4. Present Use: Single-family Residence *B5. Architectural Style: Folk Victorian/Pyramidal Roof Variant *B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations): Constructed circa 1898 September 17, 1935. Alterations, $300. February 28, 1940. Extension of rear porch. August 3, 1985. Unspecified repairs. May 14, 1986. Addition of room, 22’ by 9’6” to rear elevation, bedroom, bathroom, and utility room. September 14, 1993. Reroof, $2,500. *B7. Moved? o No o Yes n Unknown Date: __ Original Location:_ __________________ *B8. Related Features: None. B9a. Architect: Unknown b. Builder: Unknown *B10. Significance: Theme Residential Architecture Area Santa Ana Period of Sign ificance: 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 Mitchell House is architecturally significant as a rare and intact example of the Folk Victorian style (Pyramidal Roof Variant) with Queen Anne -influenced decoration. On the basis of its styling, the house is estimated to have been built circa 1898. The earliest available record for the property is a building permit dated September 1935, at which point W.T. Mitchell is listed as the owner. The property does not appear in city directories until 1936, when James C. Marshall and his wife Mary a re listed as the occupants. No occupation for Marshall is specified in city directories. The Marshalls remained in the residence until 1940, when Frank W. White and his wife Arrie resided in the home. Throughout the 1940s, White was employed as a gardener and an attendant at the YMCA. The Whites remained in the house until at least 1954, after which point ownership of the house shifted on multiple occasions. (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.) 212 E. Berkley St. 403-184-03 State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________ DEPARTM ENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________ CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________ Page 3_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Mitchell 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 Mitchell House is located 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 Califo rnia 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 o f 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 C osta 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 neighborhood’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 histo ry. 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 193 0s, 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 mostly 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 # _____________________________________________ DEPARTM ENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________ CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________ Page 4_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Mitchell House *Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell -Ardila *Date March 4, 2008 x Continuation o Update DPR 523L *B10. Significance (continued): The Mitchell House quali fies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1 for its exemplification of the distinguishing characteristics of the Pyramidal Roof Variant of the Folk Victorian style. Typical features of this style illustrated by the house include its simple massing and symmetrical composition; square plan topped with pyramidal roof; application of Queen Anne -style ornamental detailing to the porch; boxed eaves lined with brackets. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Key” because it “has a distinctive architectural style and quality.” Character-defining exterior features of the Mitchell House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to, materials and finishes (shiplap wood siding); roof configuration and detailing; one-story massing; original windows and doors and their surrounds where extant; porch configuration, detailing, and main (north) entry; and architectural details such as the turned porch supports, post porch frieze and carved bolsters; pedimente d entry faced with wood shingles; carved brackets beneath boxed eaves. *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 photographs, 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 Farm: 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 R ailroads: 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. o f 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 Directories, 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. Histo ry of Los Angeles County. Oakland, CA: Thompson & West, 1880.