HomeMy WebLinkAbout050108_Template-GobbsHouse_1426SOrange.pdf
State 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) Gobbs House
P1. Other Identifier:
*P2. Location: oNot for Publication nUnrestricted *a. County Orange County
*b. USGS 7.5’ Quad TCA2555 Date:
*c. Address 1426 South Orange Avenue City Santa Ana Zip 92707
*e. Other Locational Data: Assessor’s Parcel Number 014 -031-12
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries.)
Capped by a side -gable roof with wide overhanging eaves and exposed rafters, this modest one -story Colonial Revival
bungalow features a nearly symmetrical façade, square plan , and narrow clapboard siding. Wood siding faces the gable
ends, which are framed by plain vergeboards and exposed purlins. Matching latticed vents with wood frames mark the
apexes of the gables. Projecting from the center of the façade, a front-gable porch is defined by simple Tuscan columns.
The porch, e leva ted three steps above ground level, is otherwise unenclosed. It shelters the entry, which is framed by plain
wood surround and a slightly extended lintel. Square window openings are set at uneven distances from each side of the
entry and are characterized by bands of six lights across the upper portion of the sash. Plain wood frames with slightly
extended lintels and projecting sills surround these openings as well as wood-framed windows in a variety of configurations,
including double-hung sashes and tripartite windows, on the side elevations. The south elevation contains a secondary
entrance elevated on three steps. A shed roof with exposed rafters shades a tripartite window bay on the north elevation,
which also features an attached brick chimney. A garage to the southwest of the house has been altered by non-original
stucco cladding. In fair condition, the house is largely intact, with visible modifications limited to a non-original front door.
*P3b. Resource Attributes: (list attributes and code s) HP2. Single-family Property
*P4. Resources Present: nBuilding oStructure oObject oSite oDistrict oElement of District oOther
P5b. Photo: (view and date)
East elevation
January 2008
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Sources: nhistoric
1922/City of Santa Ana Building
Permits
*P7. Owner and Address:
Ramiro Pallares
1416 S. Orange Ave.
Santa Ana, C A 92701
*P8. Recorded by:
L. Heumann and D .Howell-Ardila
Sapphos Environmental, Inc.
133 Martin Alley
Pasadena, California 91105
*P9. Date Recorded:
April 8 , 2008
*P10. Survey Type:
Intensive Survey Update
*P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey re port 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 #: Gobbs House B1. Historic Name: Gobbs 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 1922
October 1922. Residence and garage constructed, $3,800.
July 20, 1937. Reroof, $102.
May 26, 1947. Private garage added, 24’ x 26’, $600.
August 27, 1948. Addition of bedroom, 17’ x 25’, $2,000.
June 23, 2005. Reroof of garage and house, $4,600.
*B7. Moved? n No o Yes o Unknown Date:______ Original Location:_ ____________________
*B8. Related Features:
None.
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 Gobbs House is architecturally significant as an intact example of a modest Colonial Revival bungalow from the earliest phase
of residential development in Madison Park . According to the original building permit, dated October 1922, the original owner of the
house was Earl Gobbs. In 1924, when the improvement first appears in city directories, the residents were George J. Kepner,
manager of Joe’s Grocery at 117 North Broadway, and his wife Grace. The Kepners resided in the home until circa 1927, when
Willis Renfrow, an employee of Royal Cleaners, and his wife Mildred moved into the property. In the early 1930s, the residence
remained vacant until circa 1933, when Clarence H. Bell, an employee of a trucking company, and his wife Helen lived in the house.
The 1930s brought multiple residents to the home, including Fred H. Weber, a pipefitter, and his wife Isabella in 1934; John
L.Rosemeyer, a carpenter, and his wife Aurilla, from 1936 to 1937; and Daniel F. Handley, a mechanic with U nited Automotive
Service, and his wife Irene in 1938. By 1940, Alfred B. Georges, a clerk, and his wife Lulie occupied the property, until occupancy
had again shifted by 1945, when John J. Oeschler, a plasterer, and his wife Lucille, resided in the property. Ownership of the home
has since changed 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 H istory Room Collection, Santa Ana Public Library
Sanborn Maps
(See Continuation Sheet 4 of 4.)
B13. Remarks:
*B14. Evaluator: Leslie J. Heumann
*Date of Evaluation: April 8, 2008
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
Sketch Map
(This space reserved for official comments.)
014-031-12
1426 S. Orange Ave.
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________
CONTINUAT ION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________
Page 3_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Gobbs House
*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell -Ardila *Date April 8, 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 Gobbs 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 and 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 Coz ad 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 began at Second and Bush Streets,
progressing eastward along Second Street, then southwestward following 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
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 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),
characterized by 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 neighb orhood’s southwestern strip along St. Andrew Place, reflected modest versions of the residential styles popular at
the time, including Craftsman 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 of
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 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 19 84, the last
agricultu ral 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 # ________________________________________________
CONTINUAT ION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________
Page 4_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Gobbs House
*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell -Ardila *Date April 8, 2008 x Continuation o Update
DPR 523L
*B10. Significance (continued):
The Gobbs House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1 for its
exemplification of the distinguishing characteristics of a modest Colonial Revival b ungalow. Typical features of this style
illustrated by the house include its o ne-story massing and nearly symmetrical composition and centered portico with Tuscan
columns. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Contributive” because it “contributes to the overall character and
history” of Santa Ana, and, as an intact exam ple of a modest Colonial Revival b ungalow style in the Madison Park
neighborhood, “is a good example of period architecture.” Character-defining exterior features of the Gobbs 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 (east) entry;
and architectural details such as column porch supports.
*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 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 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. History of Los Angeles County. Oakland, CA: Thompson & West, 1880.