HomeMy WebLinkAbout050108_Template-BarrHouse_216EPomona.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) Barr House P1. Other Identifier:
*P2. Location: oNot for Publication nUnrestricted *a. County Orange County
*b. USGS 7.5’ Quad TCA2555 Date:
*c. Address 216 East Pomona Street City Santa Ana Zip 92707
*e. Other Locational Data: Assessor’s Parcel Number 403 -182-04
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries.)
Clad in shiplap siding and square in plan, this one -story b ungalow features characteristics typical of the Colonial Revival and
Craftsman styles. Nearly symmetrical in design, the residence is capped with a low-pitched, side-gable roof with clipped
gable ends and wide overhanging eaves. Projecting from the center of the façade, a partial-length porch is defined by a
projecting front-gable with extended vergeboards and exposed purlins. Wide, vertical slats create vents in the gable apex.
Two square posts with molded bases and capitals support a wood porch beam. The porch is otherwise unenclosed.
Fenestration on the façade consists of three pairs of wood-framed casement windows of varying sizes, two east of the entry
and one to the we st. Decorative wood shutters with diamond -shap ed perforations accent the windows in the end bays.
Centered within the porch, the entry, like the windows, displays simple wood surrounds with a slightly extended lintel. Plain
endboards mark each corner of the residence. Side elevations are fenestrated with casement and double-hung sash
windows in a variety of configurations. The west elevation is marked by a secondary entrance, elevated three steps from the
driveway. Located in the southwest corner of the property, the original one-story garage features shiplap wood siding, a
clipped front gable, and paired, side -hinged doors with diagonal bracing in the lower half. Alterations include non-original
window grilles, security door, and metal porch railing . The property, while modest, is otherwise substantially unaltered.
*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)
North elevation
January 2008
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Sources: nhistoric
1925/City of Santa Ana Building
Permits
*P7. Owner and Address:
Claudia Diaz
1317 S. Birch St.
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:
April 8, 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 #: Barr House B1. Historic Name: Barr House
B2. Common Name: Same
B3. Original Use: Single -family Residence B4. Present Use: Single-family Residence
*B5. Architectural Style: Colonial Revival, Craftsman
*B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations): Constructed 1925
January 5, 1925. Residence and garage constructed, $2,500.
(No other building permits were located in the files.)
*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 Barr House is architecturally significant as an intact example of a modest Colonial Revival bungalow from the earliest period of
residential development of Madison Park . According to the original building permit, dated January 1925, the original owner of the
house was Jesse J. Barr. Occupancy shifted several times in the 1920s. City directories indicate that, by 1926, Levi M. Hutchison,
a carpenter, and his wife Ethel resided in the home. By 1927, residency shifted, as Victor Echols, a trimmer with Central Auto Body
Work, and his wife Ethel, occupied the property. After remaining vacant for a period in 1928, the property was occupied by Louis K.
Smith, an auto mechanic, and his wife Dorothy, who remained at this address until the early 1 930s. By 1934, residency had shifted
again, as Fred W. Kirchhofer, a carrier with the US Postal Service, and his wife Ola occupied the home. The Kirchhofers remained
in the property until 1939, when George Byron Stebbins and his wife Mary became the residents. At the time, Stebbins was co-
owner of Stebbins Realty Company, which he operated with his brother Jack from an office at 602 North Main Street. The Stebbins
resided at 216 East Pomona Street through the early 1940s, at which point Mercel Harvey, a nd ironworker, and his wife Viola
occupied the property. The Harveys remained in the home until at least 1962. Occupancy has since 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: April 8, 2008
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
Sketch Map
(This space reserved for official comments.)
403-182-04
216 E. Pomona Street
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) Barr 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 selection
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 Barr 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 C alifornia 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 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 o f
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 neighborhood’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 McFa dden 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 1984, 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 # ________________________________________________
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________
Page 4_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Barr House
*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell -Ardila *Date April 8, 2008 x Continuation o Update
DPR 523L
*B10. Significance (continued):
The Barr 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 bungalow combining both Colonial Revival and Craftsman influences. Typical
features of the Colonial Revival style illustrated by the house include its one-story massing and nearly symmetrical
composition; clipped gable ends; shiplap siding trimmed with endboards, decorative wood shutters; and centered porch.
Craftsman characteristics include the treatment of the porch gable, exposed purlins, and extended lintels above the openings.
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 modest Colonial Revival/Craftsman bungalow in the Madison Park neighborhood,
“is a good example of period architecture.” Character-defining exterior features of the Barr House that should be preserved
include, but may not be limited to, materials and finishes (siding, wood trim ); roof configuration and detailing; massing;
original windows and doors and their surrounds where extant; porch configuration, detailin g, and main (north ) entry; and
architectural details such as endboards, porch supports with molded capitals and bases; and decorative wood shutters with
diamond-shaped perforations.
*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.