HomeMy WebLinkAbout020924_Template-TurnerPotterLyonHouse_306SOrange.pdfState of California 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) Turner-Potter-Lyon House
P1. Other Identifier:
*P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County Orange County
*b. USGS 7.5’ Quad Date:
*c. Address 306 South Orange Avenue City Santa Ana Zip 92701
*e. Other Locational Data: Assessor’s Parcel Number: 404-095-10; Blees 2nd Add Lot: 11 Block: F (and N 33/5 Ft Lot: 10
BLK: F Home Owner Claimant is Lyon, Edith L
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries.)
This two-story residence illustrates the Classic Box variant of the Colonial Revival style. A hipped roof with hipped front and rear
dormers tops the building, jogging eastward towards the street to cap the projecting south half of the facade. Boxed eaves and a
wide, unadorned frieze characterize the roofline. Narrow clapboard sheathes the exterior, with a belt course separating the first
and second stories. Single windows are primarily fixed or double-hung sash, some having leaded glass upper sashes with
hexagonal panes. Door and window surrounds are plain except for two rectangular, leaded glass windows north of the entrance,
which have ornately carved aprons. Attached to the north half of the façade, the projecting porch features a low-pitched hipped
roof whose broad frieze is supported by four wooden Ionic columns. The porch originally was L-shaped, but was compatibly
enclosed on the north elevation in 1939. Narrow clapboard covers the closed porch railing. Concrete steps lead to the main
entrance, which is topped by a transom. On the south elevation, carved brackets support a second story cant bay. Directly below
on the first floor, a fanlight surmounts a tripartite window. A low concrete curb borders the front lawn and sidewalk. Formal,
clipped bushes landscape the property. Other than metal security bars on numerous windows and doors, the house appears
substantially original and is in excellent condition.
*P3b. Resource Attributes: (list attributes and codes) HP2. Single-family Property
*P4. Resources Present: Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other
P5b. Photo: (view and date)
East and north elevations
August 2002
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Sources: historic
Circa 1898: Lyon, 2003
*P7. Owner and Address:
Edith L. Lyon for Edna Lyon
306 Orange Avenue
Santa Ana, CA 92701
*P8. Recorded by:
Leslie J. Heumann, Peter C. Moruzzi
SAIC
35 S. Raymond Ave. # 204
Pasadena, CA 91105
*P9. Date Recorded:
September 24, 2002
*P10. Survey Type:
Intensive Survey Update
*P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter “none”)
Les, Kathleen. “Historic Resources Inventory, Southeast Quad,” September 1979.
*Attachments: None Location Map Sketch Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure, and Object Record
Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record
Artifact Record Photograph Record Other (list)
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
P5a. Photo
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #__________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#______________________________________________
BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
Page 2 of 4 *NRHP Status Code_5S1_________________________
*Resource Name or #: Turner-Potter-Lyon House
B1. Historic Name: Turner-Potter-Lyon House
B2. Common Name: Same
B3. Original Use: Single-family Residence B4. Present Use: Single-family Residence
*B5. Architectural Style: Colonial Revival (Classic Box Variant)
*B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations): Constructed circa 1898.
October, 1921. Alter residence.
April 11, 1933. Rebuild fireplace chimney.
April 7, 1936. Reroof.
January 20, 1939. Three car garage.
June 20, 1939. Remodel clothes closet [enclose north leg of porch to create office].
July 24, 1947. Glass house by owner.
*B7. Moved? No Yes 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: 1873-1931 Property Type: Single-family Residence Applicable Criteria: C
(Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme, period, and geographic scope. Also address integrity)
Constructed circa 1898, the Turner-Potter-Lyon House is architecturally significant as a representative example of the Classic
Box variant of a Colonial Revival house dating from the years around the turn of the twentieth century. As of 1901, when the
property first appears in the city directories, the house was owned by shoe merchant Henry Turner and his wife Amanda. By
1905, the Potter family resided in the house. Amanda Turner was widowed circa 1902 and sold the property to William G.
Potter, who was the County Treasurer. Other residents included J. Francis Potter of the Potter Confectionery Company (216
West Fourth Street), Olive Potter, and Anne F. Potter. Misses Lena H. and Louise M., also resident family members, were
bookkeepers at the First National Bank during the 1910s. In 1919, the property was sold to Jack P. Olivarri, who was in the
(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 3 of 4.)
B13. Remarks:
*B14. Evaluator: Leslie J. Heumann
*Date of Evaluation: September 24, 2002
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
(This space reserved for official comments.)
Sketch Map
Turner-Potter-Lyon House
306 South Oran e Avenue
State of California The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________
Page 3_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Turner-Potter-Lyon House
*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann, Peter C. Moruzzi, SAIC *Date September 24, 2002 ⌧ Continuation Update
DPR 523L
*B10. Significance (continued):
auto service industry, and his wife Grace. A series of owners in the 1930s culminated in 1937 with the purchase by Louis
Vorhis, whose widow became Mrs. Kyle A. Lyon in 1939. Since 1939, the house has been owned by the Lyon family.
Daughter Edie Lyon still occupies the house as of January, 2003.
Located southeast of downtown Santa Ana, the Eastside neighborhood is bounded by First Street on the north, McFadden
Avenue on the south, Standard Avenue on the east and Main Street on the west. Situated south of the tract purchased by
William Spurgeon in 1869 and recorded as original town of Santa Ana in 1870, the neighborhood’s beginnings date to the
same period. In 1868, Nelson O. Stafford and Columbus Tustin, both from Petaluma, California, purchased 1359 acres of
the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana south of what would become First Street. The following year, the two men split the
property, with Mr. Tustin obtaining 703 acres of the eastern portion upon which he founded the town of Tustin in 1870.
Stafford’s western acreage, thereafter called the Stafford Tract, lay south of First Street, east of Main Street, and north of
McFadden Street, the area now known as Eastside. After selling a portion of this property, Nelson Stafford settled on his
land in 1873, building a large house for his young wife and their children. Stafford died in 1878, and his widow, Amanda,
opened the house to boarders, one of whom was Robert James Blee, formerly of Pennsylvania. In 1880, Blee bought 36
acres of land at the corner of First and Main Streets from Mrs. Stafford, including the Stafford residence. Blee married
Amanda Stafford in 1882.
Monroe David Halladay was another pioneer who made a significant contribution to the development of the Eastside
neighborhood. Halladay came from Michigan to Santa Ana in 1876 for health reasons and purchased 20 acres from Nelson
Stafford. Halladay built his first home in 1877 on East First Street, surveying and selling a few lots of his property but never
platting it. In 1887, Chestnut, Pine, and Walnut Streets were laid out on his land; then, in 1888, Halladay sold ten acres of
the property. On his remaining ten acres he grew raisins, walnuts, and apples. Also in 1888, Halladay built and occupied
the magnificent Stick/Eastlake (Late Victorian) house that still stands on the southwest corner of East Chestnut and
Halladay Streets.
An 1887 map of Santa Ana, drawn a year after Santa Ana’s incorporation as a city, documents the early growth of the
neighborhood, with house-sized lots lining both sides of Cypress Street and the west side of Orange Avenue between First
and Chestnut Streets as well Walnut, Pine, and Chestnut Streets between Maple and Hickory Streets. The remainder of the
Eastside area was divided into large parcels owned by Blee, Halladay, his elder brother, banker Daniel Halladay, and
others. Maps drawn in 1898 and 1913 reveal that the neighborhood had expanded to south, with additional subdivisions
along Cypress and Orange platted during this period. As a result of this pattern of development, the northwestern section of
the neighborhood was improved with homes in the Victorian era Queen Anne and Eastlake styles. Colonial Revival turn-of-
the-century residences and later Craftsman bungalows followed in the southwest portion of the neighborhood. The
southeastern section of the neighborhood was the last portion to be subdivided and was initially developed in the 1920s,
with the Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and Spanish Colonial Revival styles predominating. Post World War II
construction consumed the remaining unimproved land. Despite unsympathetic infill, dating primarily to the last quarter of
the twentieth century, and inappropriate alterations, the Eastside neighborhood retains numerous intact examples of
residences from the significant period of its development which occurred between 1873, when Stafford built his house (no
longer extant), and 1931, when construction tapered off as a result of the Great Depression.
The Turner-Potter-Lyon House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Property under Criterion 1 as an
intact and representative example of the Classic Box variant of the Colonial Revival style typical of the turn of the twentieth
century. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Key” for its distinctive architectural style and quality.
Characteristic features of Classic Box houses include the hipped roof, dormer, boxed cornices, front porch, and the
incorporation of classical elements such as Ionic columns. Character defining exterior features of the Turner-Potter-Lyon
House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to: sheathing (clapboard); roof configuration; massing;
windows and surrounds including leaded glass panes; porch; and architectural details such as Ionic columns.
State of California The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________
Page 4_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Turner-Potter-Lyon House
*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann, Peter C. Moruzzi, SAIC *Date September 24, 2002 ⌧ Continuation Update
DPR 523L
*B12. References (continued):
Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York, WW Norton, 1998.
Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana, An Illustrated History. Encinitas, 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.
Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1969.
Armor, Samuel, editor. History of Orange County, California. Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1911.
W.P.A. Research Project #3105, Orange County California Biographies. Santa Ana: Board of Education, 1937.
Pleasants, Mrs. J.E. History of Orange County California, Biographies, Vol. III, 1931.
Santa Ana City Directories, 1901-1939.
Edie Lyon letter, January 4, 2003, to Maya DeRosa, City of Santa Ana.