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HomeMy WebLinkAbout030807_Template-TownerRogersHouse_920NTowner.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 _3_ Resource name(s) or number (assigned by recorder) Towner-Rogers House P1. Other Identifier: *P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County Orange County *b. USGS 7.5’ Quad Date: *c. Address 920 North Towner Street City Santa Ana Zip 92703 *e. Other Locational Data: Assessor’s Parcel Number: 405-231-05 Sec 12 T 5 R 10 Lot 59 X 136 ft *P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries.) Located on the west side of Towner Street between Civic Center Drive (formerly Hickey and then West Eighth Street) and West Washington Avenue, this is a one and a half story residence displaying the early Craftsman style. A steeply pitched front gable roof covers the building, with shed-roofed dormers extending from it on the side elevations. Rafters, beams, and braces are visible in the eaves, and a latticework vent occupies the peak of the gable end. Narrow clapboard sheathes the building, accented by a sill-level stringcourse. Spanning most of the façade, an attached porch is topped by another front gable that is lower and more shallowly pitched than the primary roof. Paired posts on brick pedestals support the porch roof. The entry is offset slightly to the south, and is flanked on the north by a large, double-hung sash window and on the south by a tripartite window that features a leaded glass transom. Leaded glass also distinguishes a window on the south elevation. Above the porch roof, two fairly tall and narrow double-hung sash windows are centered in the gable face. A brick chimney is attached to the south elevation. The property, set off by a white picket fence, also includes a one and a half story, side- gabled garage whose door has been replaced. The house appears to be substantially unaltered from the street, although a large addition was made in 1988. *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 elevation May 2003 *P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources: historic Circa 1903 *P7. Owner and Address: Daniel LeRoy Cordova 920 North Towner Street Santa Ana, CA 92703 *P8. Recorded by: Leslie J. Heumann SAIC 35 S. Raymond Ave. # 204 Pasadena, CA 91105 *P9. Date Recorded: May 29, 2003 *P10. Survey Type: Intensive Survey Update *P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter “none”) None. *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 3 *NRHP Status Code_5S1__________________________ *Resource Name or #: Towner-Rogers House B1. Historic Name: Towner-Rogers House B2. Common Name: Same B3. Original Use: Single-family Residence B4. Present Use: Single-family Residence *B5. Architectural Style: Bungalow/Craftsman) *B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations): Constructed circa 1903. December 14, 1945. Termite work. Emmet Rogers, owner. [Note: this is the earliest permit for this address in city records.] November 15, 1988. Swimming pool. December 1, 1988. Spa. December 5, 1988. Two-car garage, 1st and 2nd floor addition garage, family room, bedroom 725 sq. ft. 1st, 614 sq. ft. 2nd, 440 sq. ft. garage. May 16, 1990. Reroof. *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: 1879-1953 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) This house is architecturally significant as an example of the early Craftsman style and may be historically significant for an association with one of the earliest families to settle in the Washington Square neighborhood of Santa Ana. Its date of construction could not be confirmed through building permit records, city directories, or Sanborn maps. However, the house is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, residence on Towner Street, which was laid out, between Civic Center and Tenth Street, around 1902. The only residence listed in the city directories on the street until at least 1915 was 850, which, in 1905, belonged to the Towner family. Subsequent listings in the city directories and the first Sanborn map published for the area in (See Continuation Sheet 3 of 3.) 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: May 29, 2003 DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information Sketch Map (This space reserved for official comments.) Towne -Rogers House 920 North Towner Street 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) Towner-Rogers House *Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann, SAIC *Date May 29, 2003 ⌧ Continuation Update DPR 523L *B10. Significance (continued): 1943, when compared to current addresses on the street, suggest that the numbering may have been changed in the 1940s when Towner Street was subdivided north of Tenth Street. If so, it is possible that 920 Towner may have been 850 Towner and thus the home of the original property owner on the street. During the 1940s, 920 Towner was one of several properties on Towner that was associated, either through building permit records or city directories, with Emmet C. Rogers, a building contractor. The patriarch of the Towner family was attorney James W. Towner. Born in New York State in 1823, J. W. Towner was a teacher, studied for the ministry, and a lumberman before he settled on a career in law. He came to Santa Ana in 1882 and was appointed the first judge of the Superior Court when the County of Orange was created. Serving in that capacity until 1897, after which he resumed private practice from an office adjacent to his home on West Fourth Street, J. W. Towner died in 1913. His son, Arthur J. Towner, arrived in Santa Ana in 1880, two years earlier than his father, and took up farming, the occupation of his father’s father. Trained as a gunsmith, A. J. Towner also had a sporting goods business. He lived at 850 North Towner Street until his death in 1909 at the age of 58. H. Fred Towner, A. J.’s son, occupied a property immediately to the west, at 833 North Baker Street, until 1921. A blacksmith, H. Fred Towner made his reputation in farming equipment, and was the holder of several patents. 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 to the north, south, and east of the city center. Agricultural uses predominated in the outlying areas, with cultivated fields and orchards dotted with widely scattered farmhouses. The Towner-Rogers House is located in Washington Square, a neighborhood located northwest of the city center bounded by West Seventeenth Street on the north, West Civic Center Drive on the south, North Flower Street on the east, and North Bristol Street on the west. Most of this area was owned by the family of Jacob Ross, who had purchased portions of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana in 1868 and 1869. Walnuts and other crops were grown in the area during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a few farmhouses, most notably the Ross-McNeal House at 1020 North Baker Street, dotting the landscape. By 1905, Baker and Towner were the only streets in the neighborhood, which extended from Hickey (now Civic Center) only as far as Washington and which contained only about a dozen homes. The status quo had not changed much by 1915, when a brick yard was located at the northern terminus of Olive Street at Hickey. In 1925, the beginning of the development that would convert this largely agricultural area into a middle class neighborhood of single- family homes over the next 25 years had begun. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Tudor Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival homes were the standard, with American Colonial Revival saltboxes and ranch style homes favored in the years before and after World War II. During the 1930s, many of the homes were built by local contractor Emmett Rogers, who sold lots and built homes according to standard plans, which individual property owners could customize to their tastes (“Washington Square: A Neighborhood of Pride,” Washington Square Neighborhood Association). With the return of servicemen following the war and the accompanying demand for homes in southern California, the development of Washington Square was all but completed. The Towner-Rogers House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1 as a representative example of the early Craftsman style that appeared in Santa Ana during the first few years of the twentieth century. Typical Craftsman features of the house include exposed structural elements, a capacious, gabled, front porch, tapered porch supports, and tripartite windows. These features are juxtaposed with the tall and narrow proportions of the double-hung windows and the use of leaded glass, elements more characteristic of the Victorian era and early twentieth century Colonial Revival styles. The house may also qualify under Criterion 4b, for association with an early landowner and developer, if the suspected connection with the Towner family can be proven. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Contributive” because it “contributes to the overall character and history” of Washington Square through its age and style, and is a “good example” of the early Craftsman style that “has not been substantially altered.” Character defining exterior features of the Towner-Rogers House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to: materials (wood, brick) and finishes (clapboard); roof configuration and detailing; massing; porch; windows and doors; and architectural details such as porch supports and leaded glass windows. 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) Towner-Rogers House *Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann, SAIC *Date May 29, 2003 ⌧ 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. History of Orange County. Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1921. Orange County and Santa Ana City Directories, 1901-1945. “Washington Square: A Neighborhood with Pride.” Washington Square Neighborhood Association, no date. “The Towner Family.” Orange County Biographies. W.P.A. Research Project #3105, 1937.