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HomeMy WebLinkAbout040205_Template-JoelLowellHouse_924NLowell.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) Joe Lowell House P1. Other Identifier: *P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County Orange County *b. USGS 7.5’ Quad: Anaheim TCA 0054 Date: *c. Address: 924 North Lowell Street City Santa Ana Zip 92706 *e. Other Locational Data: Assessor’s Parcel Number: 405-182-25 Sec 12 T 5 R 10 Por SE 1/4 *P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries.) Occupying a triple lot at the corner of North Lowell and West Tenth Streets, this two-story Spanish Colonial Revival residence suggests the influence of the Pueblo Revival style with its cubic massing. The house is an assemblage of stuccoed, flat- roofed volumes with unadorned parapets that rise slightly at some corners. Projections on the east and north elevations are topped by tiled shed roofs. Rectangular, grilled vents and viga-like corbels accent the parapets. The main entry is located within an arcaded porch located on the north elevation. Arches of different shapes are used for the porch openings, the doorway, a large, fixed glass window east of the porch, and to frame French doors on the east elevation. Two banks of tripartite casement windows, separated by a stuccoed chimney, are centered above the porch and are shaded by tiled shed roofs supported by carved wood brackets. An identical window and hood, fronted by a small balcony, sit directly west of the porch. On the east elevation, waist high patio walls are integrated with house and the garage south of the house. Buttresses with curvilinear profiles divide the patio spaces. Set back on its generous lot, surrounded by grass and shaded by a mature evergreen tree, the property is in fair condition and retains its integrity. A curved concrete block wall fragment, landscaped with agapanthus, marks the street corner. *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 May 2003 *P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources: historic 1924/ Source: City of Santa Ana Building Permits *P7. Owner and Address: Fernando and Marian Astran 924 North Lowell Street Santa Ana, CA 92703 *P8. Recorded by: Leslie J. Heumann SAIC 35 S. Raymond Ave. # 204 Pasadena, CA 91105 *P9. Date Recorded: August 29, 2003 *P10. Survey Type: Intensive Survey *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 #: Joe Lowell House B1. Historic Name: Joe Lowell House B2. Common Name: Same B3. Original Use: Single-family Residence B4. Present Use: Single-family Residence *B5. Architectural Style: Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival, Pueblo Revival *B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations): Constructed in 1924. March 1924. Residence and garage. August 11, 1941. Reroof ($100). May 29, 1944. Reroof ($165). March 9, 1950. Reroof ($98). July 16, 1951. Reroof ($68).. (See Continuation Sheet 3 of 3.) *B7. Moved? No Yes Unknown Date:__________ Original Location:_____________________________ *B8. Related Features: Garage, mature evergreen tree in north lawn. B9a. Architect: Unknown b. Builder: Unknown *B10. Significance: Theme Residential Architecture Area Santa Ana Period of Significance: circa 1888-1953 Property Type: Single-family Residence Applicable Criteria: A, C (Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme, period, and geographic scope. Also address integrity) The Joe Lowell House is architecturally significant as an unusual example of the Spanish Colonial Revival that has been influenced by the Pueblo Revival style. It is historically significant as the home of the subdivider of Lowell Street, Joe Lowell, who built this house in 1924 at a cost of $15,000, a significant investment for the time. Described by historian Samuel Armor as an “industrious, successful man of comfortable affluence,” Joe Lowell was also a rancher. He was born in Sacramento in 1872 and came to Santa Ana initially in 1903, left to work on a ranch in Texas, and returned in 1912, settling on his father-in- law’s fourteen and a half acre ranch and raising Valencia oranges and walnuts. It is assumed that he died in the mid 1940s, when his wife, Mabel Townsend Lowell, moved to 926 North Olive Street. (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 3 of 3.) B13. Remarks: *B14. Evaluator: Leslie J. Heumann *Date of Evaluation: August 29, 2003 DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information Sketch Map (This space reserved for official comments.) Joe Lowell House 924 North Lowell Street State of California  The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________ DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________ CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________ Page 3_ of 3_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Joe Lowell House *Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann, SAIC *Date August 29, 2003 ⌧ Continuation Update DPR 523L *B6. Construction History (continued): December 29, 1954. Patio addition to residence. January 21, 1982. Addition to garage. May 17, 1988. Wrought iron and block wall. July 26, 2002. Partial reroof of garage overhang. Tear off existing tile roof, repair dry rot, etc., and apply roof with same tile. *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 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 Joe Lowell 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 Joe Lowell House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1, as a building with the “distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or period.” Stylistic signatures of the Spanish Colonial Revival such the use of stucco and red clay tile and arched openings are combined in this unusual home with the cubic massing and stylized buttresses and vigas more associated with the Pueblo Revival style of the 1920s. The property also qualifies for the Santa Ana Register under Criterion 4b, for its association with Joe Lowell, who was instrumental to the development of Washington Square. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Key” because it “has a distinctive architectural style and quality” as an example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style influenced by the Pueblo Revival, and for its association “with a significant person” in the history of the area, Joe Lowell. Character defining exterior features of the Joe Lowell House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to: materials and finishes (stucco, wood); roof configuration and treatment; massing and composition; doors and windows; porch and patios; garage; architectural detailing (buttresses, grilles, corbels, window hoods);chimney; and mature evergreen tree in north lawn. *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. Armor, Samuel. History of Orange County. Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1921. Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1905-1930. “Washington Square: A Neighborhood with Pride.” Washington Square Neighborhood Association, no date.