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State of California  The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________ <br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________ <br />CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________ <br />Page 3_ of 3_Resource Name: Gibbs-Wasley House <br />*Recorded by Pedro Gomez *Date July 7, 2022  Continuation  Update <br />DPR 523L <br />*B10. Significance (continued): <br />Santa Ana was founded by William Spurgeon in 1869 as a speculative town site on part of the Spanish land grant known as <br />Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. The civic and commercial core of the community was centered around the intersection of <br />Main and Fourth Streets. Stimulated by the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad and incorporation as a city in 1886, and selection <br />as the seat of the newly created County of Orange in 1889, the city grew outwards, with residential neighborhoods developing <br />to the north, south, and east of the city center. Agricultural uses predominated in the outlying areas, with cultivated fields and <br />orchards dotted with widely scattered farmhouses. <br />The Gibbs-Wasley House is located in Floral Park, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded by West <br />Seventeenth Street, North Flower Street, Riverside Drive, and Broadway. Groves of orange, avocado, and walnut trees and <br />widely scattered ranch houses characterized this area before 1920. Developer and builder Allison Honer (1897-1981), credited <br />as the subdivider and builder of a major portion of northwest Santa Ana, arrived in Santa Ana from Beaver Falls, New York in <br />1922 (Talbert, pages 353-356). “Before nightfall on the day of his arrival, Mr. Honer purchased a parcel of land. And that month, <br />he began building custom homes in Santa Ana” (Orange County Register, September 15, 1981). The parcel chosen became <br />the Floral Park subdivision between Seventeenth Street and Santiago Creek. “When built in the 1920s, the Floral Park homes <br />were the most lavish and expensive in the area. They sold for about $45,000 each” (Orange County Register, September 15, <br />1981). Revival architecture in a wide variety of romantic styles was celebrated in the 1920s and 1930s and Floral Park <br />showcased examples of the English Tudor, French Norman, Spanish Colonial, and Colonial Revival. The Allison Honer <br />Construction Company went on to complete such notable projects as the 1935 Art Deco styled Old Santa Ana City Hall, the El <br />Toro Marine Base during World War II, and the 1960 Honer Shopping Plaza. Honer lived in the neighborhood he had helped <br />to create, at 615 West Santa Clara Avenue. <br />In the late 1920s and 1930s, another builder, Roy Roscoe Russell (1881-1965), continued developing the groves of Floral Park. <br />An early Russell project was his 1928 subdivision of Victoria Drive between West Nineteenth Street and West Santa Clara <br />Avenue. The homes were quite grand and displayed various revival styles, including Russell’s own large, Colonial Revival <br />mansion at 2009 Victoria Drive. In the early post World War II years, Floral Park continued its development as numerous, <br />smaller, single-family houses were built. Continuing in the Floral Park tradition, homes in the neighborhood were mostly <br />developed in the revival style. In the 1950s, low, horizontal Ranch Style houses completed the growth of Floral Park. Today <br />(2022) Floral Park maintains its identity as the premier neighborhood of Santa Ana, historically home to many affluent and <br />prominent citizens. <br />The Gibbs-Wasley House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1 as an example <br />of the Tudor Revival style in Santa Ana. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Key” because it has a distinctive <br />architectural style and quality as an example of the Tudor Revival style in Santa Ana. (Santa Ana Municipal Code, Section 30- <br />2.2). Character-defining features of the house include, but are not limited to: asymmetrical massing and composition; a steeply <br />pitched, complex gable roof; a combination of brick and stucco exterior walls; and multiple tall, brick attached chimneys. Notable <br />detailing includes the dramatic bellcast to one rake of the front gable; exposed, rounded and notched rafter tails and <br />bargeboards in the shallow eaves; a barrel vaulted entry vestibule and correspondingly arched, wood-paneled, front door; brick <br />dado reaching to first floor sill level; gabled dormers; multi-light casement windows clustered in pairs, triples, and larger groups; <br />and brick-paved entry, stairs, and pathways. <br />*B12. References (continued): <br />Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York, WW Norton, 1998. <br />Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana, An Illustrated History. Encinitas, Heritage Publishing, 1994. <br />McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. <br />National Register Bulletin 16A. “How to Complete the National Register Registration Form.” Washington DC: National <br />Register Branch, National Park Service, US Dept. of the Interior, 1991. <br />Office of Historic Preservation. “Instructions for Recording Historical Resources.” Sacramento: March 1995. <br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1905-2017. <br />Ancestry.com <br />Newspapers.com (Santa Ana Register) <br />Historic Maps, Santa Ana History Room, 1912, 1923, 1932, and 1955. <br />  <br />Historic Resources Commission 1 – 21 9/8/2022 <br />