Item 28 - Approval of Historic Property Preservation Agreements

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State of California  The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________ DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________ CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________ Page 3_ of 3_ Resource Name: Bessie Coulter House *Recorded by Andrea Dumovich Heywood *Date May 5, 2022  Continuation  Update DPR 523L DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information *P3a. Description (continued): wood-framed French doors with divided lights, double-hung windows, and has three contemporary, wood-framed French doors lacking muntins on the rear elevation. A stucco-clad covered patio with double segmental arch openings is located to the rear of the building. Other features of note include columns of three small vents near the peak of the gable ends and two brick chimneys. The property is simply landscaped with two mature trees, a lawn, low vegetation and simple walkway at the front setback. A driveway parallels the north elevation and leads to the detached, one-story, two-car garage, which is also clad in stucco. The garage’s primary (east) façade features a front gable roof with a projecting, shed roof clad in composition shingles and garage door below the main gable. A single, wood pedestrian door and double -hung wood-frame window are also on the primary façade. The garage gable end contains two round vents below the front gable to match the main house. *B10. Significance (continued): The Bessie Coulter House is located in Floral Park, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded by West Seventeenth Street, North Flower Street, Riverside Drive, and Broadway. Groves of orange, avocado, and walnut trees and widely scattered ranch houses characterized this area before 1920. Developer and builder Allison Honer (1897-1981), credited as the subdivider and builder of a major portion of northwest Santa Ana, arrived in Santa Ana from Beaver Falls, New York in 1922 (Talbert, pages 353-356). “Before nightfall on the day of his arrival, Mr. Honer purchased a parcel of land. And that month, he began building custom homes in Santa Ana” (Orange County Register, September 15, 1981). The parcel chosen became the Floral Park subdivision between Seventeenth Street a nd Santiago Creek. “When built in the 1920s, the Floral Park homes were the most lavish and expensive in the area. They sold for about $45,000 each” (Orange County Register, September 15, 1981). Revival architecture in a wide variety of romantic styles was celebrated in the 1920s and 1930s and Floral Park showcased examples of the English Tudor, French Norman, Spanish Colonial, and Colonial Revival. The Allison Honer Construction Company went on to complete such notable projects as the 1935 Art Deco styled Old Santa Ana City Hall, the El Toro Marine Base during World War II, and the 1960 Honer Shopping Plaza. Honer lived in the neighborhood he had helped to create, at 615 West Santa Clara Avenue. In the late 1920s and 1930s, another builder, Roy Roscoe Russ ell (1881-1965), continued developing the groves of Floral Park. An early Russell project was his 1928 subdivision of Victoria Drive between West Nineteenth Street and West Santa Clara Avenue. The homes were quite grand and displayed various revival styles , including Russell’s own large, Colonial Revival mansion at 2009 Victoria Drive. In the early post World War II years, Floral Park continued its development as numerous, smaller, single-family houses were built. Continuing in the Floral Park tradition, they were mostly revival in style. In the 1950s, low, horizontal Ranch Style houses completed the gr owth of Floral Park. Today (2022) Floral Park maintains its identity as the premier neighborhood of Santa Ana, historically home to many affluent and prominen t citizens. The Bessie Coulter House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1 as an example of the Tudor Revival style in Santa Ana. The property appears to be substantially intact, although the chimney was apparently truncated to roof level at some point. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Contributive” because it “contributes to the overall character and history” of the Floral Park neighborhood and is a representative example of Tudor Revival architecture (Santa Ana Municipal Code, Section 30-2.2). Character-defining features of the Tudor Revival style exhibited by the house include its massing and composition, consisting of a side-gabled body with a projecting front gable mid facade; arched entry occupied by the original front door and living room window contained within the front gable projection; uneven rakes on the fairly steeply pitched front gable; stucco exterior; and multi -light casement windows. More unusual is the hipped roof extension to the north housing a porte cochere beneath a segmental arch opening. *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. Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1905-2017. Ancestry.com Newspapers.com (Santa Ana Register) Historic Maps, Santa Ana History Room, 1912, 1923, 1932, and 1955. Armor, Samuel. History of Orange County. Los Angeles: History Record Company, 1921, page 989.