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<br />State of Califomia- The Resources Agency <br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION <br /> <br />4IÞ ~~N~I~fU~TION SHEET <br /> <br />.Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann, SAIC <br /> <br />Primary # <br />HRI# <br /> <br />Trinomial <br />Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Joe Lowell House <br />'Date August 29, 2003 lEI Continuation 0 Update <br /> <br />'B6. Construction History (conllnued): <br /> <br />December 29, 1954. Patio addition to residence, <br />January 21, 1982, Addition to garage, <br />May 17, 1988, Wroughtiron and block wall. <br />July 26,2002, Partial reroof of garage overhang, Tear off existing tile roo~ repair dry rot, etc" and apply roof with same tile, <br /> <br />'810. Significance (continued): <br /> <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 <br />selection as the seat of the newly created County of Orange in 1889, the city grew outwards, with residential neighborhoods <br />developing to the north. south, and east of the city center, Agricultural uses predominated in the outlying areas, with <br />cultivated fields and orchards dotted with widely scattered farmhouses, <br /> <br />4IÞ <br /> <br />The Joe Lowell House is iocated in Washington Square, a neighborhood loc<jted northwest of the city center bounded by <br />West Seventeenth Street on the north, West Civic Center Drive on the south, North Fiower Street on the east, and North <br />Bristol Street on the west, Most of this area was owned by the family of Jacob Ross, who had purchased portions of the <br />Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana in 1868 and 1869, Walnuts and other crops were grown in the area during the late <br />nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a few farmhouses, most notably the Ross-McNeal House at 1020 North Baker <br />Street, dotting the landscape, By 1905, Baker and Towner were the only streets in the neighborhood, which extended from <br />Hickey (now Civic Center) only as far as Washington and which contained only about a dozen homes, The status quo had <br />not changed much by 1915, when a brick yard was located at/he northern terminus of Olive Street at Hickey, In 1925, the <br />beginning of the development that wouid convert this largely agricultural area into a middle class neighborhood of single- <br />family homes over the next 25 years had begun, In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Tudor Revival and Spanish Colonial <br />Revival homes were the standard, with American Colonial Revival saltboxes and ranch style homes favored in the years <br />before and after World War II, During the 1930s, many of the homes were built by locai contractor Emmett Rogers, who <br />sold lots and built homes according to standard plans, which individual property owners could customize to their tastes <br />(Washington Square: A Neighborhood of Pride," Washington Square Neighborhood Association). With the retum of <br />servicemen fallowing the war and the accompanying demand for homes in southern Califomia, the development of <br />Washington Square was all but compieted, <br /> <br />The Joe Lowell House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1, as a building <br />with the "distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or period." Stylistic signatures of the Spanish Coionial <br />Revival such the use of stucco and red clay tile and arched openings are combined in this unusual home with the cubic <br />massing and stylized buttresses and vigas more associated with the Pueblo Revival style of the 1920s, The property also <br />qualifies for the Santa Ana Register under Criterion 4b, for its association with Joe Lowell, who was instrumental to the <br />development of Washington Square, Additionally, the house has been categorized as "Key" because it "has a distinctive <br />architectural styie and quality" as an example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style influenced by the Pueblo Revival, and for <br />its association "with a significant person" in the history of the area, Joe Lowell. Character defining exterior features of the <br />Joe Lowell House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to: materials and finishes (stucco, wood); roof <br />configuration and treatment; massing and composition; doors and windows; porch and patios; garage; architectural detailing <br />(buttresses, grilles, corbels, window hoods);chimney; and mature evergreen tree in north lawn, <br /> <br />'B12. References (continued): <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encvclooedia. New York, WW Norton, 1998. <br />Marsh, Diann, Santa Ana An Illustrated Historv, Encinitas, Heritage Publishing, 1994, <br />McAlester, Virginia and Lee, A Field Guide to American Houses, New York: Alfred A, Knop~ 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 />Armor, Samuel. Historv of Oranae Countv, Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1921, <br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1905-1930, <br />'Washington Square: A Neighborhood with Pride." Washington Square Neighborhood Association, no date. <br /> <br />DPR 523L <br /> <br />75A-15 <br />