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<br />State of California - The Resources Agency <br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION <br />CONTINUATION SHEET <br /> <br />Page -L of-L <br />*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann, SAIC <br /> <br />Primary # <br />HRI# <br /> <br />Trinomial <br /> <br />Resour e Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Joe Lowell House <br />*Date August 29, 2003 1&1 Continuation 0 Update <br /> <br />*86. Construction History (continued): <br /> <br />December 29, 1954. Patio addition to residen . <br />January 21, 1982. Addition to garage. <br />May 17, 1988. Wrought iron and block wall. <br />July 26, 2002. Partial reroof of garage overha g. Tear off existing üle roof, repair dry rot, etc., and apply roof with same tile. <br /> <br />*810. Significance (continued): <br /> <br />Santa Ana was founded by William Spurgeon i 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 ali "val of the Santa Fe Railroad and incorporation as a city in 1886, and <br />selection as the seat of the newly created Cou ty of Orange in 1889, the city grew outwards, with residential neighborhoods <br />developing to the north, south, and east of the ity center. Agricultural uses predominated in the outlying areas, with <br />cultivated fields and orchards dotted with widel scattered farmhouses. <br /> <br />The Joe Lowell House is located in Washingto Square, a neighborhood located northwest of the city center bounded by <br />West Seventeenth Street on the north, West CI ic Center Drive on the south, North Flower Street on the east, and North <br />Bristol Street on the west. Most of this area w owned by the family of Jacob Ross, who had purchased portions of the <br />Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana in 1868 and 1 69. 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 nd Towner were the only streets in the neighborhood, which extended from <br />Hickey (now Civic Center) only as far as Washi gton and which contained only about a dozen homes. The status quo had <br />not changed much by 1915, when a brick yard as located at the northern terminus of Olive Street at Hickey. In 1925, the <br />beginning of the development that would con~ rt this largely agricultural area into a middle class neighborhood of single- <br />family homes over the next 25 years had begu . In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Tudor Revival and Spanish Colonial <br />Revival homes were the standard, with Americ n Colonial Revival saltboxes and ranch style homes favored in the years <br />before and after World War II. During the 193 , many of the homes were built by local contractor Emmett Rogers, who <br />sold lots and built homes according to standaTi plans, which individual property owners could customize to their tastes <br />(Washington Square: A Neighborhood of Prid ," Washington Square Neighborhood Association). With the return of <br />servicemen following the war and the accompa ying demand for homes in southern California, the development of <br />Washington Square was all but completed. <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 aTi hitectural style or period." Stylistic signatures of the Spanish Colonial <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 mOTi associated with the Pueblo Revival style of the 1920s. The property also <br />qualifies for the Santa Ana Register under Crit rion 4b, for its association with Joe Lowell, who was instrumental to the <br />development of Washington Square. Additiona 1y, the house has been categorized as "Key" because it "has a disünctive <br />architectural style and quality" as an example 0 the Spanish Colonial Revival style influenced by the Pueblo Revival, and for <br />its association "with a significant person" in the istory of the area, Joe Lowell. Character defining exterior features of the <br />Joe Lowell House that should be preserved inc ude, but may not be limited to: materials and finishes (stucco, wood); roof <br />configuration and treatment; massing and com osition; doors and windows; porch and patios; garage; architectural detailing <br />(buttresses, grilles, corbels, window hoods);chi ney; and mature evergreen tree in north lawn. <br /> <br />*812. References (continued): <br /> <br />Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An lIIus rated Enc clo edia. New York, WW Norton, 1998. <br />Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana An Illustrated Histo . Encinitas, Heritage Publishing, 1994. <br />McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to A erican Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. <br />National Register Bulletin 16A. "How to Comp~ te the National Register Registration Form. " Washington DC: National <br />Register Branch, National Park Service, US De t. of the Interior, 1991. <br />Office of Historic Preservation. "Instructions fo Recording Historical Resources. " Sacramento: March 1995. <br />Armor, Samuel. Historv of Oranae Countv. Lo Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1921. <br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 19 -1930. <br />Washington Square: A Neighborhood with Pri e." Washington Square Neighborhood Association, no date. <br /> <br />Rage 5 of 5 <br /> <br />DPR 523L <br /> <br />758-9 <br />