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<br />State of California - The Resources Agency
<br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION
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<br />CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
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<br />Page ....;L of ~ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) John S. Fluor Jr. House
<br />*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell-Ardila *Date October 17, 2007 lEI Continuation 0 Update
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<br />Primary #
<br />HRI#
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<br />*810. Significance (continued):
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<br />In 1962, Fluor became chairman of the board, a position he held until retiring in 1968, after which point he served as honorary
<br />board chairman until his death in September 1974. Three years before his death, John Fluor Jr. was honored at a dinner in
<br />his honor, which was attended by 850 guests and featured a keynote address by Govemor Ronald Reagan.
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<br />The original owner of the properly was John P. Scripps, grandson of E W. Scripps and Colonel Milton A. McRae, founders of
<br />Scripps-McRae newspapers. John P. Scripps and his wife Elizabeth commissioned the house, which was constructed by
<br />Allison Honer in 1937. At the time, Scripps was the publisher of the Santa Ana Journal, a newspaper he cofounded in 1935
<br />with parlners Roy David Pinkerlon, founder of the Ventura County Star, and EF. Elfstrom, president and general manager of
<br />Alhambra's Post Advocate. The Santa Ana Journal operated for three years, until December 1938, when it was purchased by
<br />the Santa Ana Register. The Scripps resided at 1920 N. Heliotrope Drive until their divorce in 1938, after which point Mrs.
<br />Scripps owned and occupied the house. In 1941, ownership changed hands when Paul Greening and his wife Estella
<br />purchased the properly, which a few years later was purchased by John S. Fluor Jr. and his wife Mildred. The house retains
<br />a high level of integrity and continues to convey its period of significance as the primary residence of John S. Fluor Jr. during
<br />his tenure as president and chairman of the board of Fluor Corporation, from 1952 to 1968.
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<br />Santa Ana was founded by William Spurgeon in 1869 as a speculative town site on parl 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 Fourlh 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
<br />developing to the norlh, 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.
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<br />The John S. Fluor Jr. House is located in Floral Park, a neighborhood norlhwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded by East
<br />Seventeenth Street, Norlh Flower Street, Riverside Drive, and Broadway. Groves of oranges, avocados, and walnuts and
<br />widely scattered ranch houses characterized this area before 1920. Developer and builder Allison Honer (1897-1981),
<br />credited as the subdivider and builder of a major pOrlion of norlhwest Santa Ana, arrived in Santa Ana from Beaver Falls,
<br />New York in 1922 (Talberl, pages 353-356). "Before nightfall on the day of his arrival, Mr. Honer purchased a parcel of land.
<br />And that month, he began building custom homes in Santa Ana" (Orange County Register, September 15, 1981). The parcel
<br />chosen became the Floral Park subdivision between Seventeenth Street and Santiago Creek. 'When built in the 1920s, the
<br />Floral Park homes were the most lavish and expensive in the area. They sold for about $45,000 each" (Orange County
<br />Register, September 15, 1981). Revival architecture in a wide variety of romantic styles was celebrated in the 1920s and
<br />1930s and Floral Park showcased examples of the English Tudor, French Norman, Spanish Colonial, and Colonial Revival.
<br />The Allison Honer Construction Company went on to complete such notable projects as the 1935 Arl Deco styled Old Santa
<br />Ana City Hall, the EI Toro Marine Base during World War If, and the 1960 Honer Shopping Plaza. Honer lived in the
<br />neighborhood he had helped to create, at 615 West Santa Clara Avenue.
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<br />In the late 1920s and 1930s, another builder, Roy Roscoe Russell (1881-1965), continued developing the groves of Floral
<br />Park. An early Russell project was his 1928 subdivision of Victoria Drive between West Nineteenth Street and West Santa
<br />Clara Avenue. The homes were quite grand and displayed various revival styles, including Rusself's own large, Colonial
<br />Revival mansion at 2009 Victoria Drive. In the early post World War If years, Floral Park continued its development as
<br />numerous, smaller, single-family houses were built. Continuing in the Floral Park tradition, they were mostly revival in style.
<br />In the 1950s, low, horizontal Ranch Style houses completed the growth of Floral Park. Today (2007) Floral Park maintains its
<br />identity as the premier neighborhood of Santa Ana, historically home to many affluent and prominent citizens.
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<br />The John S. Fluor Jr. House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properlies under Criterion 4B for its
<br />association with a significant person in the city. The typical features of the Fluor residence's Colonial Revival style i1fustrated
<br />by the house include its two-story massing; smooth stucco cladding; low-pitched, cross-gabled roof with shallow eaves and
<br />exposed rafter tails; classical architectural details such as an elaborated entry, with graduated arches, pilasters with flared
<br />capitals and bases, molded string course, and broken pediment; balconette with balustrade and iron railing; multipane,
<br />double-hung sash windows with wood frames and silfs, flanked by decorative shutters, and oculus; and attached chimney
<br />with flared base. Additionally, the house has been categorized as "Key" because it is "associated with a significant person or
<br />event" in the City of Santa Ana. Character-defining exterior features of the John S. Fluor Jr. House that should be preserved
<br />include, but may not be limited to, materials and finishes (smooth stucco finish); roof configuration and detailing; original
<br />windows, shutters, and doors where extant; stucco-clad chimney; and architectural details such as balconette with balustrade
<br />and iron railing, and the graduated arches, pilasters, broken pediment, and string course marking the entry.
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<br />*812. References (continued):
<br />Armor, Samuel. Historv of Oranae Countv. Los Angeles: History Record Company, 1921.
<br />(See Continuation Sheet 4 of 4.)
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