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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 4 Resource Name or # (Assianed by recorder) Summers-Smith House
<br />*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell-Ardila *Date December 20, 2007 O Continuation ^ Update
<br />*B10. Significance (continued):
<br />an assistant and reader's aide. Although Summers-Smith married Harv Smith in Illinois shortly before moving fo Califomia,
<br />city directories and legal records on the house do not indicate that Smith resided in the home with his wife and mother-in-law.
<br />In 1943, Mona Summers-Smith sold the home to Harry C. Arthur, Jr., who does not appear to have occupied the home.
<br />From at least 1947 fo the late 1950s, George A. King and his wife Helen resided in the home. Throughout this time period,
<br />city directories indicate that King was employed alternatively as the manager of Fox Theater, Walker's Theater, and as a
<br />clerk with South Counties Gas. Ownership changed hands in January 1957, when Frank and Dora Strachan purchased the
<br />property from Arthur, holding the residence for one year before selling to Alexander and Florence Miller in January 1958.
<br />Owners of Tiny Tim's Market, the Millers remained in the residence for the remainder of their lives (the dates of their deaths
<br />are unknown). The Millers left the house fo their son Timothy, who sold it to John and Jane Lewis in February 2000. Since
<br />that time, ownership of the residence shifted fo Karen Klosterman, the current owner of the home.
<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
<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 />The Summers-Smith House is located in Floral Park, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded by East
<br />Seventeenth Street North 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 portion of northwest Santa Ana, arrived in Santa Ana from Beaver Falls,
<br />New York in 1922 (Talbert, 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 Art Deco styled Old Santa
<br />Ana City Hall, the EI Toro Marine Base during World War ll, and the 1960 Honer Shopping Plaza. Honer lived in the
<br />neighborhood he had helped 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
<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 Russell's own large, Colonial
<br />Revival mansion at 2009 Victoria Drive. In the early post World War 11 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 />!n 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.
<br />The Summers-Smith House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1 for its
<br />exemplification of the distinguishing characteristics of the Colonial Revival style. Typical features of this style illustrated by
<br />the house include its symmetrical composition; gabled roof treatment accented with dormers; materials palette of wood with
<br />brick landscape elements; incorporation of a classical architectural vocabulary, most noticeably with the treatment of the main
<br />entry; and use ofsix-over-six double-hung sash windows with wood frames and decorative shutters. Additionally, the house
<br />has been categorized as "Contributive" because it `contributes to the overall character and history" of Santa Ana, and, as an
<br />example of the Colonial Revival style `is a good example of period architecture." Character-defining exterior features of the
<br />Summers-Smith House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to, materials and finishes (shiplap wood
<br />siding, brick front steps); roof configuration and detailing; original windows and doors where extant; architectural details such
<br />as the elements of the frontispiece, and contributing garage and lath house.
<br />DPR 523E w ~~4 ~5
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