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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 # (Assigned by recorder) Conklin House
<br /> "Recorded by Ha/ly Soboleske 'Date March 10, 2010 ®Continuation ? Update
<br /> •B10. Significance (continued):
<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 f 889, 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 Conklin House is located in Floral Park, a neighbofiood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded by West
<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 Countv 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 /> Reaister. September 15, 1981). Revival architecture in a wide variety of romantic styles was celebrated in the 1920s and
<br /> 1930s; Floral Park showcased examples of the English Tudor, French Norman, Spanish Colonial, and Colonial Revival
<br /> styles. The Allison Honer Construction Company went on to complete such notable projects as the 1935 Art Deco-styled Old
<br /> Santa Ana City Hall, the El Toro Marine Base during Wordd War Il, and the 1960 Honer Shopping Plaza. Honer lived in the
<br /> neighbofiood he had helped create, at 615 West Santa Clara Avenue.
<br /> In the late 1920s and 1930s, another butider, Roy Roscoe Russell (1881-1965), continued developing the groves of Floral
<br /> Park. An earty 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 /> In the 1950s, low, horizontal Ranch Style houses completed the growth of Floral Partc. Today (2007), Floral Park maintains
<br /> its identity as the premier neighbofiood of Santa Ana, historically home to many ati9uent and prominent citizens.
<br /> The Conklin 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 Tudor Revival style. Additionally, the house has been categorized
<br /> as "Contributive" because it contributes to the overall character and history" of Santa Ana, and, as an intact example of the
<br /> Tudor Revival style in the Floral Park neighbofiood, is a good example of period architecture", as well as its association
<br /> with the Orange County Court Reporter, William White. Charecter~le6ning exterior features of the Conklin House that should
<br /> be preserved include, but may not be limited to, exterior materials and; roof configuration and detailing; original window
<br /> configuration where extant,' and architectural details such as wood tripartite and casement windows, steep pitched front
<br /> facin able and frrmt orch ent
<br /> g 9 p ry configurehon.
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