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State of California The Resources Agency Primary # _____________________________________________ DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ________________________________________________ CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial _____________________________________________ Page 3_ of 4_ Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Dinsmore House *Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann, Peter C. Moruzzi, SAIC *Date September 17, 2002 _ Continuation Update DPR 523L *B10. Significance (continued): Located in the southeast section of the City of Santa Ana, the Eastside neighborhood is bounded by First Street on the north, McFadden Avenue on the south, Standard Avenue on the east and Main Street on the west. Situated south of the tract purchased by William Spurgeon in 1869 and recorded as original town of Santa Ana in 1870, the neighborhood’s beginnings date to the same period. In 1868, Nelson O. Stafford and Columbus Tustin, both from Petaluma, California, purchased 1359 acres of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana south of what would become First Street. The following year, the two men split the property, with Mr. Tustin obtaining 703 acres of the eastern portion upon which he founded the town of Tustin in 1870. Stafford’s western acreage, thereafter called the Stafford Tract, lay south of First Street, east of Main Street, and north of McFadden Street, the area now known as Eastside. After selling a portion of this property, Nelson Stafford settled on his land in 1873, building a large house for his young wife and their children. Stafford died in 1878, and his widow, Amanda, opened the house to boarders, one of whom was Robert James Blee, formerly of Pennsylvania. In 1880, Blee bought 36 acres of land at the corner of First and Main Streets from Mrs. Stafford, including the Stafford residence. Blee married Amanda Stafford in 1882. Monroe David Halladay was another pioneer who made a significant contribution to the development of the Eastside neighborhood. Halladay came from Michigan to Santa Ana in 1876 for health reasons and purchased 20 acres from Nelson Stafford. Halladay built his first home in 1877 on East First Street, surveying and selling a few lots of his property but never platting it. In 1887, Chestnut, Pine, and Walnut Streets were laid out on his land; then, in 1888, Halladay sold ten acres of the property. On his remaining ten acres he grew raisins, walnuts, and apples. Also in 1888, Halladay built and occupied the magnificent Stick/Eastlake (Late Victorian) house that still stands on the southwest corner of East Chestnut and Halladay Streets. An 1887 map of Santa Ana, drawn a year after Santa Ana’s incorporation as a city, documents the early growth of the neighborhood, with house-sized lots lining both sides of Cypress Street and the west side of Orange Avenue between First and Chestnut Streets as well Walnut, Pine, and Chestnut Streets between Maple and Hickory Streets. The remainder of the Eastside area was divided into large parcels owned by Blee, Halladay, his elder brother, banker Daniel Halladay, and others. Maps drawn in 1898 and 1913 reveal that the neighborhood had expanded to south, with additional subdivisions along Cypress and Orange platted during this period. As a result of this pattern of development, the northwestern section of the neighborhood was improved with homes in the Victorian era Queen Anne and Eastlake styles. Colonial Revival turn-of- the-century residences and later Craftsman bungalows followed along in south west portion of the neighborhood. The southeastern section of the neighborhood was the last portion to be subdivided and was initially developed in the years between the World Wars, with the Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and Spanish Colonial Revival styles predominating. Post World War II construction consumed the remaining unimproved land. Despite unsympathetic infill, dating primarily to the last quarter of the twentieth century, and inappropriate alterations, the Eastside neighborhood retains numerous intact examples of residences from the significant period of its development, which occurred between 1873, when Stafford built his house (no longer extant), and 1931, when construction tapered off as a result of the Great Depression. The Dinsmore House appears to qualify for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Property under Criterion 1 as an intact and representative example of a farmhouse influenced by the Queen Anne (Late Victorian) and Greek Revival styles of the late nineteenth century. Additionally, the house has been categorized as “Key” for its distinctive architectural style and quality. The building is essentially a farmhouse with minimal ornamentation, a plain projecting porch, and the rear one- story wing often associated with farmhouses from this period. Queen Anne features include the cross-gabled roof, “L”-plan, narrow windows, and decorative porch roof trim while the Greek Revival influence is revealed in the overall simplicity and façade treatment. All original exterior features of the Dinsmore House are considered to be character defining and should be preserved, including, but may not be limited to: sheathing (shiplap); roof configuration; massing; original windows and doors where extant; and architectural details such as porch roof trim.