Laserfiche WebLink
+ Law sloping roof with wide over-hanging eaves <br />• Simpler details and basic, asymmetrical floor plan (as compared to other Victorian <br />styles) <br />From the early 1900's photograph of the McGowan house, it is clear that this residence has not <br />retained the integrity of its original Victorian farmhouse origins. The house has been expanded <br />with a 15t and 2 floor addition, a new roofline constructed, and the front porch was enclosed. <br />Most importantly, however, the front fagade was substantially altered from its original Victorian <br />design to a modified Colonial Revival style. This forced stylistic transformation created a <br />number of inconsistencies. These inconsistencies include: <br />• The verticality of the structure, due to the high Victorian ceilings, is not proportionate with <br />Colonial Revival architecture. <br />• The off-center placement of the main entrance and the asymmetrical window <br />confgurafion are at adds with the Colonial Revival style. <br />Weather drawing upon Georgian, Federal, or Cufch Colonial prototypes, Colonial <br />Reviva! buildings feature rectangular building plan and designs which are usually <br />symmetrical, or of least highly regular and balanced, in composition. (McAlester, <br />320-326} <br />The one-story hipped roof projection, that was believed to have been a porch, was never <br />a part of the original home. <br />The Porte cochere, referenced in the original historic report, was never a part of the <br />original home. <br />Furthermore, Victorian architectural elements that remain on the house are inconsistent with <br />Colonial Revival. These details include: <br />• Attenuated corner pilaster detailing, pilasters in the Colonial Revival style would have <br />been more substantial in width. <br />• Large boxed eaves <br />• Tall, narrow, ane-over-one Victorian windows on the East and West elevations <br />• Rectangular doorway, with transom lite and decorative crown, on the East Elevation <br />+ Victorian box bay on the west elevation <br />Original placement of this home in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties was <br />proposed under Criterion 1 for `its representation of the distinguishing characteristics of the <br />Colonial Revival style.' In light of the new photographic evidence, the inconsistencies of the <br />Colonial Revival remodel can naw be fully understood. This is no# a farmhouse that evolved <br />time, but rather one that was substantially, and inconsistently, altered in 1938. This home can <br />no longer be found to "exemplify a particular style or design features," as required under <br />Criterion 1, To continue to list this home in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties for <br />its architectural value is misleading, as its current state is not reflective of its 1880s Victorian <br />farmhouse conception. It can no longer be classified as a notable example of a Colonial Revival <br />style. <br />According to the Nation Park Service guidelines on cri#eria for evaluation of a property for <br />design and construction (Criterion C): <br />Page 2 of 4 <br />