State of California—The Resources Agency Primary #
<br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
<br />CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
<br />Page 3 of 3 Resource Name: Cecil O. Cartwright House
<br />-Recorded by Pedro Gomez Date March 22, 2018 0 Continuation 11 Update
<br />`610. 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
<br />selection 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 Cecil O. Cartwright House is located in Floral Park, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded by
<br />West Seventeenth Street, North Flower Street, Riverside Drive, and Broadway. Groves of oranges, avocados, and walnuts
<br />and 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 II, 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 II years, Floral Park continued its development as
<br />numerous, smaller, single-family houses were built. Continuing in the Floral Park tradition, they were mostly period revival
<br />styles. In the 1950s, low, horizontal Ranch Style houses completed the growth of Floral Park.
<br />The Cecil O. Cartwright House qualities for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under two criteria:
<br />Criterion 1, for its exemplification of the distinguishing characteristics of the Spanish Colonial Revival style; and Criterion 4,
<br />for its contribution to the historic Floral Park neighborhood. Additionally, the house has been categorized as "Key" for its
<br />"distinctive architectural style and quality," embodying the massing, materials, and detailing of Spanish Colonial Revival
<br />design; and for its "association with a significant period in the history of the city'; namely the development of Floral Park as
<br />the premier residential district of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Santa Ana. Character -defining features
<br />of the Cecil O. Cartwright House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to: materials and finishes (stucco
<br />and tile); low pitched side -gabled roof configuration; massing and composition; recessed parabolic window; recessed
<br />porthole window; wood doors and wood casement windows; ornamental wrought iron details; "spearhead" awnings;
<br />protruding 'turret clay tile attic vents; brick chimney with stucco finish and corbeled brick top; and the one-story, stucco -
<br />clad garage.
<br />*1312. References (continued):
<br />Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York, WW Norton, 1998.
<br />Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana, An Illustrated History. Encinitas, Heritage Publishing, 1994.
<br />McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984.
<br />National Register Bulletin 16A. "How to Complete the National Register Registration Form. " Washington DC: National
<br />Register Branch, National Park Service, US Dept. of the Interior, 1991.
<br />Office of Historic Preservation. "Instructions for Recording Historical Resources."Sacramento: March 1995.
<br />Whitten, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1969.
<br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1920-1979.
<br />DPR 523L
<br />25A-62
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