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State of California—The Resources Agency Primary # _
<br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION -IRI #
<br />CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
<br />Page ,'t_ of 3 Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Price -Preston House
<br />*Recorded by Leslie J. Neumann, SAIC *Date March 30, 2005 21 Continuation ❑ Update
<br />*1310. Significance (continued):
<br />William A, Rohrbacher, the builder of the house, was a well-known Santa Ana resident. A resident of Floral Park,
<br />Rohrbacher was an active contractor from 1920, when he moved to Santa Ana, until he retired in the late 1960s, He was
<br />the builder of many prominent buildings, including the Bowers Museum, Tehachapi Prison, Carr Intermediate School,
<br />Phillips Hall at Santa Ana College, and Jonas Salk School in Anaheim. Rohrbacher passed away In 1974 at the ape of 93.
<br />Building permits indicate that from the m1d�1970s through 1999, at least, Dr. Richard Preston was the owner and occupant
<br />of the house. According to an undated newspaper article in the Santa Ana History Room collection, Preston "is believed to
<br />be, the first hobbyist anywhere to construct buildings in bottles." Unlike ship models that were actually created outside
<br />bottles, Preston actually put his miniatures together inside whisky, wine, or cognac bottles. He built a completely detailed
<br />model of the First Baptist Church, including stained Mass windows, at a scale of 1/3200 of an inch to a foot He also bulft a
<br />model of 2009 North Baker Street at a scale of 1116 of an inch to afoot, a project that took him six months„
<br />Store the second half of the twentieth century, the neighborhood in which the Price House Is located has been known as
<br />West Floral Park, Located northwest of the historic core of Santa Ana, this residential neighborhood is bounded by Santiago
<br />Creek on the north, West Seventeenth Street on the south, North Flower Street on the east and North Bristol Street on the
<br />west, Prior to World War 11, the area was agricultural, divided into a few large [andholdings devoted primarily to the
<br />cultivation of oranges, walnuts, and apricots, Traces of this early era remain in the form of two original farmhouses (1911
<br />Westwood Street and 2402 North Flower Street) and in a few large parcels along Flower Street During the 1920s and
<br />1930s a handful of houses ware erected on Baker, Bristol, and Flower Streets, and two municipal facilities, the City Water
<br />Works pumping plant and the City/County Animal Shelter, were built at 2315 and 2321 North Bristol Street,
<br />West Floral Park acquired its current Identify as a neighborhood of expansive, California Ranch Style houses in the years
<br />following 1947. Development started ,slowly, with around two dozen homes being built on Baker, Olive, Towner, and
<br />Westwood Streets between 1947 and 1950. Construction boomed during the 1950s and 1960s. One builder in particular
<br />has come to be associated with Wast Floral Park: Roy Rodney Russell. The ,son of Roy Roscoe Russell, who developed
<br />much of Victoria Avenue in Floral Park, Reay Rodney Russell formed a partnership with his father, called Roy Russell and
<br />Son, Builders, In 1945. They began building homes on speculation, usually around fifteen or twenty each year. Following
<br />the death of his father in 1965, Roy Rodney Russell continued to build, mostly custom homes and many of them in West
<br />Floral Park. He retired in 1993
<br />The Price House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1, as a structure with
<br />the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, the Colonial Revival. It displays the hipped roof massing, near
<br />symmetry, traditional palette of materials, portico, and fenestration that exemplifies the style, but with the stylized approach
<br />that is associated with the Colonial Revival from about 1937 onwards. Additionally, the house has been categorized as
<br />"Key" because It "has a distinctive architectural style and quality" as an example of the late Colonial Revival, Character-
<br />defining exterior features of the Price House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to: original materials
<br />and finishes where extant (wood cladding, brick chimneys); roof configuration and detailing; massing; original windows and
<br />doors; portico; chimneys; and architectural details (such as the enclosed soffits and trim, portico columns and entablature).
<br />*612. Rofarenoes (continued):
<br />Harris, Cyril M. American Arehitacture:,An /1"hi strated Enc clgnedia. New York, WW Norton, 1998.
<br />Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana An IIJusfrmod HhjM. Encinitas, Heritage Publishing, 1994.
<br />McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field gul e 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, t1S Dept of the Interior, 1991,
<br />Office of Historic Preservation. "Instructions for Recording Historical Resources." Sacramento March 1995.
<br />Whiffen, Marcus A, mehcan Architecture Since i,z80. Cambridge.' MIT Press, 1969.
<br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1901-1935.
<br />Armor, Samuel. History of Orange Cq_unty. Los Angeles: History Record Company, 1921.
<br />Franklin, Don„ "NW Santa Ana History. Roy Russell & Son, Builders." Unsourced article from the Santa Ana History Roam
<br />historic !-louse File, circa 1995,
<br />"Rohrbacher Rites Friday." The Reg,Ls„tLotl September 4, 1974.
<br />"!Santa Ana Hobbyist Builds in Bottles.” (No source or date provided; probably circa 1970s and from The Re is er0
<br />DPR 523L
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