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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 3 Resource Name: Jennie Lasby Tessmann House
<br />*Recorded by Pedro Gomez *Date March 22, 2018 O Continuation ❑ Update
<br />*B10. Significance (continued):
<br />Originally from Castle Rock, Minnesota, Jennie Lasby (later Tessmann) was a renowned researcher, astronomer and
<br />author, and was a dedicated member of the Santa Ana College faculty for close to 30 years. After earning her bachelor's
<br />degree from Carleton College in Minnesota in 1904 and a master's degree from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in
<br />1906, Jennie Lasby served on the Mount Wilson Observatory staff in Los Angeles. She was associated with George Ellery
<br />Hale and Dr. Albert Einstein and was credited as the first woman to enter the Mount Wilson Observatory as a researcher. In
<br />1918 she moved to Santa Ana to care for her parents and was subsequently hired by Santa Ana College in 1919, where she
<br />taught astronomy until her retirement in 1946. Jennie Lasby Tessmann was actively engaged in astronomical research in
<br />the late 1930's and was one of about fifty women doing research in the United States. It was generally agreed that she was
<br />among the highest in experience and achievement. Jennie Lasby Tessmann passed away on December 9, 1959 at the age
<br />of 77.
<br />The Jennie Lasby Tessmann House is located in Floral Park, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded
<br />by West Seventeenth Street, North Flower Street, Riverside Drive, and Broadway. Groves of oranges, avocados, and
<br />walnuts and widely scattered ranch houses characterized this area before 1920. Developer and builder Allison Honer (1897-
<br />1981), credited as the subdivider and builder of a major portion of northwest Santa Ana, arrived in Santa Ana from Beaver
<br />Falls, New York in 1922 (Talbert, pages 353-356). "Before nightfall on the day of his arrival, Mr. Honer purchased a parcel of
<br />land. And that month, he began building custom homes in Santa Ana" (Orange County Register, September 15, 1981). The
<br />parcel chosen became the Floral Park subdivision between Seventeenth Street and Santiago Creek. "When built in the
<br />1920s, the Floral Park homes were the most lavish and expensive in the area. They sold for about $45,000 each" (Orange
<br />County Register, September 15, 1981). Revival architecture in a wide variety of romantic styles was celebrated in the 1920s
<br />and 1930s and Floral Park showcased examples of the English Tudor, French Norman, Spanish Colonial, and Colonial
<br />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 11, 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 revival in style.
<br />In the 1950s, low, horizontal Ranch Style houses completed the growth of Floral Park.
<br />The Jennie Lasby Tessmann House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1,
<br />for its exemplification of the distinguishing characteristics of the Tudor Revival style; and Criterion 4 for its contribution to the
<br />Floral Park neighborhood, for its association with prominent local builder, Emmet C. Rogers, and for its association with
<br />renowned researcher, astronomer, and Santa Ana College faculty, Jennie Lasby Tessmann. Additionally, the house has
<br />been categorized as "Key" for its "distinctive architectural style and quality, " embodying the massing, materials, and detailing
<br />of Tudor Revival design; for its "association with a significant period in the history of the city" namely the development of
<br />Floral Park as the premier residential district of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Santa Ana; and
<br />"association with a significant persons", Emmet C. Rogers and Jennie Lasby Tessmann. Character -defining features of the
<br />Jennie Lasby Tessmann House include: materials and finishes; steeply pitched roofs; entry porch; asymmetrical primary
<br />elevation; steppedbrick chimney; decorative half-timbering; picturesque windows; rectangular -shaped, attic vents; and the
<br />detached, one-story, front -gabled 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 />Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1969.
<br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1920-1979.
<br />Santa Ana (Daily) Register, 1923-1954 (newpapers.com).
<br />United States Federal Census, 1920, 1930, 1940 (ancestry.com).
<br />DPR 523L
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