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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 4 Resource Name: Harold T. Segerstrom House
<br />KeCOMed byt-Wro vomez *Date October29, 202000 Continuation ❑ Update
<br />Following World War ll, the family branched into commercial and industrial ventures, and, with the construction of South
<br />Coast Plaza Town Center, became one of the most successful land developers in the county. The Segerstrom interests also
<br />built the first high rise in Santa Ana, the United California Building at the corner of Tenth and Main Streets, Harold T
<br />Segerstrom Sr. died in 1978; Veronica Segerstrom died in 1982. Along with his cousin Henry T. Segerstrom, Harold T.
<br />Segerstrom Jr. joined the family firm, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons in the late 1940's and was a managing partner. Harold T
<br />Segerstrom Jr. remained in the home until 1984 when he moved to Newport Beach with his wife Jeannette Segerstrom but
<br />the house remained in the family until the early 1990's, until Harold T. Segerstrom Jr.'s sudden death.
<br />The Harold T. Segerstrom House is located in Jack Fisher Park, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded
<br />by Bristol Street, Santa Clara Avenue, Memory Lane, and the Interstate 5. The neighborhood takes its name from Jacob
<br />(Jack) Fisher. Born in Yakima, Washington, Fisher moved to Santa Ana with his parents and sister in the early twentieth
<br />century. In April 1917, upon the United States' entry into World War 1, Fisher enlisted in the US Army when he was 18 years
<br />old. Assigned to Company L, Seventh California Regiment, Fisher later advanced to the level of corporal in the 58th Infantry
<br />of Company D. After Fisher's death at the age of 30, in March 1929, the Chapter of Disabled American Veterans he helped
<br />form took his name as the Jack Fisher Post, Chapter of Disabled American Veterans. On August 23, 1933, construction was
<br />completed on a park north of Santiago Creek on North Flower Street and dedicated as the Jack Fisher Memorial Park.
<br />Prior to its residential development, Fisher Park formed Lots 5B, 8 and 9 of the Potts, Borden and Sidwell Tract, subdivided in
<br />1881. Current -day Interstate 5 conforms to the prominent diagonal swath cut by the Southern Pacific Railroad line, which
<br />was established in Santa Ana in the late 1870s and still forms the eastern border of the Fisher Park neighborhood. With the
<br />exception of the Southern Pacific Railroad line, the area remained agricultural through much of the first half of the twentieth
<br />century, with walnut groves and orchards dotting the landscape. In November 1947, residential development arrived when a
<br />narrow strip was cleared, graded, and subdivided into 25lots offered as Tract No. 1160, "River Lane Tract." Mirroring the
<br />curve of Santiago Creek to the south, the streets displayed a curvilinear layout, with lots ranging in size from 70 to 130 feet
<br />long, 140 to 190 deep. Three years later, in August 1950, another curvilinear subdivision appeared east of Flower Street,
<br />with smaller lots, averaging 60 feet by 90 feet, arranged around a curvilinear pattern with cul de sacs. An outgrowth of earlier
<br />City Beautiful and Garden City models, this curvilinear layout reflected neighborhood planning preferences codified in the
<br />1930s by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which regulated and financed the increase in home ownership through
<br />its mortgage lending and insurance programs. During the post -WWII housing expansion in the United States, the FHA -
<br />endorsed model for city planning, as reflected in the neighborhood of Fisher Park, "set the standards for the design of post -
<br />World War II subdivisions." (National Register Bulletin, Historic Residential Suburbs, p. 49).
<br />Construction quickly transformed the neighborhood from agricultural to residential. A 1947 aerial photograph taken a few
<br />months before creation of the River Lane Tract shows the area dominated by groves of trees. By 1955, nearly all the lots of
<br />both tracts had been improved with single-family residences with uniform setbacks, mostly in the Ranch House style popular
<br />in the 1950s and 1960s, in a configuration and unity of design still reflected there today (2020). The homes of the Jack Fisher
<br />Park neighborhood represent the overwhelming success architects and builders had in the early 1950's, when building
<br />homes using "California Ranch" architectural design and features. Homes and lots located in the Fisher Park neighborhood
<br />were generously scaled, with homes ranging from 1,500 to 6,000 square feet and lot sizes from 6,500 to 25,000 square feet.
<br />The Harold T. Segerstrom House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 4(b),
<br />for its association with renowned Orange County Segerstrom family, who were agriculturalists, developers, and arts patrons,
<br />and under Criterion 2 for its association with prominent Santa Ana builder Allison Honer. Additionally, the house has been
<br />categorized as "Landmark" for its "historical/cultural significance to the City," stemming from its association with the
<br />Segerstroms (Santa Ana Municipal Code, Section 30-2.2). Character -defining features of the Harold T. Segerstrom House
<br />include, but may not be limited to: asymmetrical fagade; roof configuration, including steeply pitched, hipped roof and front -
<br />facing and side -gabled extensions; roof and wall dormers; materials and finishes (brick, smooth stucco, and horizontal wood
<br />board siding); fenestration (metal casement windows with diamond shaped patterns); exterior brick chimney and rooftop
<br />cupula with weathervane; and front entry porch.
<br />"1312. References (continued):
<br />Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1940-1997 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
<br />Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations inc, 2002.
<br />Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York, WIN Norton, 1998.
<br />Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana, An Illustrated His 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
<br />National Register Bulletin, Historic Residential Suburbs, p. 49
<br />Newspapers.com (Santa Ana Register)
<br />Branch, National Park Service, US Dept. of the Interior, 1991.
<br />DPR 523L
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