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State of California —The Resources Agency Primary # DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial Pane 3 of 4 Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) A. T. Bates Ranch House *Recorded by Leslie J. Neumann, SAIC *Date April 21, 2004 I] Continuation ❑ Update *610. Significance (continued): In 1910, father and son John B. and Merle Ramsey, who had come to Santa Ana in 1902 and subsequently set up business as plaster contractors, purchased Fifteen acres of the ranch from a Mr. Talcott. By that time, the adobe had been replaced by the present house, estimated to have been built circa 1895 (Cultural Heritage Inventory, 1983). A bam with an attached bunkhouse was located west of the house (approximately where Westwood Avenue runs today). The Ramseys began tending the orange and walnut trees already on half of the acreage, and planted additional walnut trees and apricot trees on the vacant land. They also developed the "Ramsey Apple" by grafting cuttings from their home in Ohio onto California rootstock. At the time of the Ramsey's purchase, the ranch, although located within the city limits of Santa Ana, was "far out in the country, " reached via dirt roads, with no nearby neighbors. The location of the property was understood to be the vicinity of Baker and Seventeenth. In 1921, father and son divided the property, with the father keeping the rear portion for farming and son taking the front in order to take advantage of the expanding residential area of Santa Ana by building houses. City directories in the 1930s list the address of John Ramsey as 1901 North Baker Street and of Merle Ramsey as 1101 West Seventeenth Street. Westwood Avenue north of Seventeenth, however, was not developed until the post World War 11 period, and the first building permit with the current address was recorded in 1948. Merle Ramsey recalled his life on the A. T. Bates ranch in This Was Mission County: Reflections in Orange of Merle and Mabel Ramsey, published in 1973, and noted that the house remained exactly where it had been, only surrounded by streets and houses. Ramsey also recalled unearthing several Native American artifacts on the property, most notably two stone pots discovered when they installed an irrigation system. Since the second half of the twentieth century, the neighborhood in which the A. T. Bates Ranch House is located has been known as West Floral Park. Bounded by Santiago Creek on the north, West Seventeenth Street on the south, North Flower Street on the east and North Bristol Street on the west, this residential area largely developed after 1947. Prior to that time, the area was primarily agricultural, and other than Flower Street, which was improved with houses during the 1920s and 1930s, contained only a handful of residences on Baker and Bristol Streets, the City Water Works pumping plant at 2315 North Bristol Street and the Animal Shelter and City /County Pound at 2321 North Bristol Street. Between 1947 and 1950, around two dozen homes were constructed on Baker, Olive, Towner, and Westwood Streets. Construction boomed during the 1950s, and the Califomia Ranch style homes that characterized that era still dominate the streets of West Floral Park in the early twenty-first century. Although the A. T. Bates Ranch House has been altered somewhat its massing, roof configuration, the placement of the windows and doors, and plan features such as the porch and balcony still bear a close resemblance to historic photographs in the Ramsey book (see Continuation Sheet 4 of 4) and included in the documentation at the Santa Ana Library History Room (Cultural Resources Inventory, 1983). The house is vernacular in design, combining features associated with the Dutch Colonial Revival (the gambrel root) with the elements of the tradition of wood - framed folk houses (the overall massing, simplicity of design, and lack of ornamentation). In contrast to the mid twentieth century "California Ranch" style homes that have been built around it, the A. T. Bates Ranch House is easily recognizable as a product of the nineteenth century. The A. T. Bates Ranch House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1, as a structure with the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or period, and under Criterion 7, as a building connected with a business or use which was once common, but is now rare. Additionally, the house has been categorized as "Key" because it is characteristic of a significant period in the history of the City of Santa Ana," the agricultural period. Character - defining exterior features of the A. T. Bates Ranch House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to: original materials and finishes where extant, roof configuration and detailing, massing; windows and doors (including original placement, dimensions, and materials where extant); porch configuration and original detailing, where extant,- brick chimney; and architectural details (such as the sill course and balcony). DPR 523L Page 5 of 6