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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 or # (Assigned by recorder) Lindley - Walker - Nisson House
<br />*Recorded by Leslie J. Herrmann, Hally Soboleske *Date October 20, 2014 ❑x Continuation ❑ Update
<br />*136. Construction History (continued):
<br />April 11, 1983. Room addition (artist studio /workshop).
<br />November 20, 1984. Room addition.
<br />May 2, 1990. Convert bedroom into bath and add maid room on first floor, second floor addition, and open deck. First (105
<br />square feet), second ($342 square feet), deck (50 square feet). $32, 000.
<br />*1310. Significance (continued):
<br />From 1929 to 1942, the house was the property of Clyde J. Walker and Geraldine I. Walker. Born in 1878 in California,
<br />Walker was vice - president and manager of the John McFadden Company ( "hardware, sporting goods, plumbing, painting,
<br />and sheet metal contracting) according to the 1923 city directory. By 1930, Walker had become the President of the
<br />Automobile Club of Orange County, a position he still held in 1940. Walker died in 1941 and his widow sold
<br />to Clarence A. and Vera M. Nissan.
<br />Clarence Arthur Nissan was born on October 19, 1890 in Santa Ana to a pioneer Santa Ana family. His father, Mathias
<br />Nissan, born in Germany in 1847 near the Danish border, had immigrated to the United States in 1873, arriving in Santa
<br />Ana in 1876. After working on various farms for a few years, Nissan purchased a 21 -acre tract at 2500 North Main Street in
<br />1880. He cleared the land and unsuccessfully tried crops of grapes, followed by prunes and apricots. Realizing the potential
<br />of walnuts and Valencia oranges, he planted orchards; a report in 1921 indicated that eleven acres were devoted to walnuts,
<br />nine to Valencias and one to navels, the "commodious" family house (no longer extant) presumably occupying the remaining
<br />acreage (Armor, pages 452 -455). This property includes the site of the present day Discovery Museum. Understanding how
<br />vital water was to the future of Santa Ana, Mathias was a director and long -time president of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation
<br />company. He was also a director of the California National Bank in Santa Ana, a director of the Santa Ana Steam Laundry,
<br />and a charter member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association in Orange. Mathias Nissan died in 1933, and his wife
<br />Charlotte died in 1938, leaving their estate to their two children, Estella and Clarence.
<br />After attending Santa Ana schools, Clarence Nissan followed his father into the citrus industry. A lifetime resident of Santa
<br />Ana, Clarence Nissan at one time owned fifty acres of land in Santa Ana and Orange and ten acres in Tustin a Redhill and
<br />Walnut Avenue, most of which was given over to orange groves. The Tustin property was given to Clarence by his father on
<br />the occasion of his marriage to Vera Montgomery in 1915; today is the site of one of the last two remaining orchards in
<br />Orange County, operated by Clarence's son and daughter -in -law, James Mathias (Matt) and Margaret (Peggy) Was Nissan.
<br />Clarence and Vera Nissan also had two older sons, Clarence Arthur, junior (Arthur), an attorney who was the only person in
<br />Orange County to pass the California bar examination in 1942 and who was the Tustin City Attorney in 1947, and Richard, a
<br />storekeeper. The family lived on Redhill until 1942, when they purchased in Santa Ana.
<br />Prominent in the social life of Santa Ana, the Nissons' many parties and receptions at were extensively
<br />reported in the Santa Ana Register. Also in 1942, the City of Santa Ana concluded a three -year long process of buying a ten
<br />and a half -acre orange grove lying adjacent to Santiago Park between Main Street and Santa Ana Boulevard from the
<br />Nissons for use as a public park. Clarence lived at until his death in September 1959 and Vera continued to
<br />live in the house until she passed away in September 1972.
<br />After a brief period of ownership by Steven and Kathryn Keiser, the property was acquired by Phyllis Soto Harbor in 1977,
<br />who owned it until 2000. The widow of a former mayor of Buena Park, Mrs. Harbor was responsible for the 1983 -1990
<br />renovations to the house, which were accomplished in character with the Spanish Colonial Revival design, including
<br />matching the unique texture of the exterior plastering.
<br />The Nissan House is located in Floral Park, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded by West
<br />Seventeenth Street, North Flower Street, Riverside Drive, and Broadway. Groves of oranges, avocados, and walnuts and
<br />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
<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. The Allison Honer Construction Company went on to complete such notable projects as the 1935 Art Deco styled
<br />Old Santa Ana City Hall,. the El Toro Marine Base during World War fl, and the 1960 Honer Shopping Plaza. Honer lived in
<br />the neighborhood he had helped to create, at 615 West Santa Clara Avenue.
<br />DPR 523L 2sA15404
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