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State of California —The Resources Agency Primary #
<br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
<br />CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
<br />Rage i of J Resource Name or# (Assigned by recorder) Merton House
<br />*Recorded by Leslie J. Heumann and Deborah Howell - Ardila *Date September 25, 2006 0 Continuation ❑ Update
<br />*510. Significance (continued):
<br />Santa Ann was founded by William Spurgeon in 1869 as a speculative town site on part of the Spanish land grant known as
<br />Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. The civic and commercial core of the community was centered around the intersection of
<br />Main and Fourth Streets. Stimulated by the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad and incorporation as a city in 1886, and selection
<br />as the seat of the newly created County of Orange in 1889, the city grew outwards, with residential neighborhoods
<br />developing around the city center, Agricultural uses predominated In the outlying areas, with cultivated fields and orchards
<br />dotted with widely scattered farmhouses.
<br />The Melton House is located in the Santa Ana Triangle neighborhood. Located north of the neighborhoods of French Park
<br />and French Court, Santa Ana Triangle is bounded roughly by Santa Clara Avenue on the north, Seventeenth Street on the
<br />south, Interstate 5 on the east, and Main Street on the west. Interstate 5 conforms to the prominent diagonal swath originally
<br />cut by the Southern Pacific Railroad line, which was established In Santa Ana in the late 1670s and still forms the eastern
<br />border of the Santa Ana Triangle neighborhood. By the early part of the twentieth century, single - family homes had begun to
<br />be constructed in the neighborhood, with the majority of improvements clustered on Bush Street between Seventeenth and
<br />Eighteenth Streets. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, the most rapid growth in the area took place between 1910
<br />and 1915, when Improvements on Bush Street increased by 50 percent (from 24 to 36), and Improvements on Spurgeon
<br />more than doubled, Santa Ana Triangle's growth in the early twentieth century owed much to its location along the Pacific
<br />Electric Railway line, which ran along Main Street on the neighborhood's western border, Historian Diann Marsh
<br />characterized the arrival of the Pacific Electric Railway's Red Car as "one of the most significant., events of 1906." While the
<br />Southern Pacific Railway already offered travel to Los Angeles, the comfortably appointed Red Car was considered a vast
<br />Improvement to the Southern Pacific fine. The Red Car greatly increased accessibility to Santa Ana, which had already
<br />become a center of economic, commercial, and social activity in Orange County, and Increased the fortunes of all
<br />communities through which it passed.
<br />By 1912, the Santa Ana Triangle neighborhood had already been annexed by the City of Santa Ana, with most improvements
<br />consisting of wood- framed, single - family residences on parcels with an average size of 50 -70 feet wide by 140 -150 feet deep.
<br />The character of the area changed In the postwar period, with new construction accelerating in the 1950s and 1960s. As of
<br />2006, approximately 44 percent of the extant buildings in the Santa Ana Triangle were constructed from 1950 through the
<br />1980s. However, Santa Ana Triangle retains much of its original construction, primarily in the form of Craftsman bungalows,
<br />from the neighborhood's early development during the first quarter of the twentieth century. Of the extant buildings in the
<br />neighborhood, approximately 42 percent were constructed from 1901 through 1925.
<br />The Melton House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties tinder Criterion 1 for its
<br />exemplification of the distinguishing characteristics of the Colonial Revival style. Typical features of this style illustrated by
<br />the house include the Tuscan columns supporting the porch roof, Jerkinhead (or clipped) gable, and the symmetrical
<br />arrangement of features on the fagade. Additionally, the house has been categorized as "Contributive" because it
<br />"contributes to the overall character and history" of Santa Ana, and, as an intact example of a Colonial Revival hotise in the
<br />Santa Ana Triangle neighborhood, "is a good example of period architecture." Character- defining exterior features of the
<br />Melton House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to, materials and finishes (clapboard siding); roof
<br />configuration and detailing (clipped gables); massing and syrnrnetry,, original windows and doors and their surrounds where
<br />extant; the porch, its Tuscan columns and plain beams; architectural details such as exposed rafters; bargeboards, and
<br />patterned wooden slats in gable vents.
<br />*612. 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 />Be/I, Charles D. The Pioneer Churches of Santa Ana District, Santa Ana, CA, 1929.
<br />Orange County Plat Maps, 1912,
<br />Thomas Brothers Maps of Orange County, 1957 and 1964.
<br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1905 -1954.
<br />APR 523L Page 4 of 4
<br />25A -30
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