25A - AGMT - HISTORIC PROPERTIES

Home Browse Search

State of California —The Resources Agency Primary # DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial Page 3 of 4 Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Brown House *Recorded by H. Soboleske *Date November 5, 2015 O Continuation CJ Update *810. Significance (continued): Santa Ana was founded by William Spurgeon In 1869 as a speculative town site on part of the Spanish land grant known as Rancho Santiago do Santa Ana. The civic and commercial core of the community was centered around the intersection of Milo and Fourth Streets. Stimulated by the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad and Incorporation as a city in 1886, and selection as the seat of the newly created County of Orange in 1669, the city grew outwards, with residential neighborhoods developing to the north, south, and east of the city center. Agricultural uses predominated in the outlying areas, with cultivated fields and orchards dotted with widely scattered farmhouses. The Brown House is located in Park Santiago neighborhood, near the present northern city limits of Santa Ana and substantially north of the original city core. The neighborhood is bounded by Santiago Creek and Park on the north, Fast Seventeenth Street on the south, North Lincoln Avenue on the east, North Main Street on the west, and the l -5 freeway on the southwest. In large part, these boundaries reflect the transportation lines that were constructed towards the end of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Pacific Electric interurban railroad ran up Main Street; the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe tracks followed Lincoln; and the Southern Pacific Railroad right -of -way mirrored the freeway route. This area remained primarily agricultural well Into the 1920s As of 1905, the city directories listed around twenty households on East Santa Clara, Twentieth Street, "C Street' (now North Santiago Street), North Bush Street and North Main Avenue, the only streets in the area at the time. The vast majority of the residents were ranchers. By 1911, the number of households had increased to about thirty, and Edgewood Road and Valencia Street had been partially told out, but most residents continued to list "rancher" or "fruit grower" as their occupation in the city directories. This pattern of land use was evident on the 1912 plat map of the City, which illustrated two small, Craftsman -era subdivisions along Bush north of Santa Clara and on Valencia and Poinsettia south of Twentieth Street, with the remaining area divided into larger agricultural parcels held by approximately forty landowners. While the area east of Santiago Street was not subdivided until after the mid- 1920s, most of the present day streets west of Santiago had been laid out when the City was mapped in 1923. Ranching continued to be the most prevalent occupation in the neighborhood, but increasing numbers of professionals, small business owners, merchants, and people in service professions such as painters, electricians, and carpenters made their homes In the western half of the neighborhood during the 1920s and 1930s. The area also attracted several city and county officials, including the City Attorney (Z.B. West, Jr., 321 East Santa Clara Avenue), County Supervisor, First District (C.H. Chapman, 2315 North Santiago Street), County Surveyor (E. H. Irwin, 2407 North Santiago Street), and County Auditor (William C. Jerome, 2422 Poinsettia Street). By April 1942, when the Sanborn Company first mapper/ the western half of the area, most of the tots had been Improved with single - family hornes, many in the revival styles popular during the 1920s and 1930s, Subsequent development of the eastern half of the neighborhood and Infill construction In the western half displayed the simplified ranch style that emerged following Werld War It, The Brown House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 3 because it embodies the distinctive characteristics of the Ranch style. Typical features of the Ranch style of architecture include the building's wide horizontal massing, forge picture windows designed to bring the outdoors 'Into" the living space, and natural materials used In cladding. Additionally, the house has been categorized as "Key" because itpossesses "distinctive architectural style and quality" and is associated with prominent citizen, Harold R. Brown, of the Brown Colonial Mortuary. Character - defining exterior features of the Brown House that should be preserved include, but may not be limited to, materials and finishes (wood siding); roof configuration and open rafter tails; wood windows and shutters, and architectural details such as the attached garage and curved porch supports. DPR 523L Page 4 of 9 25A -94