State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer: Jane K. Newell & ARG Date: April 2022
P1. Other Identifier: 2020 West Orange Avenue
*P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County: Orange and (P2b and P2c or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: 2020 West Orange Avenue City: Anaheim Zip: 92804 d. UTM: Zone: 10 ; mE/ mN (G.P.S.)
e. Other Locational Data: That portion of the Northeast quarter of the Southwest quarter of Section 17, in Township 4 South, Range 10 West:
Beginning at a point on the center line of Orange Avenue, distant South 89° 53’ 31” West 87.33 feet thereon from the Northerly prolongation of the Westerly line of Lot Six of Tract No. 2712; thence South 0° 06’ 29” East 130.0 feet, thence South 89° 53’ 31” West 90.00 feet to the Southeast corner of Lot Forty-One of Tract No. 3346; thence North 0° 06’ 29” West 130.00 feet along the East line of said Lot Forty-One and its Northerly prolongation to said center line, thence North 89° 53’ 31” East 90.00 feet to the point of beginning. / APN #128-201-06
*P3a. Description:
This Spanish Colonial Revival house was constructed in 1929. It is one story in height, and its roof is multi-gabled with prominent front gables and shallow coved eaves. The building is clad in stucco painted a cream color with brown trim. The house’s main (north) entrance consist of a simple stoop and patio. The patio is enclosed by a low stuccoed wall. The patio and stoop provide access to an original wood door with an arched rose colored pane, and iron grill e featuring a centered “L”. Other fenestration includes large arched picture windows in the north façade gable ends and groupled multi -light wood windows at the center of the north façade. Both the arched windows feature decorative attic vents above. A side façade chimney with a clay tile f lue protrudes over the roofline. The addition on the west side of the house was constructed between 1938 and 1953, as evidenced by the 1938 aerial (p. 4) and the 1953 aerial (p. 5) views, and before the area was annexed into the City of Anaheim in October 1954. A long driveway on the east side of the house leads to the detached single-car garage. The house is set back from the street by a lawn and two mature trees.
*P3b. Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP2 Single Family Residence *P4. Resources Present: Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.)
P5b. Description of Photo: (View,
date, accession #)
Front façade, facing north,
4/21/2022
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Sources: Historic
Prehistoric Both
1929, Orange County Property
Tax Assessment Records
*P7. Owner and Address:
Michael and Natalie Carpenter
2020 West Orange Avenue,
Anaheim, CA 92804
*P8. Recorded by: (Name, affiliation,
and address)
Natalie Carpenter, Home owner
2020 West Orange Avenue,
Anaheim, CA 92804
*P9. Date Recorded: 4/21/2022
*P10. Survey Type: (Describe) Intensive survey (Anaheim survey for Qualified Historical Structure status)
*P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter "none.") none
*Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure, and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other (List):
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
*Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) The Lutz House B1. Historic Name: The Lutz House
B2. Common Name: 2020 West Orange Avenue
B3. Original Use: Single Family Residence B4. Present Use: Single Family Residence *B5. Architectural Style: Spanish Colonial Revival
6 *B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations) Constructed in 1929 per Orange County Property Tax Assessment Records. Building Permits: Reroof (2012) ; The addition on the west side of the house was constructed between 1938 and 1953, as evidenced by the 1938 aerial (p. 4) and the 1953 aerial (p. 5).
*B7. Moved? No Yes Unknown Date: Original Location:
*B8. Related Features: Detached single-car garage
B9a. Architect: unknown b. Builder: unknown
*B10. Significance: Theme: Residential Architecture; Agricultural Development Area: Anaheim Period of Significance: 1929 to 1954* Property Type: Single Family Residence Applicable Criteria:
*The 1929 to 1954 period of significance encompasses the house’s build date through the surrounding area’s annexation in 1954 by the City of Anaheim, which effectively marked the end to the house’s association with early agricultural patterns of development, as well as the construction of the west addition to the house.
This single family residence was originally associated with a typical Anaheim family citrus farm. The property reveals histor ical information about the patterns of Anaheim’s agricultural plots outside of the city limits in the early 20 th century. It is eligible for designation as a Historically Significant Structure due to its historical association with Anaheim’s agricultural period (1890 -1955) through its age, building type, and architectural style.
The family-owned groves and farms of Anaheim were usually five acres in size. Typically, a small residence would be located close to the road frontage, with the groves or fields stretching behind the house. When the orchards were removed in the post - agricultural period (generally after the 1950s), the lands were typically subdivided for residential development , and the original grove house became a part of the fabric of a newer neighborhood. This citrus grove house is on its original site, but its surroundings demonstrate the pattern of development in Anaheim during the 1950s and 1960s when citrus groves gave way to tract housing. While the house’s setting has changed significantly since its construction, the building has undergone few alterations since the period of significance and thus retains sufficient historic integrity to convey its association with the early agricultural development of Anaheim and the surrounding region.
Located just west of the original Anaheim Colony on a 0.23-acre lot, the house was constructed in 1929 by Phillip Lutz on a 20- acre parcel originally set to Valencia orange trees in the 1890s. The Lutz family maintained the 20-acre citrus grove until the definitive decline of agriculture in Anaheim in the mid -1950s [evidenced by the 1953 aerial view on page 5].
Originally this parcel was part of the 48,806-acre 1834 Mexican land grant known as Rancho Los Coyotes, which resulted from the partition of the 1790 Rancho Los Nietos grant. The rancho was owned in succession by Juan Jose Nieto, Juan Bautista Leandry, Francisco O’Campo, and Andres Pico. Soon after Anaheim’s founding in 1857, cattle baron Abel Stearns purchased Rancho Los Coyotes just west of the town. Heavy financial reverses due to the 1863-1864 drought forced Stearns to form a real estate partnership, called the Robinson Trust, named after main investor Albert Robinson, to liquidate over 100,000 acres in Orange County.
[See Page 3, continuation sheet]
B12. References: Anaheim & Orange County directories; Orange County Property Tax Assessment Records; Orange County
Grantor/Grantee Index & Grant Deeds; Obituaries from local newspapers; California Death Index, California Voter Registration Records, U.S. Census Records, Family Trees, etc. from
Ancestry.com.
*B14. Evaluator: Jane K. Newell, Heritage Services Manager & Evanne St. Charles, ARG
*Date of Evaluation: April 2022
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
Recorded by: Natalie Carpenter Continuation Update
DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
B10 Significance (Continued from Page 2)
On June 1, 1892, the Robinson Trust sold a 200-acre parcel in Section 17, Township 20 South, Range 10 West of the Rancho Los Coyotes to P. A. Stanton. Philip Ackley Stanton (b. 1868), a native of Ohio, moved to California in 1887, settling in Los Angeles with his parents and three siblings. He immediately found a job as a real estate agent, and in 1889 became involved with sell ing properties west of Anaheim for the Stearns Rancho Companies. Eventually, he acquired 3,500 acres roughly bounded by Nutwood, La Palma, Knott, and Orangewood Avenues, which he sold or leased to farmers who primarily raised sugar beets.
Between 1900 and 1915, Stanton was instrumental in establishing the towns of Huntington Beach, Stanton, and Seal Beach. He served in the California Assembly from 1903 to 1910, including a term as speaker from 1909 to 1910, and served as a member of the Republican National Committee for California from 1912 to 1916. In 1910, Stanton lost the Republican gubernatorial primary to Hiram Johnson. On November 2, 1921, Stanton married Grace O’Sullivan (b. 1888 in California) in Riverside (per The Long Beach Daily Telegram, 11/26/1921), with the couple living from 1929 to 1938 in the mansion they built on N. Brookhurst Ave. (now 2200 W. Sequoia Ave.) in Anaheim. In 1939, they moved to Seal Beach, where Philip Stanton died on September 8, 1945.
On June 4, 1892, P. A. Stanton sold the West half of the Northeast quarter of the Southwest quarter of S ection 17, consisting of 20 acres, to J. B. and Mollie Moser. John Babptist Moser (b. 1855), a native of Pennsylvania, married Mollie Sheeley (b. 1865 in England) in circa 1884 (per 1900 U.S. Census). The couple l ived in Los Angeles, where they raised their two children (Olive and Jefferson), and John worked as a steam railroad engineer. The family never lived in Anaheim, but owned the parcel for 14 year s.
On December 10, 1906, J. B. and Mollie Moser sold the 20-acre parcel to G. and M. Meger. Gottlieb Meger (b. 1850) emigrated from Poland in 1900 with his wife, Malvina (nee Evert) and nine children ( Emilie, Rudolph, Theodore, Martha, Helena, Augusta, Emma, Hulda, and Olga). After spending one year in Michigan, the family relocated to Anaheim and settled on a citrus ranch on the corner of Lincoln Ave. and Euclid St. The couple added three more children to their family (Otto, Lydia, and Victor) and purchased the 20-acre parcel on Orange Ave., replacing sugar beets with Valencia orange trees (per History of Or ange County, California…, by Samuel Armor, 1921: pp. 1427-1428). The Megers lived out their lives in Anaheim, with Malvina passing away in 1916 and Gottlieb in 1942. They were buried in the Anaheim Cemetery.
On February 13, 1912, G. and M. Meger sold the 20-acre parcel to Carl Rodemeyer, excepting three-quarters of an acre for the construction of a pumping plant for local irrigation. Carl Rodemeyer (b. 1885), immigrated from Germany in 1890 with his family, who settled in Iowa. There he married Alma Elizabeth Hartmann (b. 1893 in Iowa ) on December 19, 1912 (per Iowa Marriages Index). The newlywed couple moved to Anaheim, settling on their 19 ¼ -acre citrus ranch, where they raised three children (Leona, Alfred, and Meta). Between 1914 and 1919, the Rodemeyers sold their property in Anaheim and moved to Minnesota (per 1920 U.S. Census), where Carl and Alma were divorced by 1923. Both remarried, and in 1924 Carl Rodemeyer returned to Anaheim with his new wife, Margaret, and two of his children (Leona and Alfred). He found work as a ranch hand on Herman Stern’s citrus ranch on Ball Road, where Carl resided with his family for two years (per local directories). In March 1925, the Rodemeyer family moved to a five-acre chicken ranch in Escondido, California (per “Ne wcomer from Anaheim Buys Chicken Ranch,” Escondido Times-Advocate, 3/16/1925).
On November 2, 1914, Carl and Alma Rodemeyer sold the 19 ¼ -acre parcel to Phillip Lutz. On January 24, 1923, G. Meger granted the three-quarter-acre portion of the 20-acre parcel – with pumping plant – to his son, Rudolph Meger. On April 13, 1923, Rudolph and Tina Meger sold the three-quarter-acre parcel to Phillip and Rosa C. Lutz, thereby restoring the citrus ranch to its original 20-acres. Phillip Lutz (b. 1875) emigrated from Germany in 1888 with his family, who settled in Illinois. He married Rosa Christina Hoefer (b. 1880) in her native Minnesota on February 26, 1902 (per Minnesota Marriages Index). In 1906, the couple moved to Santa Ana with their first child (Howard), and added two more sons, Everett and Lawrence. Phillip Lutz established a tailor shop on Fourth Street in Santa Ana, while the family resided at 1712 Valencia St. After completing high school, their eldest son Howard was groomed to assume management of the 20 -acre citrus ranch in Anaheim, which he did in 1926 (per Orange County directories). Howard Arthur Lutz (b. 1904) married Helen Frances Smiley (b. 1907 in Santa Ana) on January 5, 1928 in Glendale (per California Marriages Index). In April 1929, Phillip and Rosa Lutz signed a $2,000 trust deed with Farmers and Merchants Saving Bank of Santa Ana for construction of a house at what is now 2020 W. Orange Ave. Local directories list Howard and Helen Lutz as residents of the house from 1929 through 1959. Since the property was originally located outside the Anaheim town boundaries, it didn’t have a street address until after World War II and depended on the Rural Free Mail Delivery in route 1. The 1929 Orange County Directory listed the residence of Howard A. and Helen Lutz at Rural Delivery route 1, box 376B in Anaheim. After 1945, the address was listed as 10342 Orange Ave, and following the October 1954 annexation into Anaheim it received the current address of 2020 W. Orange Ave.
[See Page 4, continuation sheet]
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
Recorded by: Natalie Carpenter Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
B10 Significance (Continued from Page 3)
This 1938 aerial view shows that the house at 2020 W. Orange is one of only four houses between Nutwood and Brookhurst Avenues.
On March 23, 1948, Phillip and Rosa C. Lutz granted the 20-acre parcel to Howard A. and Helen F. Lutz. Less than three months before his death in Santa Ana on June 5, 1948, Phillip and Rosa gave the citrus ranch to their son Howard, who had managed it for over 20 years. Howard and Helen Lutz had two children, Lawrence and Linda, who attended Anaheim schools and graduated from Anaheim High School in 1951 and 1954 respectively.
Between 1955 to 1957, Howard and Helen Lutz sold 19 ½ acres to Nutwood Properties, Inc. for the development of four surrounding tracts (Nos. 2711, 2712, 3346, and 3347).
On September 29, 1959, Howard A. and Helen F. Lutz granted the house on the current 0.23-acre lot to their son and daughter-in-law, Lawrence R. and Marilyn Lutz. Lawrence Lutz (b. 1933 in Santa Ana) married Marilyn Lewis (b. 1935 in Arizona) at her parents’ home in Fullerton on June 26, 1954 (per California Marriage Index). Both attended Fullerton Junior College and Brigham Young University (per marriage announcement, Los Angeles Times , 7/11/1954). They had four children, Lawrence Jr., Loralyn, Debra, and Steven.
Lawrence Lutz joined the Anaheim Fire Department in 1956, and following his retirement as a Captain in 1986, the couple moved to Gardnerville, Nevada, where Lawrence served as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Closer view of house before west addition Saints. He passed away on December 2, 2013 and was buried in Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana (per his obituary, Orange County Register , 12/8/2013).
After the property had been owned by the Lutz family for 52 years, on September 12, 1966, Lawrence R. and M arilyn L. Lutz sold the parcel and house to Roscoe D. and Mary Parrish. Roscoe Damron Parrish (b. 1890), a native of Illinois, received his veter inary degree and graduated from the Kansas Agricultural College in Manhattan, Kansas in mid-1914. He worked in the Kansas sanitary livestock commissioner’s office for four years before marrying Mary Catherine Birtell (b. 1890 in Kansas) on May 15, 1920 in Colorado (per Colorado Marriage Index and marriage announcement, Topeka State Journal , 5/18/1920). The newlyweds settled on a ranch near Montrose, Colorado, where their first child, Rex Damron Parrish, was born. By 1925, the family relocated to Porterville, California where they welcomed their second son, William . Dr. Roscoe Parrish established and operated a veterinary hospital in Porterville for the next 40 years. Following his retirement in 1966, the Parrishes joined their son, Rex, in Anaheim, where they resided until Roscoe’s death on January 21, 1970 and Mary’s death on February 18, 1976. They were interred in Hillcrest Cemetery in Porterville.
On July 25, 1968, Roscoe D. and Mary C. Parrish granted the house to their son, Rex D. Parrish and his wife, Erminia. Rex Damron Parrish (b. 1923) served in the U.S. Army in World War II , then attended San Jose University. After obtaining a B.A. in Journalism from Whittier College, he married fellow student, Yvonne Louise Estevanez (b. 1929 in Michigan) on Augus t 19, 1950 in Los Angeles (per California Marriage Index). The couple lived in Gardena with their only child, Claudia, while Rex Parrish worked for Lindsay Publishing Co. In 1960, the couple divor ced and Rex moved to Anaheim, finding work as a technical writer with Autonetics, a division of North American Aviation, Inc. (per local directories). On December 30, 1965, he married Erminia Nancy (nee Nervegna) Starr (b. 1915 in Connecticut) in Nevada (per Nevada Marriage Index). The couple and Erminia’s daughters, Sharon and Pamela Starr, resided at 1026 W. Arlington Ave. until Rex’s parents granted them the house at 2020 W. Orange Ave. in 1968. On July 23, 1997, Rex and Erminia Parrish placed the property in The Parrish Trust. The Parrish family owned the house a total of 56 years. [See Page 5, continuation sheet]
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
Recorded by: Natalie Carpenter Continuation Update
DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
B10 Significance (Continued from Page 4)
Following the deaths of Erminia Nancy Parrish on October 13, 2020 and Rex Damron Parrish on March 6, 2021, Erminia’s daughter, Pamela (nee Starr) Carter was named successor trustee. On August 6, 2021, Pamela Carter, successor trustee, sold the house to Mike Duong, a single man, and Melanie Pham, a single woman.
On February 8, 2022, Mike Duong and Melanie Pham sold the property to Natalie and Michael Carpenter. Natalie and Michael Carpenter met as fellow cast members at the nearby Anaheim amusement park, Disneyland. With a shared appreciation of local history and historic preservation, the couple settled in the Orange Historic District. They were married on November 17, 2006 at the historic landmark Spanish-mission resort, Mission Inn in Riverside. They purchased the Lutz House when the opportunity presented itself to steward a historic home in a city that was an integral part of the family’s history. The Carpenter family also consists of three children: Ava Madeline, Ellasyn Sabine, and Asher Declan. Living on the property with the Carpenter family members are many pet birds, including chickens and parakeets, and the family dog, Rocket.
1953 aerial view of 2020 West Orange Ave.
Closer view of house
showing west addition