Ventura City Council
September 26, 2022

Date: September 12, 2022
Council Action Date: September 26, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Alex D. McIntyre, City Manager
Peter Gilli, Community Development Director
SUBJECT: ADVANCE ITEM - Citywide Historic Context Statement

SUMMARY
In 2019, City Council approved an agreement with Historic Resources Group for the preparation of a Citywide Historic Context Statement and Survey. This update provides a status of the effort and a request for City Council’s endorsement of the Draft Citywide Historic Context Statement.

RECOMMENDATION
Endorse the Draft Historic Context Statement and direct staff and HRG to move forward with Citywide Historic Resource Survey.

DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS
While the City began designating historic landmarks and points of interest in the 1970’s, the effort of identifying the significant development patterns and potentially significant properties from the community did not begin until the 1980’s. The Downtown area was surveyed in 1983 and 2007 and portions of the Westside Community were surveyed 1983 and 2011. Citywide, several individual properties have been evaluated over the years on case-by-case basis when a property was proposed to be redeveloped.

On the next page are illustrative charts that shows the three categories of structures in the City from a historic perspective (the charts are not based on actual numbers):

1. Those identified as a historic resource (blue)

2. Those identified as not a historic resource (orange)

3. Those that are undetermined – they may be historic or they may not (gray) TBD

AGENDA ITEM
Citywide Historic Context Statement
September 26, 2022

Of the 100,000+ structures in the City, Figure 1 illustrates the vast majority have an undetermined historic status. The structures we are certain of are based on the limited
surveys and case-by-case work done to date.

Undetermined structures, which include single-family
homes, can require historic analysis for any proposed
exterior change. That can be time-consuming and costly for both the owner and the City. In addition, these individual evaluations are done without the benefit of understanding a property’s potential significance within a citywide context.

Preparing a citywide context statement and survey can
improve the situation, but it will not completely answer whether every structure is historic or not. This is because a historic resources survey is a snapshot in time; therefore, additional information may come to light that was not
available at the time of the survey, and additional properties will reach the required age threshold as time moves
forward. However, the historic resources survey will provide greater certainty for property owners and will give the City better and more complete direction on those properties that are identified as historically significant. Figure 2 illustrates how the citywide survey is expected to increase the number of structures identified as historic, and as not historic, thereby reducing the number of undetermined structures.

That provides more certainty for owners and staff when it comes to proposing exterior changes to existing buildings.

The 2005 General Plan and local historic advocates have supported conducting a citywide survey. Conducting
periodic historic resources surveys also represents best practice and is consistent with guidance from the State Office of Historic Preservation for Certified Local
Governments.

In 2019, City Council authorized staff to issue a request for proposals for a citywide historic context statement and survey. A contract was awarded by City Council to Historic Resources Group (HRG), a leading firm devoted to historic preservation planning and historic architecture consulting. HRG’s staff is composed of architectural historians, architects, historians, and urban planners who specialize in the built environment in Southern California. In addition, HRG’s team has past experience working with the City, as they prepared past surveys and are included on the City’s list of on-call historic preservation consultants.

Fi
gure 2: Context
Statement and
Survey
Figure 1: Existing
Citywide Historic Context Statement
September 26, 2022

The project timeline has been delayed due to COVID-19.

Citywide Context Statement
The first phase of HRG’s work is the preparation of the first citywide historic context statement for the built environment in Ventura. A historic context statement is a document that analyzes the historical development of a community, not a comprehensive history of an area. Rather, it is intended to highlight trends and patterns critical to the understanding of the built environment. The preparation of the comprehensive historic context statement provides the framework for the historic resources survey.

The context statement includes a narrative overview that summarizes early periods of development as needed to provide the framework of discussion of the development of Ventura and to conduct the field survey. The preparation of this document includes the following:

1. Updating and expanding existing studies

2. Reviewing development patterns in the City through 1979

3. Providing eligibility standards and integrity thresholds for evaluating properties that have potential historic significance under each of the themes.

Historic Preservation Committee (HPC)
HPC reviewed the Draft Historic Context Statement on April 22, 2021 and provided feedback. HRG revised the context statement based on the discussion at the meeting and comments provided by HPC members to the project team. A revised version of the Historic Context Statement is attached (Attachment A). A project website was also created to bring awareness to the effort and to post the Historic Context Statement for the public’s review and comment. HRG has also met with local experts and the San Buenaventura Conservancy in the preparation of the Revised Draft.

HPC reviewed the Revised Draft Historic Context Statement on May 12, 2022 and recommended the City Council endorse the Historic Context Statement. It should be noted that the context statement can be amended in the future and is not intended to be a static document.

Citywide Survey
The second phase of the project is a historic resources survey to document potentially eligible individual properties and historic districts in the City, the results of which will be based on the themes and outcomes developed in the historic context statement. The historic resources survey will:

1. Review all properties previously identified in historic resources studies or assessments; and
Citywide Historic Context Statement
September 26, 2022

2. Identify additional properties that meet current eligibility standards.

This will be informed by previous evaluations, input about potentially significant properties from the community, identification of significant development patterns in the city, and the preliminary findings of a reconnaissance survey. Properties that meet eligibility criteria for designation at the federal, state, and/or local levels will be documented.

Next Steps
If City Council endorses the Historic Context Statement, HRG will move toward completing the Survey which is anticipated to be completed in 2023. Both documents will be reviewed by the HPC, who will make a recommendation to the City Council. As time passes, more structures will qualify for historic consideration. Staff recommends the City Council regularly fund an update to the context statement and survey every five years.

Environmental Review
The proposed project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as the proposed analysis and survey qualify for the General Rule or Common Sense Exemption under CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), which states: “Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA”.

FINANCIAL IMPACT
There are no financial impacts for the endorsement of the Historic Context Statement.

This project was approved by City Council on December 9, 2019 for a cost not to exceed $150,000 and fully funded in Project 33100 Planning Services. Completion of this project will reduce staffing costs related to historic analysis.

Prepared by: Peter Gilli, AICP, Community Development Director Jared Rosengren, AICP, Senior Planner

ATTACHMENT
A Revised Draft Historic Context Statement
City of San Buenaventura

REVISED DRAFT FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
REVIEW

HISTORIC CONTEXT STATEMENT
March 2022

ATTACHMENT A
City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

PREPARED FOR
City of San Buenaventura
Community Development Department
Planning Division
501 Poli Street
Ventura, CA 93001

PREPARED BY
Historic Resources Group
12 S. Fair Oaks Avenue, Suite 200
Pasadena, CA 91105
Cover Photo: Panoramic view of Ventura showing Mission San Buenaventura, looking northeast toward the ocean, 1885.

Source: USC Digital Library.

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: Introduction & Background 5
Part II: Historic Context 12
Overview 13
I. Native American Inhabitants 19
II. European Exploration (1542-1781) 23
III. Mission Era (1782-1833) 27
IV. Mexican Rule (1834-1847) 37
V. Establishment and Early Growth of the City of Ventura (1848-1868) 42 VI. Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905) 50
Theme: First Land Boom (1869-1886) 51
Theme: Second Land Boom (1887-1905) 59
VII. City Expansion and Civic Improvement (1906-1919) 69 Theme: Early 20th Century Residential Development 70 Theme: Early 20th Century Commercial Development 71 Theme: Early 20th Century Civic and Institutional Development 73 Theme: Oil Industry 76
VIII. Between the Wars (1920-1940) 78
Theme: Industrial Development and 1920s Oil Boom 79 Theme: Residential Development 82
Theme: Commercial Development 94
Theme: Civic & Institutional Development 96
IX. Ventura During World War II (1941-1945) 101
X. Post-World War II Prosperity (1945-1960) 105
Theme: Postwar Residential Development 109
Theme: Postwar Commercial Development 126
Theme: Postwar Civic and Institutional Development 131 Theme: Postwar Industrial Development 1 37
XI. Expansion and Redevelopment (1961-1979) 139
Theme: Residential Development 140
Theme: Commercial Development 161
Theme: Civic and Institutional Development 167

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
Theme: Industrial Development 1 70
XII. Ethnic Contexts 174
XIII. Architectural Styles 194
Part III: Regulatory Framework & Eligibility Standards 238 Historic Designations 239
Eligibility Standards 249
Residential Development 250
Commercial Development 2 57
Industrial & Agricultural Development 262
Civic & Institutional Development 268
Part IV: Sources 273
Appendices
Appendix A: Biographies of Architects and Builders 281 Appendix B: List of Designated Resources 336

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
Part I

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Fourth of July parade in Ventura, 1874. Source: Security Pacific National Bank Collection.

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

PROJECT INTRODUCTION
This Citywide Historic Context Statement was prepared at the request of the City of San Buenaventura (Ventura). In January 2020, the City contracted with Historic Resources Group (HRG) to prepare an updated, comprehensive citywide Historic Context Statement (Phase I) and updated Historic Resources Inventory (Phase II). The historic context statement combines narrative and themes identified in previous surveys with new research for areas of the city and periods of development that have not been previously studied. This context statement includes narrative summaries of early periods in Ventura history, generally through the mid-19th century, followed by more detailed discussions of 20th century development patterns. The period of study ends in 1979, or approximately 40 years in the past.

The project follows guidance and standards developed by the National Park Service and the California State Office of Historic Preservation for conducting historic resources studies; specifically, the project is being developed using the National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property (MPS) approach. Guiding documents include: The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Preservation Planning, Identification, Evaluation and Registration; National Register Bulletin No. 24: Guidelines for Local Surveys; National Register Bulletin No. 15: How to Apply the National Criteria for Evaluation; National Register Bulletin No. 16B: How to Complete the National Register Multiple Property Documentation; and the California Office of Historic Preservation's Instruction for Recording Resources. In addition, since the project will include the first comprehensive study of neighborhoods established in the post-World War II period, the team will consult guidance for evaluating postwar neighborhoods provided in “Tract Housing in California, 1945-1973,” produced by the California Department of Transportation.

PURPOSE
In order to understand the significance of the historic and architectural resources in the City of Ventura, it is necessary to examine those resources within a series of contexts. By placing built resources in the appropriate historic, social, and architectural context, the relationship between an area’s physical environment and its broader history can be established.

A historic context statement analyzes the historical development of a community according to guidelines written by the National Park Service and specified in National Register Bulletin 16A. The Bulletin describes a historic context as follows:

Historic context is information about historic trends and properties grouped by an important theme in pre-history or history of a community, state, or the nation during a particular period of time. Because historic contexts are organized by theme, place, and time, they link historic properties to 6 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
important historic trends. In this way, they provide a framework for determining the significance of a property.1
A historic context statement is linked with tangible built resources through the concept of “property type,” a grouping of individual properties based on shared physical or associative characteristics. It should identify the various historical factors that shaped the development of the area, which may include:
• Historical activities or events
• Historic personages
• Building types, architectural styles, and materials
• Patterns of physical development
A historic context statement is not a comprehensive history of an area. Rather, it is intended to highlight trends and patterns critical to the understanding of the built environment. The historic context statement is intended to inform planning and land use decisions for the built environment in the City of Ventura. The historic context statement provides a framework for the continuing process of identifying historic, architectural, and culturally or socially significant resources. It may also serve as a guide to enable citizens, planners, and decision-makers to evaluate the relative significance and integrity of individual properties.

CONTRIBUTORS
This historic context was prepared by Historic Resources Group. Sian Winship was the primary author, supported by Christine Lazzaretto, Kari Fowler, Molly Iker-Johnson, Morgan Quirk, and Alexandra Madsen. Additional research assistance was provided by the San Buenaventura Conservancy, Cynthia Thompson, and Charles Johnson (Librarian, Museum of Ventura County).
2 The project is under the direction of the City’s Community Development Department led by Peter Gilli, Community Development Director, and managed by Jared Rosengren, Principal Planner. Project oversight is provided by the Historic Preservation Committee.

SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
Study Area
The study area for the project is the current boundary of the City of Ventura. Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California. It is located northwest of Los Angeles County,

1 U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, “National Register Bulletin 16A: How to Complete the National Register Registration Form,” (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1997).
2 This section will be updated to include additional contributions of community members, local archivists, and others who participated in the development of this study or outreach for the project. 7 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
with the Pacific Ocean forming its western border. Regional access to Ventura is via U.S.

Highway 101. Ventura is also bordered by the Ventura foothills and Ventura River to the north, Santa Clara River and City of Oxnard to the south, and a coastal plain developed with the City of Santa Paula to the east. The geography and topography in the region are defined by the Santa Clara River Valley, which follows the Santa Clara River inland from the east, down to the coast where the river opens to the Pacific.

Previous Historic Resources Surveys & Historic Context Statements This study is intended as an update and expansion of previous historic resources surveys in the City of Ventura. There have been three previous surveys of the city:
• Downtown and Ventura Avenue Survey (July 1983)
3 • Historic Resources Survey Update for the Downtown Specific Plan (April 2007);4 and
• Westside Historic Context & Survey Report (January 2011).5 These surveys were undertaken to support planning efforts in the city, including the development of the first historic preservation element for inclusion in the City of San Buenaventura General Plan in 1983. The ensuing surveys in 2007 and 2011 were prepared in conjunction with updates to the Specific Plans for those areas.

The current study represents the first citywide context statement and survey of the city.

Therefore, a primary objective of this project was to compile the previous studies and supplement them with additional information as needed to better understand the history and patterns of development throughout the City of Ventura. This comprehensive study will aid in the identification and evaluation of historic resources and provide guidance for planning and land use decisions in Ventura.

Previous studies provide valuable information on the history of the city; therefore, in order to appropriately allocate resources for this study, existing narratives were used to lay the groundwork for this project and provide a jumping off point for additional research. The context narrative for the chronological periods from the Native American Inhabitants through the Second Land Boom are largely derived from these previous studies so that current research efforts could focus on later periods of the city’s history that have not been as well documented. However, it was noted that narrative from previous studies referencing the area’s Indigenous inhabitants does not reflect recent trends in balanced scholarship; in

3 Judy Triem, “Cultural Heritage Survey Phase I, Downtown and Ventura Avenue for the City of Ventura,” July 1983.
4 City of Ventura, “Historic Resources Survey Update: City of Ventura, California – Downtown Specific Plan Area,” prepared by Historic Resources Group, 2007.
5 City of Ventura, “Westside Historic Context & Survey Report: City of Ventura,” prepared by Galvin Preservation Associates, Inc., 2011.
8 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
particular, rejecting a romanticized picture of colonialism, and including the voices and perspectives of Native Americans. Most of the written records are from the perspective of the Europeans who came to California starting in the 16 th century and therefore only reflect
their views on contemporary events. Current best practices suggest the need for the engagement of archaeologists and the Native American community to supplement the limited history included here. This is outside the scope of this project but is recommended for future study. To achieve a more balanced perspective for the reader of this document, however, a limited amount of supplement text has been added and terminology has been clarified or updated as needed.

Focus of New Research
As needed, context narrative developed in previous studies was updated and expanded. This includes supplemental information on the development of Montalvo and Saticoy, along with additional narrative about residential development in the 1920s and 1930s; agricultural development; and the oil industry.

New research and content development in this study focused primarily on the post-World War II period. This includes the eastward growth of the city in the immediate postwar period, through the expansion and redevelopment of the 1970s. An invaluable resource in this effort was The Streets of Ventura by David W. Hill. Using Hill’s list of housing tracts and condominium projects developed between 1945 and 1979, each tract was researched using online newspapers to identify those subdivisions with prominent developers, builders, or architects.

In addition, this historic context statement includes an overview of the ethnic/cultural groups in Ventura to provide a more complete understanding of the city’s history. A thorough history of each group is outside the scope of this study; however, the overview provided in this report is intended to further a more intersectional approach to documenting the city’s history, provide a more thorough understanding of the local population, and inform future research efforts.

The concept of intersectionality attempts to address the diverse voices within a community, and the layers of nuanced history of specific communities and the world writ large. By their very nature, in theme studies such as this one cross-group connections and intersectional identities are often not adequately addressed. Associating resources or buildings with one group of people over another “…runs the risk of denying the layering of history and the shared streets of the present.”
6 As described by historians Donna Graves and Gail Dubrow, “applying a single lens of gender, race or ethnicity, sexuality or any category of social analysis to the practice of historic preservation risks misrepresenting the layered histories of place

6 City of Ventura, “Westside Historic Context & Survey Report: City of Ventura,” 310. 9 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
and forecloses possibilities for political mobilization across identity lines in the interest of fostering greater social cohesion.”7
This is particularly true in a city like Ventura, where agrarian farms transformed into postwar suburban housing, and neighborhoods such as Tortilla Flats were home to multiple ethnic communities, including the Indigenous Chumash population, and later African American and Latino residents. As such, resources included in this document or identified as eligible in the accompanying historic resources survey may have a more nuanced history that deserves in-depth exploration impractical to fully realize as part of this study.

Research Methodology
It should be noted that the project was substantially impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020. During a majority of the research and writing period for the context statement, stay-at- home orders were in place in California and access to archival materials and libraries was severely restricted. However, the research team was able to access the following sources:
• American Institute of Architects Historical Directory and Membership Files • Avery Index of Architectural Periodicals
• City Building Permits
• Edward H. Fickett, FAIA Collection, USC
• Filipinos in Ventura County Digital Image Collection, California State University, Channel Islands
• Julius Shulman Photography Archive
• Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
• News Chronicle Photograph Collection
• Online Archive of California
• Online ethnic newspapers including the Los Angeles Sentinel and Rafu Shimpo • Online historical newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Herald, Oxnard Press Courier, Ventura Signal, and Ventura Observer
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
• UC Santa Barbara Aerial Photography Collection

7 City of Ventura, “Westside Historic Context & Survey Report: City of Ventura,” 313. 10 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
• U.S. Census Rolls as available online for Ventura from 1890, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940
• USC One Library Archive for LGBTQ resources
• Ventura City and County Directories (available on Ancestry.com) • Ventura County Assessor Maps
• Ventura County Museum, Special Collections (photos, clippings) • Ventura County, UC Cooperative Extension Records
11 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
Part II

HISTORIC CONTEXT
Ventura Beach, circa 1925. Source: California State Library.

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

OVERVIEW
There are several overarching forces that influenced the built environment in Ventura, and together reflect the city as we know it today. These include:
• Coastal location
• Establishment of the Mission San Buenaventura in 1782 • Development of the area as a significant agricultural center starting in the mid-19th century
• Location along El Camino Real (later U.S. Highway 101) and the early and continued development of the tourism industry in Ventura
• Discovery of oil in the late 19th century and the subsequent oil (and related population) boom of the 1920s
• Post-World War II prosperity and city expansion
As noted above, the period of study for dates from the earliest extant resources in the late 19th century through 1979. According to County of Ventura tax assessor data, there are approximately 35,000 parcels in the City of Ventura; of those, approximately 22,000 were constructed by 1979. This data provides a baseline for understanding overall development patterns in the city and identifying the relative rarity of properties from each period. The following table and the map in Figure 1 illustrate the development by decade according to the tax assessor data.
8 DECADE # OF PARCELS
1855 1
1870 1
1880-1889 23
1890-1899 33
1900-1909 78
1910-1919 130
1920-1929 2,071
1930-1939 552
DECADE # OF PARCELS
1940-1949 1,232
1950-1959 5,156
1960-1969 7,388
1970-1979 5,583
1980-2019 9,531
No Date 3,447
TOTAL 35,226

8 It is acknowledged that tax assessor data is not 100% accurate, and there is often missing or incomplete information. For example, sometimes the original construction date is replaced with an “effective date” if significant alterations or improvements are undertaken on a property. In addition, the tax assessor does not include data for parcels that are not subject to property taxes, including schools and other municipal properties. 13 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

SUMMARY OF CONTEXTS/DEVELOPMENT PERIODS
As an organizational framework, the historic context has been organized chronologically, to create a clear and concise understanding of the development of the built environment over time. The first section provides a brief overview of the Native American inhabitants of the area; this is included for reference purposes only and to provide context for the later development of the built environment. The early development periods are followed by discussions of the early periods of post-Native American settlement of Ventura, generally through the mid-19th century, as identified below. These sections lay the framework for the growth and development of Ventura in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Extant resources from these early periods are rare and have been identified by previous studies; therefore, the context includes a brief narrative history for reference. Each subsequent period of development includes a more robust narrative history, including a description of each type of development during the period (residential, commercial, civic & institutions, industrial/agricultural).

Note that properties that are mentioned in the narrative are intended to illustrate development patterns or provide examples of specific property types; however, inclusion in the narrative does not necessarily indicate eligibility for designation. Properties that have been demolished are noted as such, when known.

Part III of the historic context statement provides guidance for the evaluation of each property type, including: an overview of eligibility criteria and integrity considerations for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historical Resources, and local designation in the City of Ventura; followed by eligibility standards specific to each type.
9 The chronological development periods are outlined below:

I. Native American Inhabitants
This section provides recognition and acknowledgment of the Indigenous people who inhabited the region for centuries prior to European exploration.

II. European Exploration (1542-1781)
In 1542, Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, credited as the first European to explore present-day California, investigated the area that became the City of Ventura. This context addresses the initial European exploration of the area, through the establishment of Mission San Buenaventura in the late 18 th century.

9 The eligibility standards will be finalized once fieldwork is complete. 14 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
III. Mission Era (1782-1833)
Mission San Buenaventura was formally dedicated in 1782. The establishment of the Mission San Buenaventura provided the foundation for future development of the City of Ventura, including its economic and physical development.

IV. Mexican Rule: Secularization & the Rancho Era (1834-1847) Although Mexico successfully revolted against Spanish rule in 1822 and thereby took control of California and Mexico, it was not until the enforcement of the 1833 Secularization Act that the Ventura area experienced real change as a result of the shift in power. During this period, former mission lands were redistributed as land grants to prominent families, who established ranchos and built adobe houses on their newly claimed lands.

V. Establishment and Early Growth of the City of Ventura (1848-1868) This section addresses the first two decades following the Mexican-American War, when the United States acquired California as a territory. The townsite of San Buenaventura was laid out in 1848, and a post office was established in 1861.

Following a serious drought in 1864, which devastated the local cattle ranches, ranchos began to be subdivided into smaller parcels, drawing new residents to San Buenaventura. During this period, agriculture was Ventura’s primary industry, though early oil exploration in the area began in the 1860s. Residential and commercial development was concentrated west of the Mission complex and extended to the Ventura Avenue area.

VI. Late 19
th Century Growth
This context addresses the continued growth and expansion of Ventura in the late 19 th century. This includes the first significant land boom, resulting from the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, allowing passengers from the east to arrive by rail to Sacramento and then take the stagecoach south to Ventura; and the second land boom of 1887, brought about by the completion of the spur line from Newhall, allowing travelers to arrive in Ventura by train for the first time.

During this period, the City of San Buenaventura was officially established, and civic, infrastructure, and institutional development began in earnest. Agriculture remained the primary economic force, but early oil exploration set the stage for the establishment of the oil industry which would dominate the region in the 1920s.

VII. City Expansion and Civic Improvement (1906-1919)
Properties eligible under this context represent the early 20th century growth and development of Ventura through the conclusion of World War I. It reflects the transitional period between a primarily agricultural economy and the oil boom of the 15 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
1920s. During this period the city expanded its territory; early subdivisions were established; there was significant commercial development spurred in part by tourism; and there was significant investment in civic improvements.

VIII. Between the Wars (1920-1940)
This period spans the decades between the conclusion of World War I and the United States’ entry into World War II. The oil boom of the 1920s led to rapid and substantial growth in the number of people moving to Ventura to work in the oil industry, necessitating significant residential, commercial, and civic development to serve the growing community. Following the stock market crash of 1929, development in the area slowed, though growth accelerated in the late 1930s.

IX. Ventura during World War II (1941-1945)
The city’s coastal location and proximity to military installations were influential in local development during the war.

X. Post-World War II Prosperity (1945-1960)
This context explores the rapid development of Ventura in the years immediately after World War II. Ventura’s residential development between 1945 and 1960 reflected the presence of a newly prosperous group of families and their baby boomer children. The large agricultural fields to the east of the city were converted into new residential tracts where the domestic dreams of the 1950s could be realized.

The rapid population growth resulted in expanded commercial enterprises and new commercial centers, and civic and institutional development to serve the growing community. The establishment of U.S. Highway 101 physically transformed the city during this period, while simultaneously contributing to the tourist economy.

XI. Expansion and Redevelopment (1961-1979)
General postwar development patterns from the 1950s continued during this period.

This includes continued population growth and expansion of the city boundaries; by 1980 the city was approximately 19 square miles, more than double its size in 1960.

Two important infrastructure projects were significant catalysts during this period of expansion and redevelopment period – the completion of the Ventura Freeway in 1962, and the construction of the Ventura Marina.

XII. Ethnic Contexts
The context statement includes a brief exploration of cultural communities (Latino, African American, Japanese American, Chinese American, and Filipino American) who lived in Ventura in the 19
th and 20th centuries. These sections do not document
the complete and rich history of each cultural group, which is outside the scope of this study. Instead, this is intended to provide background information relevant to 16 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
the identification of culturally significant buildings and neighborhoods and provide a framework for future studies of the city.

XIII. Architectural Styles
This section provides information about the architectural styles found in Ventura.

An overview of each style is provided, along with the significant character-defining features. This section will be updated with photographs of local examples of each style following the next phase of fieldwork.
17 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Figure 1: Map of the City of Ventura illustrating development by decade

18 Populations of the Chumash are
estimated at both between 8,000-
10,000 people and between
18,000 and 22,000 people
At the time of Spanish contact, the
šišolop village comprises
approximately 30 large dwellings
and 15 tomols
Initial occupation of the Central
Coast in California
Estimated length of time that the
Chumash have occupied the
Ventura area

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

I. NATIVE AMERICAN INHABITANTS
Archaeologists date initial occupation of the Central Coast in California to approximately 13,000 years ago.10 Research has provided evidence that the Native Americans of the region, known collectively as the Chumash, had an ancient presence in the Ventura area.11 Likely part of the initial peopling of the Americas, it is now estimated that the Chumash have occupied the area for at least 7,000 to 9,000 years.12
The ancestral homeland of the Chumash encompasses parts of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties, and the northern Channel Islands. The name Chumash originally applied only to those persons living on Santa Rosa Island, but is now generally applied to nearly all Native American cultures that inhabit the coastal areas from San Luis Obispo to Malibu Canyon and the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, including the Santa Barbara Channel Islands.
13 The term “Chumash” refers to those groups who share linguistic deviations, rather than self- described identities or differences in social or economic organization. The Chumashan language family is an isolate that has been divided into three branches: Northern Chumash (Obispeño), Central Chumash (Purismeño, Barbareño, Inseño, and Ventureño) and Island Chumash (Cruzeño).14 Early populations of the Chumash at the time of European contact have been estimated at both between 8,000 and 10,000 people and between 18,000 to 22,000 people.
15 The Ventureño Chumash, part of the Central Chumash family group, occupied present-day Ventura County and the northwest corner of Los Angeles County. The name “Ventureño,”

10 This date is derived from recently analyzed human remains, known as Arlington Man, from Santa Rosa Island in neighboring Santa Barbara County. John M. Erlandson, Torben C. Rick, Terry L. Jones, and Judith F.

Porcasi, “One If by Land, Two If by Sea: Who Were the First Californians?” in California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity ed. Terry J. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar (Plymoth, UK: AltaMira Press 2007), 81; Lynn H.

Gamble, “Thirteen Thousand Years on the Coast,” in First Coastal Californians ed. Lynn H. Gamble (Santa Fe, NM: School for Advanced Research Press, 2015), 1-2. Information in this section derived from other studies and is included for reference only. It is acknowledged that it is not a comprehensive study reflecting the rich history of Native American peoples in the area, which is outside the scope of this study. 11 Lynn H. Gamble, The Chumash World at European Contact: Power, Trade, and Feasting among Complex Hunter- Gatherers (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008), 6. 12 Gamble, The Chumash World at European Contact, 38.
13 Judy Triem, Ventura County, Land of Good Fortune, 2nd ed. (San Luis Obispo, CA: EZ Nature Books, 1990). 14 Victor Golla, “Linguistic Prehistory,” in California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity ed. Terry J.

Jones and Kathryn A. Klar (Plymoth, UK: AltaMira Press 2007), 81. 15 C. Grant, “Chumash: Introduction” in Handbook of North American Indians, No. 8: California, ed. Robert F.

Heizer (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute, 1978), 506; Gamble, The Chumash World at European Contact, 8. 20 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

was ascribed to the group by early Spanish missionaries because of the group’s proximity to the Mission San Buenaventura.16
The Chumash had a highly developed economic system that relied on shell beads for currency.
17 There is abundant evidence for the trade of manufactured goods, including shell beads, steatite ollas, comals, mortars, and pestles. The tomol, or plank canoe, was used by the Chumash for at least 1,500 years and was crucial in maintaining trade between the mainland and islands.
18 Laborious to build, tomols were constructed by specialists and ownership was limited to wealthy individuals and chiefs.19
The Chumash maintained a simple chiefdom level of organization, with each village governed by a chief. The position of chief, or wot, was typically inherited through a hereditary patrilineal system, although women could also assume the position. 20 Chiefs were
expected to care for the poor, sick, and visitors.21 Villages were typically located on high ground near water sources and consisted of several dwellings, sweat lodges, store houses, a ceremonial area, and cemetery. The Chumash resided in clusters of hemispherical dwellings with interwoven reed coverings that were approximately 50 feet in diameter. 22 A concentration of Chumash people inhabited the šišolop village, located on an ocean bluff between present-day Figueroa and Palm Streets in downtown Ventura. Archeological evidence of this village has been excavated from a site located near the foot of present-day Figueroa Street.23 At the time of Spanish contact, the village comprised approximately 30 large dwellings and 15 tomols.24 Although forcibly displaced during Spanish and Mexican colonial rule, Chumash descendants still occupy the region to the present day.

There are no extant built resources in the city from this period. The šišolop village, also known as the Shisholop Village Site, is designated Point of Interest #18.

16 C. Grant, “Eastern Coastal Chumash” in Handbook of North American Indians; 506; Rincon Consultants, Inc., “City of Ventura: Saticoy and Wells Community Plan and Code,” Draft Environmental Impact Report, May 2009, https://www.ventura.lafco.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Saticoy-Wells-Community-Plan-Development- Code-Draft-EIR-Volumes-I-and-II.pdf.
17 Gamble, The Chumash World at European Contact, 8-9.
18 Jennifer E. Perry, Michael A. Glassow, Torben C. Rick, and John M. Erlandson, “Ten Thousand Years on the Northern Channel Islands,” in Gamble, First Coastal Californians, 51. 19 Gamble, The Chumash World at European Contact, 60-61; Matthew Des Lauriers, “Watercraft in Coastal California,” in Gamble, First Coastal Californians, 31. 20 Grant, “Eastern Coastal Chumash” in Handbook of North American Indians, 510-511. 21 Gamble, The Chumash World at European Contact, 62.
22 Grant, “Eastern Coastal Chumash” in Handbook of North American Indians, 510. 23Excavations were completed by Greenwood and Brown in 1965 and 1969; the site is identified as CA-VEN-

3. 24 Gamble, The Chumash World at European Contact, 102-103; Grant, Handbook of North American Indians, 510. 21 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Chumash Village Map drawn by Eric G. Howes (2016).

Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/virtual-exhibits/patterns-on-the-land.

22 Navigator Sebastian Vizcaino
further investigates the area on a
mapping expedition for the
Spanish government
An expedition led by Gaspar de
Portola arrives at the mouth of the
Santa Clara River and renames the
village there La Asuncion de
Nuestra Senora
Captain Juan Bautista de Anza
leads a party of colonists to La
Asuncion de Nuestra Senora (also
known as La Asumpta)
Portuguese explorer Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo investigates the
area now occupied by the City of
San Buenaventura

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

II. EUROPEAN EXPLORATION (1542-1781)25
In 1542, Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, credited as the first European to explore present-day California, investigated the area that became the City of Ventura.

Cabrillo arrived at the Chumash village šišolop and provided the earliest written record of land use patterns established by the Native Americans in the area. Cabrillo was also first to describe the Chumash village, noting in his diaries that “there came to the ships many very good canoes, each of which held twelve or thirteen Indians…the interior of the country is a very fine valley and they made signs that there was…abundant food.” 26 Juan Paez, a member
of the Cabrillo expedition, also recorded his observations of the community: “We saw on the land a pueblo of Indians close to the sea, the houses being large like those of New Spain.”27 An additional early European encounter with the Chumash occurred in 1602, by men traveling on three ships under the command of Sebastian Vizcaino.

In 1769, the Spanish government dispatched an expedition led by Gaspar de Portola to establish a presidio, or garrison, against Russian expansion in Alta California. Additionally, a Mission was to be founded for the forcible conversion to Christianity of the Native Americans along the coast. Carlos Francisco de Croix, viceroy of Spain’s King Carlos III, felt that establishing a mission in this location was critical as an “intermediate” mission between the existing Mission San Diego and Mission San Carlos.
28 Portola set out from San Diego in July and arrived at the mouth of the Santa Clara River on Sunday, August 13, 1769. Portola renamed the village La Asuncion de Nuestra Señora (The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin) or La Asumpta “because we reached it on the eve of that festival.”
29 Two Franciscan Padres, Juan Crespí and Francisco Gomez, accompanied the Portolá expedition, and the first Roman Catholic mass was held in the area.30 The Portolá expedition encountered the village of šišolop while following the Santa Clara River up to the coast during the group’s travels from San Diego to Monterey.31 Naturalist Longinos Martinez arrived at the site to survey the land for the Spanish government and took note of the village:

25 Terminology in this section has been updated based on guidance provided by the City of Los Angeles that is applicable regionally when discussing Tribal Cultural resources in Southern California: https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/ab9e5647-1d96-4db7-aab1- 2905984fbd1e/TechnicalReports_Studies-TribalCulturalResources.pdf. 26 Herbert Eugene Bolton (1925) via), as quoted in Heizer, “Handbook of North American Indians,” 518-519. 27 Herbert Eugene Bolton, ed., Relations of the Voyage of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, 1542-1545 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1916), 25.
28 Alastair Worden and Randy Leffingwell, California Missions & Presidios, Voyageur Press, 2005, 55. 29 Engelhardt, San Buenaventura, The Mission by the Sea, 5. 30 Engelhardt, San Buenaventura, The Mission by the Sea. 31 Heizer, “Handbook of North American Indians,” 518-519. 24 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

These Indians live in communities and have a fixed domicile. They arrange their houses in groups. The houses are well constructed, round like an oven, spacious, and fairly comfortable; light enter through a hole in the roof. Their beds are made on frames and they cover themselves with skins and shawls.

The beds have divisions between them like the cabins of a ship, so that if many people sleep in one house, they do not see one another. In the middle of the floor, they make a fire for cooking seeds, fish and other foods, for they eat everything boiled or roasted. Next to their houses they build smaller ones in which to store seeds, dried fish, sardines and other things against the winter when the cold, rain and roughness of the sea prevent foraging. 32 The Ventureño region was well-populated, especially along the Santa Clara and Ventura Rivers and Calleguas Creek. Archaeological evidence suggests that there were 41 settlements and estimates the total Ventureño population in 1770 to be between 2,500 and 4,200 inhabitants. Many of the names of towns and localities in the Ventura area were derived from the Chumash languages, including Saticoy, Matilija, Ojai, Sespe, Somis, Simi, Mugu, and Calleguas.
33 In 1771, the priests assigned to Mission San Buenaventura embarked on their journey to Rancheria de la Asuncion de Nuestra Senora to oversee construction at the new site. However, a combination of political infighting, rising costs, and resistance from Native American populations across the network of Spanish missions and newly claimed territory would ultimately delay the mission’s establishment for more than ten years. 34 In February 1774, Captain Juan Bautista Anza of Sonora led another party of colonists to the area of La Asumpta.
35 Over the next three decades, twenty-one Franciscan missions and various military presidios and pueblos would be established along El Camino Real (“The King’s Road”) from San Diego to Sonoma. By the 1770s, Spain had dominated California’s Pacific Coast for over 200 years.

There are no extant built resources in the City of Ventura from the European Exploration period.

32 Glenda J. Jackson, Images of America: Ventura, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), 9. 33 Heizer, “Handbook of North American Indians,” 519.
34 This is discussed further in the Mission Era section, below. 35 Engelhardt, San Buenaventura, The Mission by the Sea, 6. 25 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

El Camino Real; outline map of California showing missions and principal settlements prior to secularization of the missions in 1834, drawn by Mabel Emerton Prentiss, c. 1903.

Source: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. 26 Mission San Buenaventura is
established at the Chumash village
of šišolop, the ninth of 21 Franciscan
missions established along El Camino
Real between 1769 and 1823
The Mission San Buenaventura
relocates from its original location
near Thompson Boulevard and
Palm Street to its present site on
Main Street
The Secularization Act of 1833
converts the Mission San
Buenaventura to a local parish
church for the growing town of
Ventura
The seven-mile Mission aqueduct
system is constructed between the
Mission and San Antonio Creek to
channel water for irrigation and
domestic uses

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Mission San Buenaventura, 1861.

Source: Huntington Digital Library.

Exterior view of Mission San Buenaventura, c.
1873. Source: USC Digital Library.

III. MISSION ERA (1782-1833)

INTRODUCTION
Throughout history, the mission period in California has been taught as a romanticized story of benevolent Spanish settlers. More recently, scholars have shifted the focus toward more critical studies chronicling the period as Spain’s attempt to acculturate and control Indigenous populations. Native Americans endured forced labor, religious conversion, violence, and cultural genocide.
36 Converted Native Americans were also expected to speak Spanish and relinquish their native languages. Many historians now recognize the missions as sites of these human rights violations.37

36 Chavez, “Indigenous Artists, Ingenuity, and Resistance at the California Missions After 1769,” 3. 37 Suggested additional reading includes Testimonios: Early California Through the Eyes of Women, 1815-1848 by Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz; Converting California: Indians and Franciscans in the Missions by James A.

Sandos; Indian Labor and the Economic Expansion of Southern California, 1771-1877 by George Harwood Phillips; and City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771-1965 by Kelly Lytle Hernandez.
28 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

According to a 2009 National Park study:38
The first Spanish Franciscans to enter…California had intended to turn the local hunter-gatherer people into farmers, ranchers, craftsmen, and faithful practicing Catholic Christians. From the Franciscan point of view, mission lands and other secular properties were being held in trust until such time as the Indians became “people of reason” and full citizens of the Spanish Empire. The promise that mission lands would be returned to the Indians was codified by decree of the Spanish Cortes in 1813. That promise was also implied in a number of laws passed by the Mexican government in the 1820s and 1830s. [However, ensuing laws, statutes, and practical events] … left the Indians of the California missions landless by 1846.
39 The establishment of the Mission San Buenaventura is critical in understanding the physical and economic development of the area in the 18th century, and the later founding and growth of the City of Ventura. While a full re-telling of the story from the perspective of the area’s Native American inhabitants is outside the scope of this project, the impact that these events had on the Indigenous people who had lived in the area for centuries is acknowledged.

MISSION SAN BUENAVENTURA
By the 1770s, eight missions had already been established along the west coast. Maintaining and establishing the California missions became increasingly cost prohibitive during this period as Spain’s years-long wars with the English and French continued to drain resources.

Additionally, Jesuit missions in Baja stopped providing supplies to California’s missions necessitating the shipment of needed materials from Mexico City. 40 As a result, any new or
existing missions could not adequately yield the provisions needed by a floundering Spanish government under the current structure. Therefore, while geographically and strategically important, implementing the plans for Mission San Buenaventura as originally intended in 1771 was put on hold for more than a decade.

38 “Chapter 8: Secularization and the Rancho Era, 1834-1846,” via Randall Milliken, Laurence H. Shoup, and Beverly R. Ortiz, in Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today, prepared for National Park Service Golden Gate National Recreation Area (San Francisco, CA, June 2009), https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/upload/Chapter-8.pdf (accessed December 21, 2020).

This study was prepared by the National Park Service to provide an analysis of the Ohlone/Costanoan tribal groups that inhabited [federal] parklands in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties prior to Spanish colonization. However, it includes a detailed discussion of the mission system, secularization, and the rancho system system of the 1830s and 1840s that is relevant to the context of Mission San Buenaventura. 39 “Chapter 8: Secularization and the Rancho Era, 1834-1846,” via Randall Milliken, Laurence H. Shoup, and Beverly R. Ortiz, in Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today, 155.
40 Worden and Leffingwell, California Missions & Presidios, 55. 29 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

King Carlos III’s decision to hold off construction was also significantly influenced by Native American resistance to Spanish colonial rule across the newly claimed Alta California, which covered Native American territory in the modern states of California, Nevada, and Utah, as well as parts of Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. It became increasingly clear that a mission system reliant on simply granting land to new European settlers was becoming unmanageable. Military Commander and Governor Felipe de Neve and Viceroy Martin de Mayorga therefore mandated that new missions could not be built solely with Native American labor and would need to be self-supporting. 41 On Easter Sunday, March 31, 1782, Fathers Junípero Serra and Benito Cambón were sent to the site of present-day Ventura to raise a cross at the Chumash village of šišolop. The cross was placed on a hill to the rear of the future church, visible by both land and sea, and served as the site’s official dedication.42 Mission San Buenaventura was the second mission founded in Chumash territory, the ninth mission in the California chain, and the last to be founded by Father Serra.
43 The mission was named for San Bonaventure, a 13th century Italian Franciscan friar who was revered in the church as a notable philosopher and theologian.44

41 Worden and Leffingwell, California Missions & Presidios, 55. 42 Robert A. Bellezza, Images of America: Missions of Central California, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2013),

23. 43 Sally McLendon, John Richard Johnson, and Chester King, “Cultural Affiliation and Lineal Descent of Chumash Peoples in the Channel Islands and the Santa Monica Mountains,” National Park Service, Final Report, Volume 1, 1999, 48.
44 Bellezza, Missions of Central California, 25.

Chumash musicians at Mission San Buenaventura, 1873.

Source: Cynthia Thompson.
30 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Father Cambón was ultimately left in charge by Father Serra to oversee construction of the mission.45 Cambón exploited the Ventureño Chumash as forced laborers, in defiance of de Neve’s mandate that new missions were not to be built solely with Native American labor.

Throughout the mission era, the Spanish enslaved the Chumash for construction at the mission, including the construction and interior decoration of the mission, and its adjacent buildings, lush gardens, and critical infrastructure.
46 The erection of the cross near the coast in 1782 established the earliest site of the mission.

According to church records and archaeological evidence, any structures in this area were likely always intended to be temporary.
47 The church constructed at this location was
subsequently destroyed by fire and was not rebuilt. The survival of the mission relied heavily on the availability of water. When it was first established, the mission relied on rainfall and seasonal crops for survival. Likely the first source of water was gained from crude ditches dug to the Ventura River. In April and May 1782, Father Cambón likely supervised the digging of open, unlined channels from the nearby river to fields immediately surrounding the mission.
48 Reports on the mission dating as early as 1787 indicate that there was a “copious supply of water that produced more than ordinary harvests of grain and fruits.”49 Father Cambón departed Mission San Buenaventura for a new post sometime in 1782.

Arriving in his stead were Father Francisco Dumetz, for whom Point Dume is named, and Father Vicente de Santa María, namesake of Point Vicente (near modern-day San Pedro).

Father Dumetz left Mission San Buenaventura for a new post in 1797, while Father Santa María stayed until his death in 1806.

Construction began on a second church building in 1787, which was located at the site of the present-day mission church. While this church featured large adobe walls stretching more than thirteen feet high, the Padres abandoned construction by 1790 after encountering structural failures.
50 Around this time, the San Miguel Chapel was constructed near the present-day intersection of Thompson Boulevard and Palm Street. It was built as the first outpost and center of operations while the new Mission church was being constructed.51 Construction of the present Mission church and bell tower began in 1792, forming a

45 Bellezza, Missions of Central California, 24.
46 W. W. Robinson, The Story of Ventura County, (Ventura, CA: Title Insurance and Trust Company, 1956). 47 Fr. Zephyrin Engelhardt, San Buenaventura, The Mission by the Sea (Santa Barbara: The Schauer Printing Studio Inc.), 1930 via “Mission San Buenaventura and Mission Compound Site,” National Register of Historic Places District Nomination Form, prepared by James Capito, Robert Lopez, and Myrle Kirk, April 10, 1975, Reference No. 75000496.
48 Dorothy E. Brovarney, “Cañada Larga: History and Preservation of the Mission San Buenaventura Aqueduct,” Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3, Spring 1987, 7. 49 Brovarney, “Cañada Larga,” 9.
50 “A Church Abandoned,” Albinger Archeological Museum, https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6875/Albinger-Interpretive-Panels (accessed December 21, 2020).
51 The chapel is no longer extant; however, its location is designated Point of Interest #16. 31 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Map of the Mission Quadrangle, 1855.

Source: USGS as illustrated in Engelhardt, San Buenaventura, The Mission by the Sea. quadrangle with smaller church buildings and enclosing a plaza. A dedication was held to commemorate the church’s completion on September 9, 1809 and the first liturgical services took place on September 10.
52 In addition to the Mission’s physical construction and operations, the interior of the church also represented the significant use and exploitation of Chumash labor. The interior was richly decorated with impressive works of art painted by Chumash artisans. Spanish explorers centuries ago had made note of the Chumash’s use of lavish color, which was later translated into the religious iconography found in the mission church. The Chumash created their paints using mineral substances from the region, including cinnabar, diatomaceous earth, burned graphite, charcoal, and natural asphalt tars. 53 In particular, many of the interior
walls of Mission San Buenaventura were painted by Juan Pacifico, an accomplished Chumash artist and musician. Pacifico created paint from the fruit of the native red tuna cactus, using either egg whites or pitch as a binder, and brushes made from the tail of a small animal or duck.
54 52 “Mission History,” The Old Mission Basilica San Buenaventura, https://www.sanbuenaventuramission.org/history (accessed December 21, 2020). 53 Bellezza, Missions of Central California, 29-30.
54 Glenda J. Jackson, Images of America: Ventura (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), 15. 32 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

By 1806, the Mission counted 1,159 converted and displaced Native Americans living in the village.55 By 1820, all surviving Chumash Channel Islanders were forcibly removed from the islands to the Mission on the mainland.56 After being baptized, Native Americans were forced to participate in continued religious instruction, and to work long hours producing goods for inhabitants of the missions and presidios (e.g., soap and wine). Some Native Americans “led revolts, ran away, refused to work and
sought leadership roles all while suffering from disease and starvation.”
57 Punishment for uprisings were inflicted by the
Franciscans on the Chumash people at Mission San
Buenaventura. As described by Fernando Librado, who
was born at the mission, in an ethnographic account
recorded by John P. Harrington, “In those days
punishment for the Indians was performed in a jail just east of the tower of Mission San Buenaventura. In one of the rooms there were punishment stocks. One was shaped
of wood to cover the foot like a shoe…as punishment,
the priests would work men and women in the fields with these weighted shoes.”
58 Although Mission San Buenaventura was not one of the three missions (Mission Santa Inés, Mission Santa
Barbara, and Mission La Purisima) impacted by the
Chumash Revolt of 1824, the event reflected the general tensions between the Chumash and colonial rule. The
Chumash orchestrated the rebellion in response to general hardships and the increased forced suppression of Chumash culture by the Spanish and later Mexicans. 59 The rebellion
resulted in Chumash occupation of two missions, dozens of dead and wounded Chumash, Spanish, and Mexicans, and the ultimate reconciliation and return of some Chumash to the missions.

55 Worden and Leffingwell, California Missions & Presidios, 55. Native Americans who were not converted to Catholicism were not accounted for in mission records; therefore, it is unknown how many Chumash resided in the area during this period.
56 Perry et al. in Gamble, First Coastal Californians, 51. 57 Chavez, “Indigenous Artists, Ingenuity, and Resistance at the California Missions After 1769,” 12. 58 Travis Hudson, “Some John P. Harrington Notes Regarding Chumash Masons at Mission Santa Barbara and San Buenaventura.” Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 13:3 (July 1977): 15-21. 59 James Sandos, “Levantamiento!: The 1824 Chumash Uprising Reconsidered.” Southern California Quarterly 67:2 (Summer 1985):109-133; Thomas Blackburn, “The Chumash Revolt of 1824: A Native Account.” The Journal of California Anthropology 2:2 (Winter 1975): 223-227.

Fernando Librado, center; Jerd Boher,
left; Pat Forbes, right.

Source: Santa Barbara Museum of
Natural History, via Cynthia Thompson.
33 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Significant infrastructure improvements completed during the mission era include the construction of an aqueduct to create a permanent water supply for the area.60 Aqueducts and other waterworks were constructed throughout the mission system in the early 19th century. Based on historic data surrounding the development of the Mission, it appears that the San Buenaventura Aqueduct was likely constructed between approximately 1792 and 1815. In addition to the construction of the aqueduct, there is also speculation that there was a master mason at the mission in the mid-1790s and that a mill building was erected in 1802 to power the operation.61
The aqueduct, constructed by forced Chumash labor, was an elaborate seven-mile structure that reached from the San Antonio Creek near Rancho Anaz Adobe on Old Creek Road, along the Ventura River, through Cañada Larga, culminating at the mission complex along present-day Main Street. The San Buenaventura water system was fairly sophisticated and consisted of a dam that diverted water into the aqueduct, which channeled unfiltered water to the Mission’s vineyard and orchards, and also through a control building and filter to provide clean water for fountains in the mission quadrangle. The fountains functioned for both decorative and utilitarian purposes including drinking, washing, and bathing. Fountains also supplied water to the lavanderia that was later channeled to the fields for irrigation. 62 Aqueducts were typically raised from the ground and made of stone and mortar (as opposed to acequias or zanjas, which were typically open dirt channels). The San Buenaventura Aqueduct was made of uncoursed raised rubblestone and supported by stone buttresses measuring six feet in width. The aqueduct had a gradual fall from the headwater to the mission to allow for enough pressure to keep the water flowing through a shallow trough measuring approximately ten inches deep and 30 inches wide. 63 60 In 1987, Dorothy E. Brovarney prepared a historic context for the Mission San Buenaventura Aqueduct.

Most of the information in the following paragraphs is taken from her context published in the Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3, as excerpted in the 2011 Westside Historic Context and Survey Report. 61 Brovarney, “Cañada Larga,” 10. The mill building is no longer extant. 62 Remnants of the original Lavanderia (laundry) were discovered in 1991 beneath the flooring of present-day Jonathan’s at Peirano’s, located at 204 E. Main Street. 63 The aqueduct was in use until 1861 when it was washed out by floods from winter storms. The Santa Ana Water Company purchased the Mission water rights in 1871 and used the aqueduct to transmit water with the addition of reinforced plank conduit. Around 1900, a hole was blasted through the aqueduct at the Cañada Larga site to accommodate a road.63 Today, this is the largest visible remnant of the aqueduct; smaller segments are also visible along the base of the hillside at the end of the East Vice and East Lewis Streets. 34 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

An earthquake badly damaged the Mission settlement in 1812, including the front portion and bell tower of the 1809 church. Father José Francisco de Paula Señán, who had arrived at the site in 1798, supervised all repairs to the existing structures. By 1816, the Mission building was reconstructed, and all the interior woodwork replaced. 64 Father Señán would
become one of the most prominent priests of the mission period, serving as the mission president and overseeing the founding of other mission asistencias throughout the region.65 In 1822, Mexico successfully revolted against Spanish rule, and California land that had been vested in the name of the King of Spain now belonged to Mexico. By the 1830s there was growing pressure on the Mexican government to secularize the missions, and in 1833 the Mexican Congress passed the Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California, ushering in a new era in California.

EXTANT EXAMPLES FROM THE PERIOD
The Mission San Buenaventura (Landmark #10, listed in the National Register of Historic Places),
66 the site of the San Miguel Chapel (Point of Interest #16), the Mission Plaza Archeological Site (Landmark #6), the San Buenaventura Lavanderia (Landmark #85), and the Mission Water Filtration Building in Eastwood Park, are all located within the Mission San Buenaventura and Mission Compound Site, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The Mission Historic District, which is bounded by Ventura Avenue, and Santa Clara, Poli, and Palm Streets, is locally designated. The Mission Aqueduct (Landmark #58, located between Vince and Lewis Streets) was designated by the City in

64 Bellezza, Missions of Central California, 23.
65 Worden and Leffingwell, California Missions & Presidios, 56. 66 Later alterations to the Mission San Buenaventura following secularization include the replacement of the church’s roof tiles with shingles after an earthquake in 1857. Years later, a priest named Father Cyprian Rubio set out to “modernize” the church by painting over the original Chumash artwork, removing the original windows, lengthening the window openings, plastering over the ceiling beams, and covering the tile floor with wood. Fortunately, by the late 1950s, Father Aubrey J. O’Reilly oversaw a major restoration to return the mission to its Franciscan state, including rebuilding and replacing the windows, and uncovering the floors, walls, and ceilings. By 1976, the church had replaced the entire roof with clay barrel tiles. 66 Left: Postcard, 1915; Source: California State Library.

Right: Decaying Aqueduct in Ventura; Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/1662.

35 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

1982 and is said to be the largest and most intact stretch of surface aqueduct in existence.67 These resources are concentrated within a five-block radius of the Mission. The Mission Plaza Archaeological Site (Landmark #6) and the Mission Plaza Morton Bay Fig Tree (Landmark #12), both located at the 100 block of E. Main Street, are also locally designated.

In addition to the examples located in the immediate vicinity of the Mission proper, there are a few additional resources from the period. These include an additional portion of the seven- mile aqueduct located about four miles north of the Mission and downtown Ventura off Cañada Larga Road (listed in the National Register of Historic Places and Ventura County Landmark #28), and the stone foundation walls (buried) from the Mission’s Tract No. 3 (Vineyard). The remaining portion of the aqueduct consists of two masonry fragments which total an approximate length of 100 feet. There is a 12-foot gap that was created between the two remaining fragments that was blasted through the stone aqueduct around the turn of the 20 th century to accommodate a road. The vineyard site is located approximately within the neighborhood comprising Bell Way, W. Barnett St., W. Warner St. W. Flint St. on the west side of Ventura Avenue. Although not visible, the stone foundation walls are likely still extant below ground.

67 “City of San Buenaventura Historic Landmarks & Districts,” May 3, 2016, https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7730/CITY-HISTORIC-LANDMARKS?bidId=. 36 Native Californians of Spanish or
Mexican descent (Californios)
accumulate great wealth, largely
through cattle ranching, and build
large adobe residences
Pio Pico, the last Mexican Governor
of California, awards generous
land grants containing thousands of
acres, 19 of which are located in
Ventura County
Battles between troops loyal to
Mexico and opposing Californio
rebels prompt the ouster of
governors from the province of Alta
California
Rancho Ex-Mission San
Buenaventura, which contains
present-day downtown Ventura, is
granted to Jose Arnaz

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

IV. MEXICAN RULE: SECULARIZATION & THE RANCHO ERA
(1834-1847)
The secularization law directing the closure of the California missions was passed by the Congress of Mexico on August 17, 1833, with more specific regulations to guide implementation passed on August 9, 1834. According to the 2009 National Park Service study:

The [1833] law implied that each Indian mission community would become a town with its own government, much as the Indian pueblos of New Mexico were self- governing entities. Its 15 sections provided detailed directions for the establishment of parish churches, for the support of parish priests, and for the assignment of selected mission buildings “as an ayuntamiento house, primary schools, public establishments, and work-shops.” But it was silent regarding rules for the distribution of other mission property.

Regulations guiding implementation of secularization were passed by the California departmental legislature and signed by Governor Figueroa on August 9, 1834. It was a surprisingly balanced document that, had it been followed, would have guided the development of ejidos—communal land-holding pueblos—for the Catholic Indians around each mission.
68 The regulations were intended to return the land to the Indigenous inhabitants, assigning one half of the mission lands and property to Native Americans in grants of thirty-three acres of arable land, along with common land sufficient to pasture their stock. In addition, one half of the mission herds were to be divided proportionately among the native families.

The remaining lands were then available for dispersal by the Mexican government.

Had the final secularization law and its accompanying enabling regulations been followed to the letter, the Indians of central California would have received large allotments of lands around each mission in accordance with the ejido (lands in common) landholding system. Instead, Hispanic families received the land in large private blocks, following the haciendo system. The ejido and haciendo landholding systems had developed along two separate paths in Mexico over the centuries of Spanish occupation. Much of Mexico’s farm and ranch lands were concentrated in the hands of a few upper-class families as large estates under the hacienda system; under it the landless classes, Indians, mestizo, and mulattos, depended upon the land-owning patrons for tools, supplies, and homes on estate lands. In other parts of Mexico, individual families worked lands assigned by community governments, the lands being held under collective ownership in the ejido system. The communal ejido

68 “Chapter 8: Secularization and the Rancho Era, 1834-1846,” via Randall Milliken, Laurence H. Shoup, and Beverly R. Ortiz, in Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today, 154.
38 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

system developed in many areas where Indians had an agricultural life way, such as among 19 Indian pueblos in New Mexico that are now within the United States.

The distribution of mission lands did not unfold in the way that the 1834 [regulations] foresaw. After the death of Governor Figueroa in September of 1835, a series of commissioners worked with a series of governors and provincial legislatures up through 1846 to distribute most mission lands to wellplaced Mexican citizens.

Some Indian people did receive land titles in a few parts of California, but they were the exception and they seldom retained title for more than a few years. 69 Instead, the secularization and reallotment of mission lands and other property accelerated the spread of the rancho system that had begun under Spanish rule. The actual process of inventorying and distributing the properties was carried out at each individual mission by officials appointed by the governor. The emergent rancho system was unique to California in the 1830s and 1840s. There were nineteen grants of ranchos in the Ventura County area, with most containing thousands of acres each. Downtown Ventura is within the Rancho Ex- Mission San Buenaventura tract, in which land was granted to Fernando Tico in 1845, sold to Jose Arnaz on June 8, 1845, with more than 40,000 acres to M. A. Rodriguez de Poli in 1874.
70 Other ranchos in the Ventura area are shown in the map below.

The majority of land grants were awarded to prominent Californio families71 who accumulated great wealth during this period, largely through cattle ranching. The new hierarchy replaced the missionaries with the head of a Californio family. Native people, whose labor was originally exploited by the missionaries and soldiers stationed at the missions, became the labor source for the growing ranchos. The result was that instead of retaining significant land ownership as intended in the 1834 regulations, most Native Americans were either put to work on ranchos, went to live among other Native Americans in non-coastal areas, or suddenly had to fend for themselves with no assets. Native Americans who remained in the Ventura area following secularization lived in a small enclave in an area to the southwest of what would become downtown.
72 69 “Chapter 8: Secularization and the Rancho Era, 1834-1846,” via Randall Milliken, Laurence H. Shoup, and Beverly R. Ortiz, in Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today, 155.
70 Robert G. Cowan, Ranchos of California (Los Angeles: Los Angeles Historical Society of Southern California, 1977), 74.
71 Californio refers to people of Hispanic descent who were born in what would become the state of California, generally between 1683 and when California became a U.S. territory in 1848. The Californios were powerful landholders, receiving large land grants from Spain and Mexico in the 1830s and 1840s. Many of them were awarded land in recognition of their military service.
72 This area has been home to several ethnic communities over time. In the 1940s, when the majority population in the area was Latino, it became known as Tortilla Flats. For more information on Tortilla Flats, see Chapter XII.
39 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Land in Alta California was considered especially valuable at this time, in part due to the successful agricultural enterprises and aqueduct systems established along the coast during the mission era. This was made evident when a U.S. minister in Mexico, Waddy Thompson, Jr., suggested that Mexico cede the beautiful and bountiful Alta California to the United States to settle existing debts.
73 However, it was the 1844 presidential election of James K.

Polk—who campaigned on a promise of territorial expansion through peaceful means or otherwise—and the annexation of Texas a year later that provoked Mexico to retaliate using armed forces. After failed attempts to broker a sale of land between both countries, battles between troops loyal to Mexico and opposing Californio rebels prompted the ouster of governors in territories such as the province of Alta California. This series of battles throughout the Alta California region came to be known as the California Campaign and took place over the course of a year between 1846 and 1847. The war between the United States and Mexico ended with California becoming a territory of the United States in 1848.

Gold was discovered in 1849 and spurred a mass migration westward. Further marking a period of great transition in the region, California achieved official statehood on September 9, 1850. The once rural landscape seized from the existing Native population was now significantly more populated with enterprising settlers and necessitated the development of legitimate townsites under a new California statehood.

EXTANT EXAMPLES FROM THE PERIOD
There are two known resources from this period. The Olivas Adobe (4200 Olivas Park Drive; Landmark #1, California State Historical Landmark No. 115, listed in the National Register), constructed in 1847; and the Rancho Arnaz Adobe, located along Old Creek Road and Hwy 33 near the head of the former Mission aqueduct. 74 73 George L. Rives, The United States and Mexico, 1821–1848: A History of the Relations Between the Two Countries from the Independence of Mexico to the Close of the War with the United States, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, Volume 19, Issue 3, April 1914, 45.
74 Rancho Arnaz Adobe is located just outside the city limits, in Oak View. It is Ventura County Landmark #5. 40 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

The Old Spanish and Mexican Ranchos of Ventura County by Leavitt Dudley, 1965.

Source: Title Insurance and Trust Company via David Rumsey Map Collection.

41 Following a serious drought, many
Californios sell off portions of
their land, drawing Americans
and Europeans to Ventura and
spurring agricultural development
Christian Borchard purchases
1,000 acres from Jose Lobero; the
Borchard family's success leads to
the development of much of
Ventura County
The town of San Buenaventura,
measuring approximately one
square mile, is incorporated under
an act of the State legislature
Ventura's first post office is
established, indicating the area is
within the jurisdiction of the United
States

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

V. ESTABLISHMENT AND EARLY GROWTH OF THE CITY OF
VENTURA (1848-1868)

CITY FOUNDING
In 1848, Jose Arnaz began the first attempt to lay out a townsite at San Buenaventura.75 The great land holdings of the Mission were acquired by Spanish-born Manuel Antonio Rodriguez de Poli in 1850 and patented on August 24, 1874.76 A U.S. Coast Survey Map from 1855 offers one of the first glimpses into the physical characteristics and organization of the small agricultural town. At the time, San Buenaventura comprised less than two dozen buildings, including the mission complex along present-day Main Street. Most of the buildings were likely made of adobe and, in addition to the new buildings in town, the map also depicts three “Indian Ranchos” within the lush Ventura River basin. Some of the lands to the south of present-day Main Street were cultivated fields while the land to the north of Main Street on the west side of present-day Ventura Avenue consisted of row crops. A dotted trail – little more than a dirt path with no buildings in the vicinity – represented the approximate route of present day Poli Street running north of the mission complex and connecting to Ventura Avenue before stretching upwards towards Ojai. 77 One of Ventura’s significant early pioneers was William Dewey Hobson. Born on June 20, 1829 in Greene County, Illinois, Hobson came to California in 1849. He acquired several mines in northern California and began to build his fortune. A brick layer by trade, Hobson built the Western Hotel in Sacramento. He arrived in San Buenaventura in 1857, among the first American settlers in the area. In addition to mining, Hobson pursued several other successful business ventures, including cattle ranching, real estate, and meat packing and retail. He also became a successful local builder and contractor, 78 initially building adobe
structures in the Sespe area (notably the Thomas Wallace More ranch), followed by numerous structures in downtown Ventura.79
The town of San Buenaventura was officially recognized with the establishment of a post office in 1861. In 1863, the first surveys of the town were conducted, along with an unsuccessful attempt at incorporation.
80 The following year, a serious drought devastated
local livestock, leading to the financial ruin of many Californios. They began to sell their vast land holdings as smaller parcels, which marked the arrival of foreign (not Spanish or

75 Jesse D. Mason, Reproduction of Thompson and West's History of Santa Barbara & Ventura Counties, California, With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (Howell-North, 1961), 351. 76 “Romance of a Rancho,” Beverly Hills Citizen, June 23, 1939. 77 Robinson, The Story of Ventura County. Poli Street is named for Manuel Antonio Rodriguez de Poli. 78 Gary Phelps, “Ventura County Born in A Room Above Saloon,” Ventura County Star, August 2000. 79 Phelps, “Ventura County Born in A Room Above Saloon.” 80 E. M. Sheridan, History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties California (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1917), 293.
43 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Mexican) citizens to San Buenaventura.81 In 1864, Charles Allyn described Ventura as “a little Mexican town with a row of adobe houses on each side of Main Street from where Palm Street is to the river. There were a few scattered houses as far east as the present California Street, and beyond that nothing but an open plain.”82 Measuring approximately one square mile, the town of San Buenaventura was finally incorporated under an act of the state legislature in 1866. The town’s first board of trustees included Angel G. Escandon, Walter S. Chaffee, Juan Camarillo, Victor Ustusaustegui, and Fernando Tico, Jr., most of whom had both businesses and residences within the township.
83 In 1869, the town was resurveyed by George H. Thompson, establishing many of the street names that remain today.84
Residential and commercial development was primarily located west of the mission complex and extended into what is now the Ventura Avenue area. This area of San Buenaventura was called La Cañada (the canyon), with Ventura Avenue initially known as Cañada Street. Edwin M. Sheridan later described the area west of the Mission as it appeared in the 1860s:

The whole town was west of the old Mission church, extending to the river, with adobes on both sides [of Main Street]. The old Mission garden wall of adobe, ten feet high, took up the space on the south side of the street for a distance of two blocks. The bull ring in those days was built on this street, between the church and what is now the Ventura Avenue, with the wall of the old garden forming the south sides of the square, adobe homes opposite the north side. [There were] straggling rows of adobe houses along both sides of the street from Palm Street to the river. 85 During this period, access to San Buenaventura was chiefly by sailing vessels and steamers, which would anchor offshore from the Mission. As a result, the town remained a rural agricultural outpost for decades following its incorporation. In 1868, a stagecoach line was established, making the city more accessible to the outside world. This accessibility stimulated a development and growth period that would characterize the town for the remainder of the 19
th century.86

81 Sheridan, History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties California, 294. 82 Sheridan, History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties California, 1. 83 Triem, Ventura County.
84 Greenwood, “Downtown San Buenaventura Redevelopment Study Area.” 85 Sheridan, History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties California, 1. 86 Greenwood, “Downtown San Buenaventura Redevelopment Study Area,” 50. 44 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

U.S. Coast Survey Map, San Buenaventura and Vicinity, 1885. Map no. MNC 003.

Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/virtual-exhibits/patterns-on-the-land.

45 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

RANCHING & AGRICULTURE
California’s pastoral age is a time to conjure with. The vast ranchos stretching for leagues over hills and valleys, owned by landed potentates who little dreamed of the vast resources lying undeveloped at their feet, the sleepy towns with their missions and Indians on the one hand, and their landed aristocracy gathered within their precincts on the other, are indeed are far cry from fruit groves and truck gardens, from oil fields and hydraulic gold digging…
87 From the 1800s until the oil boom of the 1920s, farming and ranching attracted more settlers to Ventura County than any other industry.
88 In the years after the Civil War and the
California Gold Rush, settlers flocked to the area, claiming land as homesteaders or purchasing pieces of the vast Spanish and Mexican ranchos that were being dismantled.

The arrival of Yankees and Europeans in the late 1860s and 1870s spurred agricultural development in Ventura on a large scale, building on the economic foundation of the mission era. A turning point for agricultural development occurred when George G. Briggs (1824-1885), the owner of Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy, offered 17,700 acres of agriculturally rich lands east of Ventura for $10 per acre in 1867. 89 This single act brought
more people to the Ventura area than almost any other.90 Between 1860 and 1870, the number of farmers in the county rose from 10 to 375. In fact, over half of the male Caucasian population (55 percent) of the area owned farms in 1870. 91 Despite rich soils and the mission era aqueduct, farming was difficult in Ventura due to an unreliable weather. The state was prone to “wet and dry years,” when there was too much rain one year and too little the next. Depending upon the location of the farmland it could also be susceptible to flooding of the Ventura or Santa Paula Rivers. As a result, most farmers turned to dry farming techniques, using irrigation during the prolonged dry periods.

The initial crops were barley and wheat.

87 Waldemar Westergaard, “Thomas R. Bard and Ventura County’s Sheep Industry, 1870-1884,” Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume 11, Number 3 (University of California Press on Behalf of the Historical Society of Southern California, 1920), 5. 88 “Ventura County Agriculture History,” Museum of Ventura County, https://venturamuseum.org/ventura- county-agriculture-history/ (accessed December 18, 2020). 89 Briggs had acquired the Rancho in 1862. He was a horticulturalist and had hoped to transform the land into productive fruit orchards and a temperance colony. This attempt failed due to the drought of 1863-64, and Briggs then hired E.B Higgins to subdivide the rancho into parcels for sale. 90 Triem, Ventura County, 62.
91 Tomas Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California (Berkeley, CA:

University of California Press, 1994), 93.
46 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

During the Spanish and Mexican eras, sheep and cattle were the primary economic drivers.92 In the first half of the 19th century, however, there were relatively few sheep in Ventura County when compared with other agricultural areas in California. This changed with the rapid population growth and increased settlement that followed in the latter half of the century, along with a drought in 1863-64 which threatened the local cattle industry. During this period, the number of sheep grew at the annual rate of over 80 per cent.93 Between 1860 and 1875, the number of sheep in Ventura County increased from 30,710 to 250,000.94 In 1865, Thomas R. Bard95 came to California to look after the oil interests of his Philadelphia employer, Col. Thomas A. Scott; however, Bard used the sheep-raising business as a means of livelihood when the oil prospects looked uncertain. Bard would go on to play a prominent role in the sheep industry in Ventura County, raising sheep on the Los Posas and Simi Ranchos and managing vast tracts of land owned by Scott. 96 During this period,

92 Westergaard, “Thomas R. Bard and Ventura County’s Sheep Industry, 1870-1884,” 6. 93 Westergaard, “Thomas R. Bard and Ventura County’s Sheep Industry, 1870-1884,” 6. 94 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines, 94.
95 Bard would go on to serve in the United States Senate from 1900-1905. 96 Westergaard, “Thomas R. Bard and Ventura County’s Sheep Industry, 1870-1884,” 7.

George G. Briggs jumpstarted the agricultural industry in Ventura in the late 1860s.

Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/2142.
47 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Bard and other local ranchers employed day laborers as shepherds and esquiladores (sheep shearers).

However, the prevalence of the sheep industry was relatively short-lived. Disputes over trespassing sheep on farmland led to sheep ranchers moving their flocks to more remote hillsides and canyons where food and water were scarce.97 In addition, another drought in 1866-67 further undermined the industry. By 1878, there were only 50,000 sheep left in the area.98
In addition to Briggs, the other significant pioneering family from this period was the Borchards. The Borchards were German immigrants who arrived in the Ventura area in the mid-19
th century. The first to arrive in Ventura County was Christian Borchard, who initially came to California in search of gold. However, by 1867, he shifted his efforts to agriculture after buying 1,000 acres from Jose Lobero and cultivating the land for general farming and stock raising.
99 Christian’s son, John Edward “Ed” Borchard, continued the family’s agricultural enterprises following his father’s death in 1903, cultivating mustard, wheat, barley, corn, and sugar beets.100
Additional members of the Borchard and Maulhardt families (relatives of the Borchards) came to America to escape the Franco-Prussian War. Ed Borchard’s partnership with Albert F. Maulhardt led to an investment in sugar beets and the establishment of a sugar factory in 1898 – ultimately leading to the development of Oxnard. The Borchards were also instrumental in the founding of early churches, schools, and a hospital. As a result, the development of Ventura County is largely attributed to the Borchard family. 101

OIL EXPLORATION
Oil speculators were trying to coax oil from the land in and around Ventura as early as the 1860s, laying the groundwork for what would become the most significant industry in Ventura in the 1920s. The first oil exploration in greater Ventura County was conducted by Benjamin Sillman Sr. (1816-1885) in the Ojai area around 1861. In 1861, George S. Gilbert established an oil refinery on land near Mission San Buenaventura; its specific location was within what was then known as Rancho Ex-Mission San Buenaventura. 102 Gilbert refined oil
that had been seeping from the ground, which was then converted into lamp oil and

97 Westergaard, “Thomas R. Bard and Ventura County’s Sheep Industry, 1870-1884,” 7. 98 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines.
99 Edwin M. Sheridan, “History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California,” Vol. 2, (Lewis Publishing Company, 1917), 499-500.
100 Jeffrey Wayne Maulhardt, Images of America: Oxnard: 1867-1940, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004),

7. 101 Alicia Doyle, “Special 150 Year Reunion of the Kin of Ventura County Settlers,” VC Reporter, August 2, 2017.
102 Triem, Ventura County; Greenwood, “Downtown San Buenaventura Redevelopment Study Area.” 48 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

transported to San Francisco.103 Another early oilman was Thomas A. Scott (1823-1881), a speculator who came to Ventura in the 1860s. Scott had previously served as President Lincoln’s Acting Assistant Secretary of War. As discussed above, Scott sent Thomas R. Bard as his agent to develop Ventura’s oil production potential. Through Bard, Scott purchased large parcels of land throughout Ventura County, and by 1868, Scott’s Philadelphia and California Petroleum Company became the single largest landholder in Ventura County. 104

DESIGNATED RESOURCES FROM THE PERIOD

NAME LOCATION DATE DESIGNATION
Ortega Adobe 215 West Main Street c. 1855-1857 Landmark #2

103 “Ventura Pier,” City of Ventura, https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/644/Ventura-Pier (accessed December 18, 2020).
104 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines, 82.
49 Establishment of stagecoach line
and completion of Transcontinental
Railroad leads to Ventura's first
land boom
Completion of the Southern Pacific
spur line to Newhall allows
travelers to arrive in Ventura by
train, increasing demand for
lodging
Crews drilling for water along
Ventura Avenue discover oil,
foreshadowing the Ventura Avenue
oil field, one of the largest oil
drilling centers in California
Ventura County is officially
established, and a wharf (the Pier)
is completed, making travel easier
and spurring economic growth

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

VI. LATE 19TH CENTURY GROWTH (1869-1905)
This context addresses the continued growth and expansion of Ventura in the late 19th century. This includes the first significant land boom, resulting from the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, allowing passengers from the east to arrive by rail to Sacramento and then take the stagecoach south to Ventura; and the second land boom of 1887, brought about by the completion of the spur line from Newhall, allowing travelers to arrive in Ventura by train for the first time. During this period, the City of San Buenaventura was officially established, and civic, infrastructure, and institutional development began in earnest. Agriculture remained the primary economic force, but early oil exploration set the stage for the establishment of the oil industry which would dominate the region in the 1920s.

THEME: FIRST LAND BOOM (1869-1886)
The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad made California more accessible to travelers and settlers from the Midwest and East Coast. The combination of the establishment of the stagecoach line in 1868 and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 resulted in the first land boom in the town of San Buenaventura, beginning the transformation from a sleepy village to significant township along the main thoroughfare on the coast of California. In 1869, the town boasted 163 registered voters. R.G. Durdam established a brick kiln in Ventura. Before long, a Presbyterian church arose at the northeast corner of Oak and Main Streets.
105
On January 1, 1873, Ventura County was officially established, and the wharf was completed.

The completion of the pier not only made travel easier, but it spurred economic growth by providing better shipping and storage facilities for merchants and the growing number of agricultural interests.

In 1873, journalist Charles Nordhoff’s account of his travels in California, California: For Health, Pleasure, and Residence, became a best seller and was widely credited with influencing a wave of tourism and settlement in the state.
106 In addition to seekers of fortune and a new
life, Southern California also became a destination for those who were in search of leisure and relief from various types of physical ailments. Much of the tourist trade was composed of wealthy visitors from the east who could afford to spend a large portion of the year in California, escaping inclement weather back home.

105 W. H. Hutchinson, Oil, Land and Politics: The California Career of Thomas Robert Bard Volume 1, (Norman, OK:

University of Oklahoma Press, 1965), 156.
106 LeRoy McKim Makepeace, Sherman Thacher and His School, Centennial Edition (Ojai, CA: Ojai Printing and Publishing Co., 1989), 55-57; Richard Hoye, Jane McClenahan, Tome Moore, and the Ojai Valley Museum, Images of America: Ojai (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2007), 7. 51 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

The Southern Pacific Railroad
used newspaper ads, magazine
articles, books, and lectures to
promote California as a land of
opportunity, and thousands of
people traveled west on special
excursion trains. During this
period, hotels were built in
Ventura to handle the influx of
people, including the Ayers
Hotel, the Palace Hotel, and the
Santa Clara House (all no longer
extant).

Early pioneer William Dewey
Hobson was responsible for the
construction of numerous commercial and public civic buildings during this period. The first brick building constructed by Hobson was the Cohn Store on Main Street; this was followed by the Hill Street School on Poli Street, the Chaffee & Mc Keeby General Merchandise store, Gandalfo’s Store (extant), and the Revere Hotel (later the Great Eastern Building).

Hobson was also a civic leader and was greatly involved in creating the political infrastructure during the County’s early development. In 1873, he was responsible for the successful passage of a bill in the State legislature to separate Ventura County from Santa Barbara County, and create the townships of Ventura, Saticoy, and Hueneme. That same year, Hobson constructed Spear’s Hall, which served as the first office of the County Supervisor. This was followed by the construction of the Ventura County Courthouse in 1873-4. As a result, Hobson is sometimes referred to as the “Father of Ventura County.” 107
In 1875, Cañada Larga school was established at 5301 North Ventura Avenue (demolished).108 The area’s first newspaper, The Ventura Signal, was established by John H.

Bradley in 1871. This was followed by three other newspapers, The Daily Ventura Free Press, The Ventura Daily Post, and The Daily Democrat.

The earliest residential tracts were located west of the Mission compound. Between 1876 and 1887, the Obiols Tract, the Dubbers Tract, the Mission Orchard Tract, the Brooks Tract, the Tico Tract, and the Park Row Tract were established. During this period, these tracts remained primarily agricultural in nature, and were only sparsely populated with simple adobe or wood framed structures.

107 The multi-generational Hobson-Smith family remains an influential, Ventura-based family to this day. 108 David Kelly, “Film School Debuts in Ventura,” Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2002.

Santa Clara House.

Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/1756.
52 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Immigration
During this period, a large population of immigrant European merchants came to Ventura, many of whom established businesses in the vicinity of the Mission. Federico and Antonio Schiappapietra, two brothers from Genoa, Italy, were among the earliest. Antonio eventually built an elaborate Italianate mansion on Santa Clara Street, which became known as the Schiappapietra Mansion (demolished in the 1950s). The ethnic mix of merchant immigrants would eventually include people of French (Chateuneuf, Feraud), Italian (Peirano, Gandolfo, Fazio, Ferro, Righetti, Lagomarsino) and German/Austrian (Hartman, Dubbers, Franz) heritage. These merchant families established storefronts along Main Street and constructed homes in adjacent neighborhoods.
109
There was a significant Basque population in the area during this period.110 People from the Basque region were initially lured to California by the promise of the Gold Rush; however, it was sheep farming for which they stayed. A “capable Basque had charge of Messrs. Bard and Kennedy’s flock of sheep” in Ventura as early as 1874.
111 One early known Basque settler in
the Ventura area was Jose Borderre, a French Basque who arrived in Los Angeles with his brother in about 1880 and then moved northward, where he pastured a flock of 1,100 sheep near Ventura.
112 After he married, Borderre settled in Santa Barbara and became the center of the Basque culture there.113
In the late 1800s, ostatuak (boarding houses or hotels114 that catered mostly to Basque lodgers) were established to serve the Basque population. Since most Basque immigrants were single men who intended to return to their home countries, these boarding houses functioned as lodging, a source of familiar cooking, a support network, an employment agency, and the center of Basque social life in the United States. The growth of the sheep

109 Triem, Ventura County.
110 The Basque region occupies portions of north-central Spain and southwestern France along the coastal waters of the Bay of Biscay and the western Pyrenees Mountains. The four Spanish provinces of Navarra, Alava, Guipuzcoa, and Viscaya comprise more than half of the Basque region, while the French departments of Labourd, Basse, Navare, and Soule represent the remainder. 111 Waldemar Westergaard, “Thomas R. Bard and Ventura County’s Sheep Industry, 1870-1884,” Historical Society of Southern California, Vol. 11, 6.
112 Jeronima Echeverria, “California-Ko ostatuak: A History of California’s Basque Hotels,” (PhD Diss., North Texas State University, 1998), 121.
113 Known Basque residents in the 20th century include the Amorena family. The 1920 Census lists Martin Amorena (1884-1931), his wife Marlmia, and their daughter Blanche as the proprietors of a rooming house on Main Street. The 1920 Census suggests that many Basque farmers and farm laborers lived in Montalvo, Ventura, and Oxnard. Brothers Alphonso Erburu and Mariano Erburu also raised sheep in the area. 114 The terms “boardinghouse” and “hotel” are used interchangeably in city directories and other historic documents.
53 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

industry and surges in immigration during
the 1890s spurred the growth of ostatuak
during this period.
115
Thousands of Chinese laborers originally
came to California to help construct the
railroad and migrated throughout the state,
working as domestic servants, day laborers,
and field workers. A community of about
200 settled in Ventura, residing in a
collection of vernacular wood structures
facing Figueroa Street that became known as Chinese Alley. By the late 19th century, a fully established Chinatown existed on both sides of Figueroa Street between Main and Santa Clara Streets. The Chinese community worked in a variety of labor and service capacities and, though socially isolated from the majority population, provided an important foundation for the growth and development of the City.
116
Agriculture

During this period, fruit became an important crop in Ventura. James A. Day (c. 1829-1915), a farmer on Telephone Road, was one of the first to successfully grow fruit trees in the area.

In 1875, his crop included apricots, apples, limes, lemons, and walnuts. As a measure of his success, he built not one, but two homes – a house on the ranch and one in town for use by the family when attending church or school. By 1891, Day owned more than 880 acres of

115 Another wave of Basque migration to California occurred between 1900 and 1910, concurrent with widespread crop failure in the Basque region.
116 Greenwood, “Downtown San Buenaventura Redevelopment Study Area.” Left: Drying Apricots in a Field. Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/1348. Right: E.P.

Foster. Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/187.

Ventura’s Chinatown, 1890.

Source: Black Gold Cooperative Library System.
54 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

farmland and other lots in the city. He took up real estate development in addition to farming and built the Masonic Block on Main Street.117
Another successful local apricot farmer was Eugene P. Foster (1848-1932). Foster first visited Ventura in 1871. He married Orpha Woods. He was a sheep rancher in Ventura County until he lost everything in the drought of 1876-77. Foster had saved enough money to eventually buy a piece of land on Ventura Avenue, where he built a home and established an apricot tree nursery. Foster planted his seedlings on the land of James Day. He ultimately traded his land for stock in the Bank of Ventura, becoming the bank’s president until it was sold to the Bank of Italy (later Bank of America).
118 Foster and his wife were major donors
to the E.P. Foster Memorial Hospital. They also donated the land for Seaside Park and the city’s first library. Foster Park and E. P. Foster Elementary School are named for him.

At this time, the northern Ventura Avenue area (from the Gosnell Bend north toward Casitas) was known locally as “Sleepy Hollow.” It remained primarily rural in character, dotted with small family farms. The name “Sleepy Hollow” is believed to have come from an early settler named Charles E. Hoer, who was from Concord, Massachusetts and is buried in the “Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.” Hoer first settled in the area in the 1870s and then returned in 1881 with a gentleman by the name of N. B. Smith, who likely used this name for the Avenue Section adjacent to his property.
119
In 1876, the Ventura Mill was constructed about three miles north of downtown Ventura along the Ventura River.
120 The Flour Mill121 was owned by Thomas Clarke and was modeled after the Minneapolis Mills in Minnesota. The main building was fifty square feet, three and a half stories tall (including a basement), and had wings of about the same size on the ground floor for storage. There was also a large warehouse connected to the milling works, located near a railroad track. The mill, powered by a turbine wheel on the river, had a capacity of producing 100 barrels of flour per day and supplied both Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.122 The mill building was later repurposed as an ice-making plant, and again as a

117 San Buenaventura Research Associates, Historic Resources Report: 7620 Telephone Road, August 2015, 5-6. 118 Mildred Ranger Schofield. “A Brief History of Eugene P. Foster,” https://web.archive.org/web/20141101070250/http://portal.countyofventura.org/portal/page/portal/GSA/ parks_department_-_Directory/docs/HISTORY_OF_THE_VENTURA_COUNTY.pdf (accessed June 23, 2020).
119 Memo by J. H Morrison to Miss Marjorie Fraser, October 30, 1961 regarding the origin of the name “Sleepy Hollow,” reprinted in “A Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Gosnell Bend to Casitas) 1859-1916,” compiled by Miss Marjorie Fraser Vol. I (New York: Fraser Publishing Company, 1965), 3. 120 Letter by J. H Morrison to Miss Marjorie Fraser, November 16, 1961 regarding the early families living along Ventura Avenue. Reprinted in “A Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Gosnell Bend to Casitas) 1859-1916,” compiled by Miss Marjorie Fraser, Vol. I (New York: Fraser Publishing Company, 1965), 4. 121 The mill was likely constructed by a man named Hamilton c. 1871. A water ditch and flume are believed to have been added c. 1875.
122 Reproduction of Thompson & West, History of Santa Barbara & Ventura Counties, California, With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, (Berkeley, CA: Howell-North. Berkeley, California Books, 1961), 378-379.
55 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

dance hall.123 The former site of the Ventura Mill later became the Mill School, located at 5301 North Ventura Avenue.

In 1881, Theodosia Burr Shepherd began her work as an early horticulturalist in Ventura.

Shepherd was born in Keosauqua, Iowa in 1845. Along with her husband, lawyer William E.

Shepherd, and their children, she moved to Ventura for her health in 1873.124 There, her husband became the editor of the Ventura Signal. In 1881, Peter Henderson, a seedsman in New York, “certain that California, before fifty years, will become the great seed and bulb growing country of the world,” encouraged Shepherd to grow seeds and bulbs in the Ventura climate.125 She quickly gained a reputation as “a flower evolutionist of great ability,”126 and the “mother of the [seed] industry” in California.127 She established the Theodosia B. Shepherd Company, incorporated in 1902, annually issued a retail catalogue and two wholesale lists. Shepherd was internationally renowned as a hybridizer of petunias, cosmos, and nasturtiums; a pioneer in the collection of begonias; the developer of the Golden West California poppy; and the first woman in California to hybridize flowers and sell their seeds.128 Referred to as the “pioneer flower seed grower of California,” Shepherd wrote and lectured on plant life, her hybridization work, and her success in the seed industry.129 Her garden, located near the southeast corner of Chestnut and Poli Streets (City of Ventura Historic Landmark #34; now the Community Organized for Liberty Opportunity and Respect garden), covered eight acres, including the location of the present- day E.P. Foster Library. She died in 1906 at the age of 60.130 In 1884, there was a flood that devastated the upper Ventura Avenue area. An early resident, Mrs. Eva Hubbard Hanlin, described the event:

When I was about nine years old (1884), we had a terrible flood on that part of the Avenue. There had been a huge dam built by the Indians (long before we settled on that Ventura Ranch of 30 acres). It held back the water just

123 “My Life on Ventura Avenue from Childhood until I was seventeen 1877-1893,” written by Mrs. Eva Hubbard Hanlin, February 4, 1964, reprinted in “A Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Gosnell Bend to Casitas) 1859- 1916,” compiled by Miss Marjorie Fraser, Vol. I (New York: Fraser Publishing Company, 1965), 7. 124 “Finding Aid for the Theodosia Burr Shepherd Papers, ca. 1900-1940,” UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections, Manuscripts Division, https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8h4nb5hq/entire_text/ (accessed December 29, 2020).
125 “Theodosia Burr Shepherd, Pioneer Florist of California,” Los Angeles Herald Illustrated Magazine, April 13, 1902.
126 “Theodosia Burr Shepherd, Pioneer Florist of California,” Los Angeles Herald Illustrated Magazine, April 13, 1902.
127 “Women of the Horticultural World,” The Pacific Garden, Vol. V No. 1, December 1911, 6. 128 Virginia Hayes, “Pioneer Horticulturists: The People Who Helped Make S.B. a Floral Haven,” Santa Barbara Independent, August 19, 2009, https://www.independent.com/2009/08/19/pioneer-horticulturists/ (accessed December 29, 2020); “Women Who Do Things: Theodosia Burr Shepherd,” Wilkes-Barre Record, July 7, 1905. 129 “Women Who Do Things: Theodosia Burr Shepherd,” Wilkes-Barre Record, July 7, 1905. 130 “Finding Aid for the Theodosia Burr Shepherd Papers, ca. 1900-1940,” UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections, Manuscripts Division, https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8h4nb5hq/entire_text/ (accessed December 29, 2020).
56 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

above the Barnard place. We had been having a severe rainfall that winter, and the dam broke and Oh! Such a flood.131
According to contemporary news accounts, “the Ventura river changed its bed and swept everything in its course.”
132 A lot of land was either washed away or “covered with sediment to a depth that [rendered] it valueless.”133 As a result, the flood altered the topography and eliminated the small farms that had formerly characterized the area.

Oil Exploration
Oil was first discovered along Ventura Avenue in 1885 while crews were drilling for water.

The discovery was significant in that the site, which was located 2.5 miles north of downtown Ventura in unincorporated Ventura County, was to become one of the largest oil drilling centers in the state starting in the early 20th century. It later became known as Ventura Avenue oil field, and covered an area measuring approximately three miles long and a half mile wide.
134
Saticoy and West Saticoy
During the first land boom, Saticoy and West Saticoy were subdivided from former rancho land located outside what was then the boundary of the City of Ventura. Saticoy takes its name from the Chumash village named Sa’aqtik’oy. It was initially part of the Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy, with the first American settlers arriving circa 1860. George G. Briggs purchased the Rancho in 1862 and began subdividing it in 1867. His nephew Jefferson L.

Crane farmed the area as well.
135 The founding of Saticoy as a pioneer settlement is generally credited to New York-born William De Forest Richards (c.1832-uknown). He came to California in 1868 and purchased 850 acres to the west of present-day downtown Saticoy, which lies in unincorporated part of Ventura County.

As additional settlers were attracted to the area, a small village sprang up. According to the Saticoy Historic Resources Survey and Context prepared by San Buenaventura Research Associates, the location of the small village that was established around Richards’ property in the late 1860s is thought to be along present-day Telephone Road west of Saticoy Avenue. 136 The
village included a school, blacksmith shop, hotel, and general store. A post office was established in 1873, and in 1874 it became a stop on the Santa Clara Valley line of the

131 “My Life on Ventura Avenue from Childhood until I was seventeen 1877-1893,” written by Mrs. Eva Hubbard Hanlin, February 4, 1964, reprinted in “A Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Gosnell Bend to Casitas) 1859- 1916,” compiled by Miss Marjorie Fraser, Vol. I (New York: Fraser Publishing Company, 1965), 7. 132 “Ventura Floods,” Los Angeles Herald, February 27, 1884. 133 “Ventura Floods,” Los Angeles Herald, February 27, 1884. 134 F.W. Hertel, Ventura Avenue Oil Field, Ventura County, California, 1928, 735. 135 Triem, Ventura County.
136 San Buenaventura Research Associates, “Historic Resources Survey & Context for the Town of Saticoy,” February 2014, 6.
57 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Atlantic & Pacific Stage Company. Area farming crops included grains, seeds, beans, and English walnuts.

Construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad advanced toward the area in 1887. The railroad approached Richards to purchase some of his land to build a depot, but negotiations stalled. They turned to Samuel Wells, Richards’ neighbor to the east, where they purchased land, laid out a grid, and built a railroad boomtown. Richards responded by surveying a townsite on his land in March of 1888 that he christened Saticoy. While the dueling townsites battled for supremacy, the eastern village was known as “Railroad Saticoy.” Ultimately the railroads prevailed. Land sales waned in Richards’ Saticoy and it reverted back to acreage. Existing buildings were relocated to the other Saticoy or to Oxnard, which was having a boom of its own. The Richards’ townsite continued to be known as “West Saticoy” or “Upper Saticoy.”

One of the commercial buildings that was relocated from Richards’ Saticoy was Arnold’s General Store and Post Office, which was initially relocated to Wells Road and Violetta Street in 1915 and converted to the Sacred Heart Church. 137 In 1987, it was relocated to
Darling Road; however, it was destroyed by fire in 2005.

By 1908, there were still a number of farmers listed in voter registration rolls for West Saticoy. They included Samuel James Alexander, Cline W. Beckner, David Brown, Frank Gerry Everett, Leslie Earl Lincoln, and William De Forest Richards. West Saticoy also supported three churches: a Presbyterian, a Methodist and an Adventist church that met in a

137 Vivian Louis, “Moved but Not Forgotten: Memory-Laden Church Building Awaits New Life in a Saticoy Field,” Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1991.

Saticoy Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, late 1940s.

Source: Collection of Stephen Schafer, Historic Resources Survey & Context for the Town of Saticoy. 58 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

private home. Even as the 1910s marked the decline of West Saticoy as a commercial district, “…it remained the hub of the Methodist Church and the elementary school,138 as well as the homes and ranches of many of the district’s more affluent residents.”139 Much of the land in this area was annexed into the city in the 1960s and West Saticoy eventually became part of the City of Ventura.140
THEME: SECOND LAND BOOM (1887-1905)
In the 1880s, the railroads
continued their expansion
throughout Southern California
both connecting existing outlying
towns and creating new suburbs.

In 1886, the Southern Pacific
Railroad announced plans to build
a spur from Newhall through the
Santa Clara Valley to Ventura and
Santa Barbara. With the
completion of the spur line from
Newhall in 1887, travelers were
able to arrive in Ventura by train.

This further increased the number
of travelers and potential
residents, increasing the demand for lodging. It was during this period that the Rose Hotel, the Anacapa Hotel, and Armory Hall were erected on Main Street (all no longer extant) to accommodate the greater demand for temporary housing.

By 1887, regularly scheduled trains were arriving at the newly built Ventura Depot. It was at this time that confusion over the name of the community began. Initially, the Southern Pacific had printed tickets reading “Ventura,” but later changed the station name to “San Buenaventura” in deference to local merchants. The U.S. Post Office adopted the name “Ventura” in 1889, although the longer name remained in use until 1907. 141
By the end of 1887, the second land and population growth period in Ventura County’s history was underway. Eastern settlers began migrating to the state by the thousands, many arriving via the newly established train spur traveling through the town to Santa Barbara.

138 The elementary school remained the only school serving Saticoy until a new public school was built in the town proper in 1914.
139 San Buenaventura Research Associates, “Historic Resources Survey & Context for the Town of Saticoy,” February 2014, 13.
140 More research needed to confirm the annexation date for West Saticoy. 141 David F. Myrick, “Ventura County Railroads, A Centennial History, Volume I: The Railroad Comes to Ventura County,” Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 1, Fall 1987.

Ventura Train Station.

Source: Research Library at The Museums of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/1559.

59 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Top: Map of the City of San Buena Ventura, 1888. Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County. Bottom: Birds Eye View of San Buena Ventura, c. 1887.

Source: California State Library.

Additionally, rate wars between the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads, along with the stagecoach lines, increased the affordability of travel.142

142 Triem, Ventura County.
60 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Main Street, Ventura.

Source: Los Angeles Public Library, Security Pacific National Bank Collection.

In 1887, the Ventura Development Association was formed by a group of citizens and prominent businessmen. The population rose from 1,000 in 1875 to 3,869 in 1890. By 1904, the Southern Pacific had permeated all parts of the County and growth continued in a steady pace as San Buenaventura entered the 20th century.
143

The railroad had a significant effect on the city’s physical development. Until 1890, Main Street west of the Mission remained populated by adobe dwellings and wood and brick commercial buildings. By 1892, Main Street had become a more densely developed corridor, with many brick buildings replacing the original wood structures. The concentration of commercial development on Main Street was matched by the parallel development of nearby residential construction that nearly tripled in quantity during this period. 144 Lumber mills
were established in the area immediately surrounding the Wharf and a mix of industrial and residential structures developed in the blocks bordered by Front, Ash, and Ann Streets.

Population growth brought on by the railroad also spurred institutional development along Main Street east of the Mission. In 1889, Ventura Union High School was established at 2 North Catalina Street.145 In 1890, the Gothic Revival style Southern Methodist Episcopal Church was constructed at 896 East Main Street (Landmark #28).146 The Elizabeth Bard

143 Triem, Ventura County.
144 Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps of San Buenaventura, 1886, 1890, 1892. 145 Ventura High School, “About Us,” https://www.venturausd.org/ventura/AboutUs.aspx (accessed July 2020).
146 “City of San Buenaventura Historic Landmarks, Districts, and Points of Interest: Landmark Number 28,” City of Ventura, https://map.cityofventura.net/docs/historic/28.pdf (accessed July 2020). It is the earliest extant church building in the city.
61 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Memorial Hospital (121 North Fir Street, Selwyn Lock Shaw; Landmark #19) was established in 1902 by brothers Sen. Thomas Bard and Dr. Cephas Bard as a memorial to their mother.147 The same
year, Ventura’s first post
office was established at
377 East Main Street
(Landmark #25), which
remained in operation at
that location until
1919.
148
As Ventura continued to
develop, it became home
to a host of women’s
groups and fraternal
organizations, reflecting
the growth and maturity
of the city. These societies served as social and cultural outlets, and professional networks overseeing philanthropic endeavors of Ventura’s most prominent captains of industry and public servants. One of the earliest fraternal organizations formed in the city was the Ventura Masonic Temple, established in 1871 by eleven men, including E.P. Foster. The Order of Odd Fellows was established in 1872 and met in Spear’s Hall, a popular local saloon.
149 Women’s groups established during this period include the Avenue Ladies’ Club, organized in 1892; Ventura Tuesday Club, first formed in Los Angeles in 1898; the West Saticoy Poinsettia Club, organized in 1899; and the La Loma Club, formed in 1902. 150
Agriculture
During the closing decades of the 19th century, citrus fruits and sugar beets became the mainstay of Ventura’s agricultural economy. The local growers became the major employers and the most economically influential residents.

Among the most successful early farmers were W.T. Mills and Benjamin and Frank Dudley.

They experimented with grain and soft-shelled walnuts before landing on the prize crop of lima beans. Benjamin Dudley’s success is evidenced the Victorian-style residence designed by

147 “City of San Buenaventura Historic Landmarks, Districts, and Points of Interest: Landmark Number 19,” City of Ventura, https://map.cityofventura.net/docs/historic/19.pdf (accessed July 2020). The hospital is Ventura’s only extant Mission Revival style building.
148 “City of San Buenaventura Historic Landmarks, Districts, and Points of Interest: Landmark Number 25,” City of Ventura, https://map.cityofventura.net/docs/historic/25.pdf (accessed July 2020). 149 Fifty Years of Odd Fellowship in California, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, California, H.S. Crocker Company, 1899.
150 Early women’s groups often met in the residences of their members, until they could raise funds to commission a home for the organization.

Elizabeth Bard Memorial Hospital, no date.

Source: Ventura County Library Services Agency, via Cynthia Thompson. 62 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

architect Selwyn Shaw and completed in 1892 (relocated to 197 N. Ashwood Avenue from its original location at Ashwood and Telegraph Roads; Landmark #44, listed in the National Register).151 Oscar Perry Cook (1860-1948), the father of the Eureka Lemon in Ventura County, operated the first successful lemon orchard along Telephone Road near present-day Kimbal Recreation Park.

By 1890 some 137,349 acres of Ventura County land were tilled, with more than 54,000 of those acres planted in barley; corn and wheat were the second- and third-largest crops. When grain prices collapsed in the late 1880s Ventura County farmers replaced grain with beans, a crop that required no irrigation. Lima bean cultivation in the County peaked in 1920 at 118,000 acres. Elsewhere in Ventura County, farmers experimented with vegetables and orchards, which became the dominant crops in the 1920s and 1930s.

During the late 1890s, a number of growers’ associations were organized. The early Ventura County organizations included local branches of the California Fruit Growers Exchange, the Southern California Walnut Association, and the California Lima Bean Growers Association.

These cooperatives enabled these growers to take control over the marketing and distribution of their crops, collectively advertise to influence demand, reduce distribution costs, and establish partnerships with local universities in pest control. These associations also enabled the growers to gain control over subsidiary businesses (byproduct industries), irrigation, water and shipping containers. They even influenced legislation, including the passage of the Dingley Tariff Act in 1897 that stimulated investment in sugar beets. By 1914,

151 Dudley was also a prominent member of the community, serving on the board of supervisors and as justice of the peace.

Benjamin Dudley farmhouse by Selwyn Shaw, 1892.

Source: National Park Service.

63 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

the Ventura County Farm Bureau boasted 300 members. At the time, the top crops were walnuts, apricots, lima beans, oranges and lemons.

The area’s growth and prosperity fueled racial and ethnic tensions. An ordinance was established in 1888 to limit Chinatown to a four-square block area south of Main Street and west of California. In further attempts to ‘clean up’ the city, the Anti-Chinese League was formed. By 1905, all of the buildings on the west and east side of Figueroa Streets, known as China Alley, were removed.
152
Oil Industry
Just north of China Alley along Ventura Avenue, the oil industry was gaining momentum. A natural gas plant was constructed in 1891 at the west end of McFarlane Street.153 In the early 1900s, the Ventura Avenue Oil Field (VAOF) was discovered after further exploration in response to A.D. Barnard’s discovery in the region fifteen years earlier. However, prospective drillers encountered numerous problems while developing the VAOF, including severe gas blow-outs caused by the pressure of the shallow natural gas formations and the large amount of water in the wells.154 It would take a few more years of experimentation and improved drilling methods before the area’s oil industry would boom.

By the late 1890s, investors began to claim rights to the oil rich land.155 This period also marked the first appearance of automobiles on Southern California roads.156 The development of the assembly line process by the Ford Motor Company in the late 1900s made it possible to mass produce automobiles. Automobiles became inexpensive to produce and were thus obtainable by average middle-class Americans.

The discovery of oil along Ventura Avenue in the late 19th century did not lead to immediate success for oil investors. Much of the oil beneath the ground was surrounded by high pressure gas pockets, which made it extremely difficult to harness. Therefore, drilling was limited to only a few hundred feet. By 1910, a few shallow wells were established at the oil field. Due to the shallowness of the wells, most of these wells were abandoned due to high concentrations of water.
157
Due to the flood in 1884, there was scattered development along Ventura Avenue at this time; however, the area included a mix of land uses including scattered residential lots,

152 Ventura Democrat, 1912.
153 City of San Buenaventura, “Historical Overview: The Ventura Brownfield Project,” prepared by West Coast Environmental and Engineering, February 2001, 23.
154 City of San Buenaventura, “Historical Overview: The Ventura Brownfield Project,” prepared by West Coast Environmental and Engineering, February 2001, 13.
155 City of San Buenaventura, “Historical Overview: The Ventura Brownfield Project,” prepared by West Coast Environmental and Engineering, February 2001, 735.
156 “First Automobile in Southern California,” Los Angeles Almanac, http://www.laalmanac.com/transport/tr10.php (accessed December 18, 2020). 157 Richard Denison, The First 100 Years in Ventura, (Ventura, CA: Denison & Teichman, 1966), 52. 64 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Left: Montalvo Railroad Depot; Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/400.

Right: Students outside of the Montalvo School; Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/234.

vacant lots, and some remnant cultivated fields. A few timber-framed commercial buildings were located along the southern section of Ventura Avenue. The northern section had no houses on the land north of Gosnell Bend, as this area was used for growing potatoes.158 Montalvo
During the California real estate boom of the late 19th century, developers and speculators created towns out of nothing and advertised them for sale. Montalvo was one of these towns. Montalvo was founded in 1886-87, with the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

J.G. Hill laid out plans for the town.159 It is believed that the town was named after Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo, a Spanish author who described California in the 1510 novel Las Sergas De Splandian. Montalvo was located four and a half miles east of Ventura.

In the Fall of 1897, large display ads for parcels in Montalvo appeared frequently in the Los Angeles Times. Touting the townsite as “The Charming, New Suburban Town of San Buena Ventura,”160 and the future home of a $50,000 hotel and the Montalvo Seminary of the University of Southern California. These improvements were never realized, however, and Montalvo never developed on the grand scale that was initially intended.

The $6,000 one-room schoolhouse was dedicated on November 2, 1889, built on land donated by Ventura resident, Jack Hill.
161 Students walked through nearby walnut groves or
arrived on horseback. The schoolhouse also functioned as a de facto community center. By 1891, the railroad built a $5,000 depot, and a new general merchandise store was constructed

158 Letter by J. H Morrison to Miss Marjorie Fraser, November 16, 1961 regarding the early families living along Ventura Avenue, reprinted in “A Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Gosnell Bend to Casitas) 1859-1916,” compiled by Miss Marjorie Fraser, Vol. I (New York: Fraser Publishing Company, 1965), 4. 159 Joe Paul, Jr. “And Then Came Montalvo,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, September 20, 1964. 160 “Display Ad 4,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1887, 6. 161 The original schoolhouse burned down in 1911. A two-room schoolhouse was built in 1912. The Montalvo School, which stands today, was constructed in 1939.
65 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

for Hearne and Bellah with plans for an agricultural implements store.162 By 1899, the boom was bust in Montalvo; however, the town had a Methodist church, a post office, and several stores accompanied by “several neat and pretty cottages.”163 The Southern Pacific Mining Company office was also located in Montalvo.

The 1908 Ventura County Directory for Montalvo lists 150 residents, the vast majority of whom were farmers. Lima beans and walnuts were the primary crops for the area. During the 1920s, Montalvo was the sight of oil speculation – along with other sites in Ventura County.

In 1925, the Standard Oil Company started drilling test wells on leased land. Other oil companies were not far behind; the Shell Oil Company was soon to follow. By Fall of 1926, Standard Oil had 2,000 acres in the Montalvo district.164 The construction of the 101 Freeway in the 1960s was destructive to Montalvo. During the 1980s, residents debated annexation into the city of Ventura, but that movement was defeated in 1992. Montalvo was finally annexed into the city of Ventura in 2012.

DESIGNATED RESOURCES FROM THE PERIOD

NAME LOCATION DATE DESIGNATION
Commercial and Institutional
Ventura Wharf (Pier) Harbor Boulevard, east
of California Street 1873 Landmark #20
Peraino Store 204 E. Main Street 1887 Landmark #32
Southern Methodist Episcopal
Church 896 E. Main Street 1890 Landmark #28
First Christian Church/Alice
Bartlett Clubhouse (Apostolic
Church)
902 E. Main Street c.1895 Landmark #27
Elizabeth Bard Memorial
Hospital 121 N. Fir Street 1902 Landmark #19; listed in the National Register
Feraud General Merchandise
Store 2 W. Main Street 1903 Landmark #35; listed in the National Register
Residential
Mitchell Block Historic District 600 block of E.

Thompson Boulevard 1869-1905 Historic District

162 “Ventura: Suit Commenced Over the Waters of Piru Creek,” Los Angeles Times, October 23, 1891, 7. 163 Triem, Ventura County, 92.
164 “Oil News,” Los Angeles Times, September 26, 1926, 20. 66 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

NAME LOCATION DATE DESIGNATION
Josiah Keene Residence 41 Bell Way c. 1872 Landmark #68; County Landmark #33
Conklin Residence 608 E. Thompson
Boulevard 1877 Landmark #7
Emmanuel Franz Residence 31 N. Oak Street 1879 Landmark #21; listed in the National Register
John C. Morrison Residence 331 Poli Street 1880 Landmark #57 Charles Cooper Residence 163 Cedar Street 1886 Landmark #67 Robert C. Sudden Residence 825 E. Front Street 1886 Landmark #41 Selwyn Shaw Residence 140 N. Ann Street 1887 Landmark #46 Dr. T.E. Cunnane Residence 128 S. California Street 1888 Landmark #39 Baker Residence 2107 Poli Street 1888 Landmark #13
J.A. Day Residence 759 Poli Street 1889 Landmark #70
Robert E. Brakey Residence 411-413 Poli Street 1890 Landmark #64 Suyter Residence 1157 Poli Street 1890 Landmark #62
Jacque Roos Residence 82 S. Ash Street 1892 Landmark #47 William Elwell Residence 143 Figueroa Street 1892 Landmark #61 A.D. Briggs Residence 856 E. Thompson
Boulevard
1894 Landmark #81
Judge Felix W. Ewing Residence 605 Poli Street 1895 Landmark #14 Bert Shaw Residence 1141 Poli Street 1896 Landmark #50
David S. Blackburn Residence 717-719 E. Main Street 1896 Landmark #59 Peirano Residence 107 Figueroa Street 1897 Landmark #33 Blackstock Residence 835 E. Main Street 1900 Landmark #51 Kate Duval Residence 953 E. Main Street 1902 Landmark #74 Granger Residence 1206 E. Main Street 1902 Landmark #56 Nellie Clover Residence 857 E. Main Street 1903 Landmark #53 67 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

NAME LOCATION DATE DESIGNATION
Ada McCosky Love Residence 119 S. Figueroa Street 1903 Landmark #73 Hammonds/Reese Residence 637-639 Poli Street 1905 Landmark #79

68 Commercial development expands
east of the Mission, solidifying Main
Street as Ventura’s primary
commercial corridor
John Brakey deeds a road through
his property at the juncture of Oak
and Poli Streets to the City in return
for property development rights,
opening the hills to development
A large tract of land east of the
Sanjon Barranca is annexed to the
City of Ventura, more than doubling
the size of the City
Construction of the Rincon Point
causeway makes direct automobile
travel between Santa Barbara and
Ventura possible

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

VII. CITY EXPANSION AND CIVIC IMPROVEMENT (1906-1919)
THEME: EARLY 20TH CENTURY RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
The City dramatically expanded its territorial boundaries in the first years of the 20th century.

From the establishment of the Mission through the turn of the 20th century, the ocean to the south, hills to the north, the Ventura River to the west, and the Sanjon Barranca to the east provided natural borders for the city proper. All this changed in 1906, when a large tract of land east of the Sanjon Barranca, including portions of the Dixie Thompson ranch, was annexed by the city.
165 The Daily Free Press described the annexation on April 10, 1906:

By voting to annex this territory, the citizens of Ventura have more than doubled the area of the city. The former municipality was about a little more than one mile square containing about 750 acres. The new Ventura will contain 1900 acres and will extend from the Ventura river on the west to the junction of the Montalvo and Santa Paula roads commonly known as the FORKS on the east, and from the ocean to the summit of the hills back of the city.
166
By October of 1906, small tracts of land were being sold for development.167 Widespread construction east of the Sanjon Barranca, however, would not take place until the mid-1920s.

Most of the land acquired through annexation continued to be used for agricultural purposes or remained open space.

One exception was the development of the
Beach Tracts by A.C. Gates. The manager of
the Title Guaranty Company, Gates procured
an option on 100 acres of the Dixie Thompson
Ranch in March of 1909. He proposed a
housing subdivision to be called The Beach
Tracts. Mrs. Josephine Pierpont-Ginn, a
wealthy Ojai socialite, purchased Tract 25 of
the Beach Tracts where she built the Pierpont
Inn (Landmark #80). By September of 1910,
most of the remaining lots had been sold and
soon contained a first generation of Craftsman
and period revival style beach cottages.

Territorial expansion continued in 1910, when local businessman John R. Brakey deeded a road through his property at the juncture of Oak and Poli Streets to the City in return for

165 “Now Greater Ventura,” Daily Free Press, April 10, 1906. 166 “Now Greater Ventura,” Daily Free Press, April 10, 1906. 167 “San Miguel Acres,” Daily Free Press, October 19, 1906.

Pierpont Inn, undated photo.

Source: Museum of Ventura County.
70 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

property development rights. This action opened land in the hills above Ventura to future development.168
There was a great deal of residential development in the area directly east of Downtown where large numbers of single-family homes were built on previously undeveloped lots.

Blocks of single-story residences, built in Craftsman and period revival styles, were interspersed among the larger residences of the Victorian era. The resulting mix of single- family homes from the late 19
th and early 20th centuries characterizes much of this area today.

THEME: EARLY 20TH CENTURY COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Construction within the city’s downtown and its immediately surrounding areas was considerable during this period as lots subdivided in the 1870s were developed during the first decades of the 20
th century. Commercial development expanded east of the Mission, solidifying Main Street as the City’s primary commercial corridor. By January of 1912, the

168 “Certainties for 1910 Will Make New Year Most Prosperous One,” Daily Free Press, December 31, 1909.

View of Main Street, looking west from the intersection of Main and California Streets, 1900.

Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/1616.

71 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

local paper reported that “the increase in building in the city was 316 percent over the previous year.” This was the highest gain percentage in the state of California.169 The development of automobile tourism in Ventura paralleled its development in the rest of the country. In 1908, Henry Ford released the Model T. By developing the assembly line, Ford was able to dramatically reduce the cost of production, making automobile ownership available to the middle class. Freed from railroad schedules and rail-accessible destinations, the automobile opened leisure travel to the middle- and working classes by making short pleasure trips possible.
170 In Ventura, the construction of the Rincon Point causeway in 1912 made direct automobile travel between Santa Barbara and Ventura possible. The causeway was turned over to the State Highway Commission as part of a coastal route for its new highway system.
171
In January 1913, an article in the Ventura Free Press announced: “New Improvements for Main Street—Stores Being Fitted with Modern Steel Fronts Improve Street’s Appearance.” It noted that “the Great Eastern and the Rains Shoe Store will each be fitted with modern steel fronts with prism glass and large plate glass display windows.” The article also mentioned several other businesses along Main Street receiving similar treatment forming as fine a line of store fronts “as can be found in any city.”172 Prismatic glass tile transoms would become a signature design element of Main Street commercial buildings during the first two decades of the 20th century. First introduced in the 1890s, prismatic tiles had raised patterns on their inside surface that refracted sunlight toward the rear of the building. The pressed tiles were usually joined together with zinc or lead in the manner of stained-glass windows. The tiles were designed to increase natural light levels and thereby reduce reliance upon light wells and artificial light sources. As such, prismatic tile transoms were a popular and practical innovation used both in new construction and to update existing storefronts. Applied to many Main Street buildings, they became a unifying streetscape element.
173

169 “Hurrah! Ventura’s Percentage is Greater Than any Other City in Southern California,” Daily Free Press, January 12, 1912.
170 David Blanke, “Rise of the Automobile,” Teachinghistory.org, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/beyond-the-textbook/24073 (accessed December 18, 2020).
171 Michael Redmon, "Rincon Point Road," Santa Barbara Independent, November 21, 2011, http://www.independent.com/news/2011/nov/21/rincon-point-road/ (accessed December 18, 2020). 172 “New Improvement for Main Street,” Ventura Free Press, January 24, 1913. 173 Photographs, Ventura County Museum of History & Art. 72 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Ventura County Courthouse.

Source: California State Library.

THEME: EARLY 20TH CENTURY CIVIC AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Ventura’s burgeoning civic pride during this period was apparent through the significant investment in physical improvements and city beautification efforts, influenced in large part by the principles of the City Beautiful Movement. The City Beautiful Movement advocated comprehensive physical planning and grand architectural beautification of cities in order to counteract the “moral decay” of crowded urban environments. The movement is largely associated with the work of Chicago architect and planner Daniel Hudson Burnham and his plan for the World Columbian Exposition of 1893. Burnham arranged the grounds of the exposition as a model city of buildings, grand boulevards, bridges, squares, and parks all designed in monumental Beaux Arts styles. This “White City,” with its emphasis on symmetry, order and harmony, launched a nationwide movement to express American ideals in the built environment.
73 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

In 1903, a local City Beautiful League was formed
in Ventura. Through their efforts, new trees were
planted in Plaza Park in 1906 and 1908, and
streets were paved. The first Ventura Landmarks
Committee, a subsidiary of the Chamber of
Commerce, organized in 1910 and set their sights
upon saving the Ortega Adobe and the Mission
Palms in the old Mission Gardens. In 1911, the
County Supervisors increased the tax levy to raise
funds for a new courthouse. By July of that year,
A.C. Martin and Associates of Los Angeles had
designed a monumental building in the
Neoclassical/Beaux Arts style, a fitting
representation of the City Beautiful Movement in
public architecture and one which compares
favorably with those in other Southern California
communities. The new courthouse at 501 Poli
Street officially opened in July 1913 (Landmark
#4, California Historical Landmark #847, listed
in the National Register of Historic Places).

Physical improvement and new or renovated buildings were dominant subjects of the local press between 1911 and 1913. In May of 1912, the Ventura Free Press quoted Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce Sol Sheridan stating that Ventura “had made prodigious headway in the last three years in every direction with improved streets, walk[ways] and homes.” In June of the same year, the paper noted that Contractor Brakey had constructed a new Cross to be raised on the Hill on Admission Day, September 9 (Grant Park Cross, Landmark #5). A “new light system… installed on every corner along Main Street” was reported in July, and business owners were ordered to install “concrete sidewalks in front of your property or have it done by the City at your expense” in the September issue.

Banker and civic leader Eugene Preston Foster made significant contributions to the physical infrastructure of the city and surrounding area during this period. As the first commissioner of the County’s Forestry Commission, he was instrumental in establishing the area’s first parks. Foster personally financed and led the 1921 construction campaign for the Ventura City County Library Headquarters on Main Street that also housed City Hall. 174
During this period, a new cemetery was established a half mile west of Montalvo. In 1917, the Ivy Lawn Cemetery Association was formed, with George E. Hume as president, David Darling as vice-president, and E.W. Carnes as secretary-treasurer. The cemetery was

174 Eva Barbara Brown, “The E.P. Foster Family: The Living and the Legacy,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, May 16, 1971.

Paving Main Street, Ventura, 1919.

Source: California State Library.

74 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

established in a former walnut orchard, south of the state highway.175 The Association paved roads and constructed “a keeper’s residence with the necessary barns and other buildings” on the site.176
Shepard’s Gardens, located at Main Street and Chestnut Street, was a worldwide draw for visitors. Anna M. Paquette (1878-1923) popularized the poinsettia Christmas flower in Ventura. She worked with botanist Luther Burbank and the Burpee Seed Company.177 Other institutional development in Ventura in the early 20th century included the formation of a number of activist groups and other women’s organizations, in response to the progressive ideals that were taking hold throughout the country during this period. This included organizations that furthered women’s causes including suffrage and temperance.

Social and cultural groups that were established in the late 19 th century continued their work,
joined by new organizations including the Ella Comstock Orr Club (E.C.O.; later renamed the Alice Bartlett Club), which formed in 1908.178 Additionally, the Fortnightly Club, Shakespeare Club, and Wednesday Afternoon of Mound Club held meetings in Ventura according to the Official Register and Directory of Women's Clubs in America published in 1913.

Many of the members of these clubs and organizations were some of the first women to vote in Ventura County.

Other organizations that were gaining traction throughout the state and nation, such as the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, were most concerned with the impact of alcohol abuse on families. Ventura area chapters campaigned for prohibition efforts during the early part of the century to remove the service of alcohol within the city’s limits. Benjamin Dudley, the well-known farmer and businessman, served as president of the local Anti-Saloon League. After successfully leading the charge to raise saloon license fees from $64 to $600, Dudley became known in Ventura as the “Daddy of High License.”
179 In 1909, the temperance campaign resulted in the demolition of Spear’s Hall, a favorite saloon and meeting place at the southwest corner of Main and Palm streets, which was replaced by a two-story, brick garage built by Milton P. Stiles. 180 By 1913, Ventura
was a “dry” town.

175 “Elect Officers of Cemetery Ass’n” Oxnard Courier, July 13, 1917. 176 “Personal and Local News Items: Tuesday,” Oxnard Courier, November 23, 1917. 177 Cynthia P. Thompson, “The People and Their Stories,” unpublished manuscript for Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, no date.
178 San Francisco Blue Book and Club Directory, the Social Reference Book (J.J. Hoag, 1904); San Francisco Blue Book; the Fashionable Private Address Directory, San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley-Alameda (The University of California, 1905); Club Women of California (California Federation of Women's Clubs, 1907). 179 Jane Hulse, “Building to a Finale: After 17 years of volunteer efforts, historic Dudley House is open to public,” Los Angeles Times, October 1, 1998.
180 The demolition of the saloon and its replacement by a garage was also an early sign of the influence of the automobile on the physical development of Ventura. The M. P. Stiles Garage Building was more than just a

75 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

A rare example of a woman entrepreneur, Ventura’s Sadie F. Heckler Brown (1879-1957), formed the Brown Realty Company which offered both real estate and insurance. She handled sales for Hobson Heights, Arcade Home Farms, McElrea Heights, and the Simpson Tract.181
THEME: OIL INDUSTRY
In response to the ever-increasing demand for fossil fuels, the Ventura Avenue Oil Field experienced intense activity starting in the 1910s, precipitating the oil boom of the 1920s. As early as 1911, H.L. Haynes’ Traders Oil and Traffic Oil Companies was signing leases in the Ventura Avenue area. In 1913, Ventura resident Ralph B. Lloyd formed the State Consolidated Oil Company in partnership with Joseph B. Dabney, and began leasing oil- bearing land along both sides of Ventura Avenue. In January 1914, they began to drill an oil well (known as “Lloyd No. 1”) on a site leased by Lloyd. By July 1915, as drilling had reached a depth of 2,558 feet, a gush of oil destroyed the oil derrick. Although Lloyd No. 1 was ultimately unsuccessful, it was the first well that was drilled to a depth of over 1,000 feet.

After several subsequent failed attempts at other sites, Lloyd and Dabney transferred 13,000 acres of Lloyd’s lease, which retained the wells’ identifications (i.e., Lloyd No. 1), to the Shell Oil Company in June of 1916.
182 Shell established its first well on the Taylor Ranch.183 The company made a significant financial investment in the area, but had little luck until Gosnell No. 1 (at Gosnell Point and Ventura Avenue) eventually began to produce 1,200 barrels per day. It was the Associated Oil Company that finally achieved major success in the Ventura Avenue Oil Field when they drilled deeper and with heavier equipment that could withstand the underground pressure. Their Lloyd No. 102 well, drilled to a depth of 7,210 feet, had an initial production of 3,600 barrels per day.
184

place for auto-related services. It was a social center with dressing rooms for ladies and gentlemen, private lockers, and was elaborately furnished. In the early years of the automobile, it was customary to park the “machine” at the garage, change clothing from traveling to pedestrian attire, and then walk to your local destination. “Valuable Addition to Ventura is Stiles New Garage Block,” Ventura Star Free Press, August 31, 1909.
181 Cynthia P. Thompson, “The People and Their Stories,” unpublished manuscript, no date. 182 Ventura County Star Free Press, excerpts, 1921 to 1929. 183 Triem, Ventura County, 118.
184 F.W. Hertel, “Abstract: Ventura Avenue Oil Field, Ventura County California,” American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, Vol. 12 No. 7, July 1928, 721-742, http://archives.datapages.com/data/bulletns/1917-
30/data/pg/0012/0007/0700/0721.htm?doi=10.1306%2F3D932805-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D (accessed December 30, 2020).
76 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

DESIGNATED RESOURCES FROM THE PERIOD

NAME LOCATION DATE DESIGNATION
Commercial and Institutional
Old Town Livery 34-52 N. Palm Street 1906 Landmark #30
Pierpont Inn 550 Sanjon Road 1910 Landmark #80
Ventura County Court
House/Ventura City Hall 501 Poli Street 1912
Landmark #4; County
landmark #12; State
Landmark #847; ; listed in
the National Register
Residential
Eliza J. Arnold Residence 92 N. First Street 1908 Landmark #97 Dacy Fazio Residence 557 E. Thomspon
Boulevard
1910 Landmark #48
Norton Ranch Residence 71 N. palm Street 1910 Landmark #89 Fridolin W. Hartman Residence 73 N. Palm Street 1911 Landmark #69 Carlo Hahn Residence 211 E. Santa Clara
Street
1912-1914 Landmark #78
Sheridan Residence 1029 Poli Street 1915 Landmark #42

77 Increased automobile tourism
prompts commercial development,
including the establishment of the
Mission Bell Motor Court, one of the
earliest motels in California
The Ventura Oil Field is one of the
most productive in California,
establishing Ventura as one of the
richest oil-producing regions in the
state
Rapid population growth in the
1920s spurs widespread
institutional development, including
the E.P. Foster School and the
Blanche Reynolds School
Ventura's population grows at a
rate of 5 families per day, creating
a housing shortage and resulting in
a surge in development

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Petroleum Securities Lease Avenue Oil Field
Source: Museum of Ventura County,
https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/2044.

VIII. BETWEEN THE WARS (1920-1940)
THEME: INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT & THE 1920s OIL BOOM
Since the early 20th century, oil has been “one of Southern California’s chief exports.”185 Numerous oil fields were discovered across California in the first decades of the 20th century, including the Ventura Avenue Oil Field in 1914, called “one of America’s greatest oil finds,” and the Ventura and South Mountain oil field in Ventura County, discovered in 1916.186 Along with other newly-discovered fields across California, these oil fields drove oil production in California from 77.7 million barrels in 1910 to 103.4 million barrels in 1920.187 In the 1920s, Southern California became “one of the most prolific oil-producing regions in the world.”188 Demand for oil in America was high and California’s love affair with the automobile contributed to rising demand. It also played a role in supply; by 1930, California was producing nearly 25% of the world’s oil output.
189

In Ventura, the Ventura Oil Field had become one of the most productive in California and established Ventura as one of the richest oil-producing regions. 190 The once rural area dotted
with farmland was transformed almost overnight into one of the most important oil producing regions in the state.191 By 1926, Associated and Shell were each bringing in 15,000 barrels per day and a newcomer, General Petroleum, brought in an additional 6,000 barrels

185 “The Story of Oil in California,” Paleontological Research Institution, http://www.priweb.org/ed/pgws/history/signal_hill/signal_hill.html, March 2017, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20170302062414/http://www.priweb.org/ed/pgws/history/signal_hill/signal_ hill.html (accessed December 30, 2020).
186 Colleen Cason, “Colleen Cason: Drilling down into Ventura’s History,” Ventura County Star, January 18, 2014; “Oil and Gas Production History in California: Oil,” Oil & Gas History, 1-8, http://www.sjvgeology.com/articles/history_of_calif_oil.pdf (accessed December 30, 2020). 187 “Oil and Gas Production History in California: Oil.” 188 Tim St. Onge, “The Los Angeles Oil Boom Through Maps,” Worlds Revealed: Geography & Maps at the Library of Congress, https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/2019/07/the-los-angeles-oil-boom-through-maps/ (accessed December 30, 2020).
189 “A History of Neighborhood Drilling,” Stand-L.A., https://www.stand.la/history-of-oil-in-los-angeles.html (accessed December 30, 2020).
190 Triem, Ventura County.
191 Triem, Ventura County, 120.
79 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Ventura Avenue Oil Field, 1928.

Source: The Ventura County Museum and Ventura County Star, http://archive.vcstar.com/news/colleen-cason-drilling-down-into-venturas-history-ep-292085750- 351496421.html/.
per day.192 During this period, the headquarters for oil producers were clustered in the 3000 and 4000 blocks of N. Ventura Avenue and included the Associated Oil Company, Pacific Western Oil Company, Shell Oil Company, and General Petroleum Corporation.

Following the onset of the Great Depression, by the early 1930s, U.S. automobile production was half of what it was in 1929, and as a result oil companies were losing money.193 However, despite their losses, the major oil companies and were able to survive the Depression, and the Ventura Avenue oil field was able to maintain steady production levels throughout the 1930s.

192 Triem, Ventura County, 118-119.
193 Frank J. Taylor and Earl W. Welty, Black Bonanza: How an Oil Company Grew into the Union Oil Company, (New York: Whittlesey House, 1950), 185.

80 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Sub-Theme: Oil-Related Industrial Development
In support of the booming oil industry, oil related industries and service companies (machine shops, oil tool and welding shops, chemical suppliers, etc.) began to spring up, primarily along Ventura Avenue to be in proximity to the oil fields. There were clusters of oil-related industrial uses on the east side of Ventura Avenue near the intersection of Franklin Lane and Barry Drive; and on the west side of Ventura Avenue north of McFarlane Street. A small refinery and a natural gas compression plant were located near Stanley Avenue and a few smaller oil field service companies were scatted around the southern section of Ventura Avenue. As industrial development continued to increase, other businesses began to locate in the area including auto salvage yards, scrap metal recyclers, bulk fuel distributors, and a rock quarry.
194
One of the most successful oil-related businesses established during this period was the Ventura Tool Company, founded by Fritz Huntsinger, Sr. (1899-1986) in 1930. Huntsinger immigrated to Ventura from Germany just seven years prior. He went to work for the Schwab Tool Company (2508 N. Ventura Avenue, demolished) in 1924. During the Great Depression, Huntsinger purchased the assets of a defunct tool company at a Sheriff’s auction and started his own business. Huntsinger worked closely with Shell Oil to develop and manufacture oil exploration and production equipment. Later, he expanded into offshore drilling equipment that brought continued success to the company.

Theme: Aviation-Related Industrial Development
Following the success of the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903, the 1910s brought a newfound popularity for aviation in Southern California, and air shows performed by flight pioneers attracted huge crowds in Los Angeles. The emergence of aerial combat with the start of World War I solidified aviation as a viable investment for further technological innovation. In Ventura, brothers Abram Hobson (1861-1929) and William Hobson (1865- 1913) repurposed farmland for one of the area’s first airstrips following World War I. 195
Thanks to the enterprising brothers, Ventura joined the ranks of localities converting large swaths of undeveloped land into informal airfields for a growing network of regional pilots.

By this time, a new aviation industry was born and both private and commercial endeavors grew throughout the region.

In 1924, the Ventura Aero Club was founded by John P. Thille of Santa Paula who hired Santa Barbara pilot Dave Matthews as an instructor for Club members. Thille also took charge of building a hangar for the club’s new airport. A year later, the Shell Oil Company funded the painting of a large “Ventura” sign designed to be viewed by pilots and guide them to the landing field. Aviator Charles Widmer purchased Thille’s hangar in April of

194 City of San Buenaventura, “Historical Overview: The Ventura Brownfield Project,” prepared by West Coast Environmental and Engineering, February 2001, 14.
195 The former airstrip was located at the present site of the Marina Village Shopping Center. 81 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

1926 and opened a commercial flying business, which proved to be popular enough that Ventura became the first town between Los Angeles and San Francisco “to maintain a port where an attendant is always on duty.”
196 By 1928, the Ventura field grew to be 2,000 feet
long and 1,000 feet wide.197 By the 1930s, the Ventura field was superseded by an airport near Oxnard that would later become Ventura County Airport, as well as the growth of the nearby Santa Barbara Airport. As a result, the field became obsolete and was ultimately redeveloped as part of the Ventura Marina and Ventura Keys residential tracts in the 1960s.

THEME: RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
The expansion of the oil industry in the 1920s brought thousands of oil workers, geologists, engineers, and others to Ventura. By February 1925, the population was growing at a rate of five families per day.
198 Ventura’s total population increased from 4,156 to 11,603 by the end of the 1920s. This influx of new residents created a housing shortage, which resulted in a residential and commercial boom. Property owners began to subdivide their land to make room for the needed worker housing in proximity to the oil fields, including several new housing tracts south of the oil fields in the areas flanking Ventura Avenue. 199 Many modest
worker cottages were also built on small lots that were carved out of the larger farm properties.

The city’s residential stock expanded both within and beyond the original 1879 city boundaries. Multi-family apartment buildings dotted the downtown residential areas, in previously established single-family neighborhoods. The Avenue area, previously rural and home to working families and farm owners, filled with additional worker housing to support adjacent industrial development. Housing subdivisions, with names like Hobson Heights, Arcade Farm Homes, Magnolia Park, Buenaventura Tract, El Plano, and Mc El Rea were advertised in the newspapers along with detailed tract maps. Many of these new subdivisions were located in what is now called Midtown. Every issue of the newspaper printed intricate house plans that ran from small, one-bedroom bungalows to elaborate mansions. 200
With the population boom in Ventura, a number of carpenters and home builders moved to the city and plied their trades. Examples include John Frederick Binns (1858-1940), Harold Carrico (1893-1962), Roy W. Guyer (1885-1946), and Thomas P. Bergseid (1896-1960) who partnered with Leonard Barr to form Bergseid & Barr.
201

196 “Air Pilot Will Operate Here,” Ventura County Star, April 12, 1928, 8. 197 “Ventura Airport in Standard Oil’s List,” Ventura County Star, June 6, 1928, 3. 198 “Hundreds Working on New Locations,” Ventura Free Press, February 7, 1925, 1. 199 Triem, Ventura County, 119.
200 Ventura County Star Free Press, excerpts, 1921 to 1929. 201 Cynthia P. Thompson, “The People and Their Stories,” unpublished manuscript, no date. 82 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Due to its proximity to the oil fields, the majority of the resources within the Westside area and along Ventura Avenue were constructed during this period. By the 1930s, the population of this section of the city had doubled to over 10,000. Significant residential development took place during this period, resulting in the subdivision of numerous tracts developed primarily with modest single-family houses designed in popular styles of the period. A map of the tracts established in the 1920s is included in Figure 2. A discussion of significant tracts from this period follows.
202

202 The narrative discussion of each tract is intended to inform the understanding of the built environment and trends in residential development during this period. Inclusion of a particular tract in the narrative does not necessarily indicate it is eligible as potential historic district. 83 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Figure 2: Map of 1920s Subdivisions.

Source: Midtown Specific Plan, HDR Town Planning, October 2006. 84 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Simpson Tracts
In response to the housing shortage for oil workers, the Simpson Home Garden Tract was developed in 1921. This was followed by the Simpson Tract in 1925, and the Simpson Tract Extension in 1926. The three tracts combined cover the area bounded by the north side of Ramona Street to the north, the south side of Prospect Street to the south, N. Ventura Avenue to the east, and the west side of Riverside Street to the west. Four city blocks (Sheridan Way, Ventura Avenue, W. Prospect Street, and W. Simpson Street) comprising 182 homes are locally designated as the Simpson Tract Historic District.

According to the 1930 Census, the vast majority of renter-occupants of this neighborhood were employed in the oil industry, representing a wide variety of occupations in the industry:
driller, derricksman, rotary helper, machinist, pumper, welder, truck driver, engineer, rig builder, fireman, purchasing agent, chemist, pipeline fitter, electrician, mechanic, foreman, carpenter, and roustabout.
203 Overwhelmingly these were family men born outside of California.

The tract was developed by Joseph M. and Edith M. Argabrite on land purchased from Carl A. and Grace Simpson.204 Carl A. Simpson (1891-1954) was a member of the pioneering Simpson family.205 According to the 1920 U.S. Census, Carl A. Simpson was a farmer; however, he began developing his land holdings in 1921 and never looked back.206 In 1925, Simpson sold a tract of farmland that he had inherited from his family to Argabrite, who then subdivided the land and resold it as modest residential lots.207 Joseph Mayo Argabrite (1882-1944) was a major financial powerbroker and developer in Ventura. Born in Kentucky, he came to California at the age of five. He was the son of Jacob Argabrite, a prominent Ventura resident and public servant. Joseph was a lawyer with a flair for finance and public service. In 1903, Joseph replaced his father as Deputy Auditor/Recorder for Ventura County. By 1918, he had been elected a California State Assemblyman.
208 He was an active member of the local Chamber of Commerce. During the

203 Roustabouts working in oil fields typically perform various jobs that require little training, including setting up oil well heads, maintaining saltwater disposal pumps, etc. Drillers start off as roustabouts until they gain enough hands-on experience to move up to a roughneck or floor hand position, then to driller, and then to rig supervisor.
204 The tract map for the Simpson Home Gardens tract is missing. Based on information in the 2011 survey, it appears that the developer was Argabrite, who purchased the land from Simpson. This will be updated as additional research is conducted.
205 Simpson’s grandfather arrived in Ventura in a covered wagon and later served as Ventura postmaster. “Carl A Simpson of Ventura Dies,” Ventura County Star, September 20, 1954, 2. 206 With the proceeds of his first development, he constructed a new house for himself and his wife in 1924 (447 N. Ventura Avenue) and lived there until his death in 1954. 207 “Ordinance No. 90-4: The Simpson Tract Historic Overlay Zone: Exhibit C,” Council of the City of San Buenaventura, 1990.
208 “Legislators-elect Hear Plaints and Pleas of Their Constituents at Pre-Assembly Session,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1918, I11.
85 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

1920s, Argabrite was President of the First National Bank, Home Savings Bank, and Bank of America in Ventura. In 1926, he was the facilitator of the largest bank deal in Ventura history.209 Argabrite was also Secretary of Ventura Home Builders, Inc. in 1928.210 Argabrite began developing residential tracts in Ventura in 1924. A frequent development partner of Gilpin W. Chrisman, he subdivided several tracts in Midtown and the East End during the 1920s.

Many of the houses in the Simpson Tract were one-story, Craftsman or Mediterranean Revival in style. Tract features included uniform setbacks and one-car garages at the rear of the parcels. There are a few residences that were relocated to the tract and exhibit architectural styles from earlier development periods.
211
Hobson Heights
Hobson Heights was subdivided in 1923-1924 by Abram Lincoln Hobson, the son of early Ventura pioneer William Dewey Hobson. A.L. Hobson was a partner with his father in the family’s vast real estate ventures, and he was the developer of the Hobson Meat Packing business. The original sales contracts for lots in Hobson Heights specified that all residences had to be constructed in either the Spanish Colonial Revival or Italianate architectural styles.

The area was subdivided in three phases: August and September 1923, and April 1924.

Pierpont Bay
In addition to addressing the housing shortage created by the booming oil industry, during this period Ventura County continued to develop as a tourist destination, particularly with the growth of auto travel. In 1925, the Los Angeles-based Frank Meline Company subdivided the neighborhood known as Pierpont Bay.

The Frank Meline Company was started in 1911 in Hollywood. By 1920, the company was selling properties in Hollywood, Wilshire, Beverly Hills and beyond. Based downtown Los Angeles, by 1922 the firm had eleven branch offices around the greater Los Angeles area. By 1923, it was “one of the most complete and largest realty organizations of its kind operating in a single territory in the world—[engaging] in every branch of the real estate and building field.”
212 There were 300 employees handling “houses and lots, business property and leases, escrows, residential rentals, insurance, architecture and building.”213 Among its most prominent projects was the 1920s purchase and subdivision of the 100-acre Danziger Estate (for $2,500,000) to create present-day Bel Air. By 1923, the Frank Meline Company had constructed more than 1,000 homes in Southern California, and Beverly Hills was noted as

209 “Directors of Ventura Bank Buy Control,” Los Angeles Times, August 4, 1926, 11. 210 Ventura City Directory, 1928, 27.
211 “Ordinance No. 90-4: Exhibit C.”
212 “Local Firm Celebrates Twelfth Anniversary,” Los Angeles Times, August 19, 1923. 213 “New Office Is Occupied by Meline,” Los Angeles Times, December 31, 1922. 86 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

“the chief subdivision project of the firm.”214 Meline also subdivided the Silver Strand and Hollywood By the Sea subdivisions in nearby Oxnard.

Frank J. Meline (1875-1944) was born in Jackson, Illinois and came to Los Angeles in 1902.

According to his obituary, “His name was synonymous with expansive subdivision operations throughout the city [of Los Angeles] and county.”215 In 1941, he sold the real estate company to J.Y. Blaikie, formerly his General Manager. In addition to his development activities, Meline also operated the Laundry Properties Co, Inc., a laundry delivery service. He was active in social and civic circles and was appointed to the Board of Harbor Commissioners in 1921.

The layout for the three tracts that comprise Pierpont Bay (Pierpont Bay, Pierpont Bay #2, and Pierpont Bay #3) was originally designed by architect Carleton M. Winslow, Sr. 216 The
design included gently curved streets to the north and south of a central, ellipsoid, landscaped parcel bounded by New Bedford and Martha’s Vineyard Courts, visible in the aerial photograph from 1929, below. On the original tract maps, residential parcels were also planned along the west side of Shore Drive. In order to create a “separation of pedestrian and motor traffic,” Winslow designed a system of alternating walk streets or “Courts” and car-friendly “Lanes.” The houses originally faced one another on the walk streets with address numbers on their respective “Court.” The long blocks of parcels in Pierpont Bay were also bisected by another pedestrian “walkway.”
Pierpont Bay was aggressively marketed to Los Angeles residents as parcels for weekend getaway cottages at the beach only two hours by car from the big city (facilitated by the new Pacific Coast Highway). It was also marketed to Bakersfield residents as the nearest beach resort for summer heat relief. The tract office was located at the corner of Seward Avenue and Shore Drive (demolished). Small sand lots were offered for $396 ($10-$15/month).

214 “Local Firm Celebrates Twelfth Anniversary,” Los Angeles Times, August 19, 1923. 215 “Frank Meline’s Death Closes Varied Career,” Los Angeles Times, August 19, 1944. 216 “Display Ad 98,” Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1923, F5. 87 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Aerial photograph showing Pierpont Bay, 1929.

Source: University of California, Santa Barbara, Flight C_563, Frame B-5, June 1, 1929.

88 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Tract office and development plan, 1926.

Source: USC Digital Library.

Pierpont Bay, 1926.

Source: USC Digital Library.

Part marketing gimmick and part business genius, the Frank Meline Co. held an architectural contest for beach cottage designs at Pierpont Bay. Submissions were judged by members of the Los Angeles Architectural Club, company representatives, and two “lay people.” The competition was open to architects, designers, and students, and cash prizes ranged from $500 for first place to $50 for lesser placements. Parameters included a 40’ x 80’ lot for a five-room cottage with one-car garage.217 Submittal requirements included floor plans, elevations, perspective drawings, and a bona fide cost estimate. Submittals were encouraged to be attractive and of modest cost. The winning designs were published in the booklet “Architectural Designs for Pierpont Bay,” which was then used as a promotional brochure for the development.

Community amenities included a fishing pier constructed at the intersection of Seward and Shore Drives. On Seward Avenue to the south of the pier, Meline built a Cape Cod-style Bath House (Charles H. Kyson, 1926, demolished).
218 Amenities to the north of the pier
included an oceanfront children’s playground and a boardwalk. A planned racetrack was never realized.
219 Other tract features included concrete streets and ornamental lights.

Asphalt paved Shore Drive ran the length of the development and was suitable for a scenic drive along the waterfront.

The original price of the lots was approximately $2,900. 220 Sales were relatively brisk with 40
lots sold over Memorial Day Weekend in 1926.221 Historic photos from the period suggest small cottages in Period Revival styles were predominant in the development. An architectural jury, which included Winslow in a consulting capacity, reviewed all residential

217 “Frank Meline’s Death Closes Varied Career.”
218 In 1931, after it was damaged by encroaching high tide, the bath house was enlarged and the exterior walls were re-clad in cement plaster to give it a Spanish appearance. 219 “Model Beach Colony Being Developed at the Ventura Shore,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, August 27, 1926,

11. 220 Ken McAlpine, “Pierpont Bay: A Stormy and Storied History,” Ventura County & Coast Reporter, June 30 1988.
221 “Oxnard and Vicinity,” Oxnard Daily-Courier, June 21, 1926. 89 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

designs for the development. In at least one case, spec bungalows were repurchased from the owner because they did not meet the required building standards.222 Construction activity in 1926 also included a group of model cottages built by Mrs. Maude T. Culley of Santa Barbara, known as Pierpont Village.223
By April of 1929, sales at Pierpont Bay had reached $3.2 million for the Frank Meline Co.224 Reportedly, there were sales to people from the East Coast and the Midwest, as well as to Angelinos, and residents of Santa Barbara. For Labor Day 1929, Meline staged a treasure hunt at Pierpont Bay where he buried $100 worth of gold coins in the sand east of Seward Avenue; some 20,000 hopeful treasure hunters attended.225 The 1931 Ventura County City Directory lists 53 occupied homes in the development.

222 “Burnham Sells Bay Holdings,” Ventura County Star, June 26, 1929, 7. 223 “Pierpont Bay Colony Grows,” Los Angeles Evening Express, August 28, 1929, 16. 224 “Pierpont Bay Sales Hit $3,200,000 Mark,” Los Angeles Evening Express, April 27, 1929, 18. 225 McAlpine, “Pierpont Bay: A Stormy and Storied History.” Aerial view of Pierpont Bay, 1936.

Source: The Museum of Ventura County, via Cynthia Thompson. 90 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Storm damage to a Period Revival cottage on
Seward Avenue, December 1937.

Source: Research Library at The Museum of
Ventura County,
https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/it
ems/show/893.

Financial and natural disasters took their toll on the Pierpont Bay development. Just two months after Meline’s treasure hunt, the stock market collapsed. The price of Pierpont Bay lots plummeted from $2,900 to $10.
226 A series of storms in the 1930s with high tide surges wiped out homes and infrastructure in the development and halted further construction.

Continued high tides and flooding resulted in some people relocating their Pierpont Bay homes to other locations.
227 In 1933, the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles held funds in trust for the subdivision and they impounded funds to protect themselves against potential litigation from owners of damaged homes. In 1935, more destructive storms arrived. The pier at the end of Seward Drive was destroyed, as was much of Shore Drive.

A 1947 aerial photograph reveals that only a few homes had been constructed on the northernmost parcels by that time. No homes were constructed there between 1937 and 1950. A second wave of building in Pierpont Bay occurred at mid-century—this time with modest modern-style beach houses.

In the early 1950s, the addresses in Pierpont Bay were updated. The numbers were changed, and the street address was reoriented from the walk street “Courts” to their respective “Lanes.” During this period, Pierpont Bay transformed from a primarily single-family neighborhood to multi-family, as owners subdivided their homes into duplexes and converted garages into rental units. By the early 1960s, the area was approximately 80 percent renters and 20 percent owner-occupied.
228
A series of groins was constructed in the 1960s that helped stabilize and protect the development from storm surges; however, many lots remained undeveloped. Around this time, the Pierpont Bay Association was formed to “protect, improve and beautify the

226 McAlpine, “Pierpont Bay: A Stormy and Storied History.” 227 McAlpine, “Pierpont Bay: A Stormy and Storied History.” Some homes may have been relocated to the Vista Del Mar Drive bluffs.
228 Helen Yunker, undated statement, Private Collection. 91 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

environment of the Pierpont Bay area and inform its members of related issues.”229 Membership was open to all owners, residents, and businesses. The Founding President was Ron Wilson, along with board members Morris Howard, Zoe Bryce, and John Behine.

Another active member during this period was Helen Yunker.

One-third of the development was located within the City limits; with the remaining two- thirds located in the County. The Pierpont Bay Association, led by Yunker, fiercely opposed any annexation efforts by the City, on the grounds that nothing was being offered except higher taxes. As a result, bids for annexation in February 1963 and September 1965 failed.

In the late 1960s, Yunker was instrumental in forming the Pierpont Bay Improvement District. The group conducted an examination of the improvements needed in the neighborhood. Of particular concern were aging septic tank systems that posed health and safety threats. Based on the results of the study, the Pierpont Bay Association circulated a petition asking the City for sewer connections, buried telephone and electric utilities, and upgrades to gas and water lines.

The Improvement District proposal also recommended the closure of the “Courts” and the relocation of all utilities to the “Lanes.” As a result, there would be easements on the “Lanes” to widen them by four feet on each side to accommodate the new sewer and utilities connections. The 15 foot-wide “Courts” would then be closed, and the additional space shared by the adjacent property owners. All of these improvements were to be undertaken at no cost to the homeowners.

The City agreed to the requested improvements. As a result, Pierpont Bay homeowners no longer opposed annexation and the issue was approved by voters on December 3, 1968.

Ensuing City resolutions to close the walk streets were recorded in 1973; however, some homeowners recall that the reclamation of property to make the improvements did not occur until the late 1970s or early 1980s.
230 As part of the annexation, residents were
promised that existing non-conforming structures would be granted legal nonconforming status (i.e. grandfathered). Correspondence from the mid-1970s indicates that was not the case.
231
Over time, membership in the Pierpont Bay Association waned and the organization was eventually disbanded. The efforts of the Improvement District and the neighborhood upgrades resulted in new construction in the late 1970s, a renewed sense of pride in the neighborhood, and increased property values. Pierpont Bay remains Ventura’s only beach- front community.

229 Pierpont Bay By-Laws, Private Collection.
230 Mitch Stone, San Buenaventura Research Associates, Julie Hammons Johnson, Facebook, October 26, 2020.
231 City and Pierpont Bay Association correspondence, Private Collection. 92 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Triangle Park Tracts
During the late 1920s, two tracts located on unincorporated Ventura County land just outside the City limits were developed. The first was subdivided in 1927-28 on land owned by James and Rachel Emma Tefferteller. The development was known as the Triangle Addition or Tefferteller’s Triangle Park. James F. Tefferteller (1884-1965) came to Ventura in 1906. He and his wife owned extensive ranch land in the county including much of the land along Telegraph Road. The subdivision comprised 48-parcels on an irregularly shaped tract generally bordered by Telegraph Road on the north, Highway 101/E. Main Street on the south and west, and the west side of Emma Street on the east.

Developer and real estate broker Walter Ray Beene (1888-1975) advertised the tract as “…right at the edge of the city—yet directly in the center of future development.” 232
Proximity to one of California’s most important highways was also lauded. The lots, priced from $1,075, were marketed as sure to increase in value. The development was sold out within a few months. It was annexed to the City of Ventura on May 28, 1945.

In November 1928, approval was given for the Clarence Chrisman Tract, consisting of 68 lots along S. Dunning Street between Telegraph Road and E. Main Street/Highway 101.

Forty-three of the lots were reserved before building began. Ads for the tract touted “rich loam soil, well drained…covered with lemon, orange and walnut trees, curbs, water, gas…restricted to the white race and to buildings costing $2,500 or more.” 233
Collectively, the Tefferteller and Chrisman developments comprise the area that is known as Triangle Park today.

232 Ventura Star Free Press article discussed in the South Dunning Street Survey and reprinted in the City of Ventura’s Historic Preservation Committee Memo for Project 11950, March 28, 2018, 63. 233 Ventura Star Free Press article discussed in the South Dunning Street Survey and reprinted in the City of Ventura’s Historic Preservation Committee Memo for Project 11950, March 28, 2018, 63. 93 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

THEME: COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Economic prosperity during this period created greater demand for goods and services, leading to a proliferation of commercial development, particularly in the original commercial corridor downtown. Prior to the oil boom, the north side of Main Street was only partially developed and contained many one-story, wood frame structures.

In 1925, Thomas P. Berseid, Sanford Rudolph, John A. Largomarsino, Gilpin W. Chrisman, and William Ramelli formed the Building Construction Committee of the Ventura Chamber of Commerce. They established a citywide policy naming the Spanish Colonial Revival-style as the preferred architectural style in Ventura.
234 This decision was highly influenced by the
Santa Barbara earthquake and boosters of the City Beautiful movement there to rebuild only in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.235 Indeed some business owners followed their lead and many facades along Main Street were remodeled to reflect the Spanish Colonial Revival architectural characteristics during this period.

By 1928, whole blocks along Main Street had been redeveloped to provide expanded services for the growing population. By the end of the 1920s, the north side of Main Street from the Mission to California Street was almost completely built out with brick commercial

234 Cynthia P. Thompson, “The People and Their Stories,” unpublished manuscript, no date. 235 It would seem that this committee had little enforcement power, but rather lobbied for it as a business-civic organization.

Main Street Ventura, c. 1920s.

Source: San Buenaventura Conservancy.

94 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

buildings. Prominent multi-story structures anchored the primary intersections.236 In addition, a number of small commercial structures were established along the N. Ventura Avenue corridor, interspersed with existing residences.237 Though economic growth in the area slowed considerably during the Great Depression, several prominent commercial buildings were constructed during this period, including several along Ventura Boulevard. New development increased slightly in the latter half of the 1930s as conditions stabilized. Several new commercial buildings were added downtown, and several existing buildings were modernized between 1937 and 1941.

Sub-Theme: Highway 101 & Auto Tourism
Ventura’s historical association with tourism dates back to California’s mission era where its location on El Camino Real (a.k.a., the Kings’ Highway) made it a natural stopping point for early Californians traveling between the missions. With the advent of automobile tourism in the 20
th century, Ventura continued to be an important travel destination and hotels and other tourist amenities were established in the city.

During the 1920s, the automobile supplanted the railroad as the preferred means of vacation transportation. In the 1920s, the automobile was the leading consumer product in the country and by 1925 there was one automobile for every six Americans (compared with one for every 100 in Great Britain).
238 The automobile and the freedom it represented touched the American spirit of individualism and exploration. The new “motor-tourist” – upper and middle-class alike – was lured by the promise of adventure and unencumbered by the routes and schedules of the railroad.

According to the California Highway Commission, in 1923, 823 cars per day were traveling the coast route from Los Angeles to San Francisco. U.S. Highway 101 was the primary artery for north-south travel along the coast. Highway 101 followed Ventura Boulevard East (present-day East Main Street) and a number of businesses sprang up to meet the needs of auto tourists. The corridor became a roadside lodging district offering six motels on the north side of the boulevard. It also included two roadside restaurants, the Side Car and Taylor’s, and two gas stations.

236 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, 1928.
237 Examples include the building at the northwest corner of W. Harrison Avenue and N. Ventura Avenue, 466-480 N. Ventura Avenue, and the building at the southeast corner of N. Ventura Avenue and E. Ramona Street.
238 Calvin Coolidge papers, “Transportation—General 1923-28: Automobiles and the Highways,” Library of Congress, American Memory Collection.
95 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

One of the earliest motels, the Mission
Bell Motor Court (3237 E. Main Street)
was established circa 1928. The Mission
Bell had “all the features of a good hotel
a modern apartment house and the
latest ideas developed in tourist
stopping places.”
239 It also included gas
pumps and a café for the hungry
traveler. The Mission Bell was
“approved accommodations” for at
least two important tourist
organizations promoting motor tourism: The American Automobile Association (AAA) and the United Motor Courts. The success of the Mission Bell inspired other motels to spring up along this section of the Highway.

Other notable tourist accommodations that were completed during this period include the Mediterranean Revival-style Hotel Ventura (Ventura Inn) at 477-495 East Main Street, built in 1926; and the French Eclectic style Hotel Fosnaugh (The Somerset) at 540 East Santa Clara Street, built in 1926.

The architectural character of Main Street was also influenced by the growing popularity of the automobile. Auto-related buildings – including showrooms, service garages, and gasoline stations – were prolific. The number of auto-related businesses in Ventura County doubled between 1920 and 1930. Ventura’s Main Street, particularly west of the Mission, featured several Spanish-style auto showrooms; the Phoenix Stables Livery became the City’s auto garage.

Auto-oriented architecture from this period includes the Spanish Colonial Revival style Motley-Gallentine Co. (Packard Garage) at 42 North Chestnut Street, built in 1925 (Landmark #31); the Seaside Gas and Service Station (Seaside Plaza) at 120-122 South California Street, built in 1925; the Nash Motor Sales Garage at 230 East Main Street, built in 1926; the Arcade Building at 38 West Main Street, built in 1926 (Landmark #83); and the Art Deco/Moderne Firestone Tires at 500 East Thompson Boulevard, built in 1929.

THEME: CIVIC & INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The rapid growth of Ventura’s population, stimulated by the booming oil industry, prompted the establishment of additional public and civic institutions like schools and churches, as well as infrastructure improvements, including the expansion of water, power, natural gas, and sewer service to new residences and businesses. Southern California Edison constructed a building at 99 South Ventura Avenue in c. 1925, and the Ventura Avenue

239 Hugh Marshall, “1930 Mission Bell Motor Inn and Apartments Brochure,” 1932, Museum of Ventura County.

Mission Bell Motel Postcard. Source: Antiques Navigator, https://www.antiquesnavigator.com.
96 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Water Treatment Facility Administrative Building was constructed at 5895 North Ventura Avenue in 1938 (Landmark #100).

The number of families that moved to Ventura during the 1920s and 1930s overwhelmed the existing school system and numerous new school facilities were constructed as a result.

In 1926, “a large increase in attendance” at Mill School House led to three teachers using the building, “which was originally a one-teacher school.”
240 The school district decided to
replace the Mill School House with a new four-room school, which was completed the following year.241 The Avenue School was constructed at 2747 North Ventura Avenue the same year, and a new wing was added to the Ventura Union High School.242 The cornerstone of Washington School (96 MacMillan Avenue) was laid in 1925. A new auditorium was constructed in 1940 with funding from the WPA.
243 The E. P. Foster School (20 Pleasant
Place) followed in 1930. Local architect Harold E. Burket designed Blanche Reynolds School (450 Valmore Avenue) in 1929-30, the Lincoln School at 1107 E. Santa Cruz Street c. 1931, and the PWA Moderne-style auditorium of Ventura High School on Main Street in 1939.

Cabrillo Junior High School (1393 E. Meta Street) is located on a site that is historically associated with public school facilities in the city. According to Marcie Malony’s “Brief History of the Ventura Public Schools,” in the early 1910s Union High School moved to the site; prior to 1921, students entered the school from the Meta Street side via a wooden trestle over the Sanjon Barranca.
244 The property also served as the Junior College from 1925 to 1930. During the 1920s, a gym, cafeteria and shop buildings were added. In approximately 1930, the Ventura Junior High School was constructed on the parcel.

In 1940, what is now Saticoy Elementary School (760 Jazmin Avenue, attributed to Roy C.

Wilson) was constructed.
245 Known by several names, including “West Saticoy School,” “Saticoy Grammar School,” and “Saticoy Elementary School,” it is believed that the school was constructed as part of a WPA project.246 The project included five classrooms, an auditorium, library, and kitchen/dining room.247 In 1948, architect Roy. C. Wilson was engaged to enlarge the school in preparation for consolidation of students from Agua Manantial School.

240 “County Builds Many Schools,” Ventura County Star, December 15, 1926. 241 “County Builds Many Schools,” Ventura County Star, December 15, 1926; “Complete Mill School Early,” Ventura County Star, January 4, 1927.
242 Advertisement, Ventura County Star, October 25, 1927. 243 Marcie Malony, “A Brief History of the Ventura Public Schools,” n.d., 3. 244 Marcie Malony, “A Brief History of the Ventura Public Schools,” n.d., 2. 245 Plans for a project with the Saticoy Elementary School District appear in the architect’s archival files from 1937. To be confirmed with building permits.
246 Marcie Malony, “A Brief History of the Ventura Public Schools,” n.d., 6. 247 “Saticoy School Attendance Said Based on Areas,” Oxnard Press Courier, July 14, 1947, 1. 97 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

The rapid population growth of the 1920s
also prompted religious organizations to
construct new buildings to house their
congregations. Prominent examples from
the period include the Exotic Revival First
Baptist Church at 101 South Laurel Street
(1927, Robert Stacy-Judd; Landmark #17,
listed in the National Register of Historic
Places), and the Mediterranean Revival-
style First Methodist Episcopal Church at
1338 East Santa Clara Street (1928). In the
early 1920s, the Community Bethel African
Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church was
established, initially meeting for Bible study
in members’ homes.
248 A building at 166 W.

Meta Street (present-day W. Thompson Blvd, demolished) was converted for use prior to 1928. The Olivet Baptist Mission was constructed on West Brooks Avenue (demolished) in 1932.

Between World War I and World War II, benevolent societies and fraternal organizations began to gain further traction in Ventura. Fraternal organizations, once the center of a vast private mutual aid network, provided social insurance for Americans of every race, ethnicity, and income group. They provided life insurance, protection against loss of income from sickness or accident, and charity and mutual aid to their members and to members of the community as social causes. They were the precursors to private insurance that comprised large social networks of community connectivity. This phenomenon had its roots in the unprecedented economic growth of the late 19
th century, as the widening gap between rich
and poor led to inadequate access to education, degradation of inner cities, and crime waves.

Americans began to fix these problems with inspired grassroots leadership and social inventiveness, resulting in a massive expansion of fraternal groups that provided a social network of protection and reciprocity.

Organizations like the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) and the Freemasons established chapters in Ventura in the late 1920s, and constructed buildings to house their gatherings. The Elks’ Ventura Lodge No. 1430 at 11 South Ash Street was constructed in 1928 (Landmark #99), the Mason’s Channel Islands Lodge at 101-107 South California Street (listed in the California Register of Historical Resources), and the Mason’s Ventura Lodge 214 at 482 E. Santa Clara Street were both built in 1929. During this period, existing organizations, such as the Alice Bartlett Club, also expanded their membership and charitable efforts. In 1923, the club moved to a Folk Victorian style club house at 902 E.

248 Leroy A. Gibson, Jr. and Gail M. Goldwyn, Looking Beyond the Mirror (Woodinville, WA: Gail Goldwyn’s Books, 2017), 40.

First Baptist Church, 101 South Laurel Street, c. 1975.

Source: Los Angeles Public Library.
98 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Main Street (Landmark #27). The building, which had formerly housed the First Christian Church, was moved to its current site in 1922.249
The stock market crash of October 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression essentially halted construction in Ventura County. In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt became President, and his New Deal relief programs started putting Americans back to work. Ventura County received hundreds of thousands of dollars for new construction and improvement programs for public buildings, parks, roads, and bridges. An annex and jail were added to the County Courthouse building in 1931, and the Ventura Post Office (675 East Santa Clara Street) was built in 1936. Programs like the Public Works Administration (PWA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated in the county between 1933 and 1941.
250 Local projects completed through these and similar programs include the murals at the Ventura Post Office (Landmark #29); the concrete statue of Junípero Serra (Landmark #6) that was originally located in front of the County Court Building; the rock wall surrounding Cemetery Park; and several school facilities as noted above.

249 “City of San Buenaventura Historic Landmarks, Districts, and Points of Interest, Landmark Number 27,” City of Ventura, https://map.cityofventura.net/docs/historic/27.pdf (accessed July 2020). 250 Triem, Ventura County.
99 City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

DESIGNATED RESOURCES FROM THE PERIOD

NAME LOCATION DATE DESIGNATION
Commercial and Institutional
Hobson Bros. Packing Co Building 235 W. Santa Clara Street 1923 Landmark #23 Bank of Italy 394 E. Main Street 1924 Landmark #38
El Jardín Patio 451-461 E. Main Street 1925 Landmark #63 Motley-Gallentine Co. (Packard
Garage) 42 N. Chestnut Street 1925 Landmark #31
Arcade Building 38 W. Main Street 1926 Landmark #83
First National Bank 494 E. Main Street 1926 Landmark #37 A.C. Martin Building (El Nido
Hotel) 63-79 S. California Street 1926 Landmark #40
First Baptist Church 101 S. Laurel Street 1927 Landmark #17; listed in the National Register
Ventura Theatre 26 S. Chestnut Street 1928 Landmark #24; listed in the National Register
Ventura BPOE Lodge #1430 (Elks
Lodge) 11 S. Ash Street 1928 Landmark #99
Ventura Guaranty Building and
Loan 592 Main Street 1930 Landmark #15
Ventura Mutual Fire Insurance
Company 692 E. Main Street 1937 Landmark #71
Residential
William A. Dunning Residence 932 E. Main Street 1920 Landmark #55 Louis Rudolph Residence 958 E. Santa Clara Street 1922 Landmark #92 J. Hoover Love Residence 970 E. Santa Clara Street 1923 Landmark #75 Simpson Tract Historic District
Bounded by Sheridan
Way, Ventura Avenue, W.

Prospect Street, W.

Simpson Street
1926 Historic District
Mabel Nellie Owen Residence Mabel Nellie Owen
Residence Landmark #76
100
Military bases are established at
Port Hueneme and Point Mugu,
drawing thousands of military
personnel and civilian workers and
reviving the economy
Victory House, at the northwest
corner of Main Street and Palm Ave,
supports wartime fundraising and
becomes a central gathering place
in downtown Ventura
Saticoy Lemon Association requests
prisoner of war (POW) labor from
the Army, establishing one of the
largest branch POW camps in
California
The bombing of Pearl Harbor by
the Japanese in December 1941
brings the United States into the
Second World War

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

IX. VENTURA DURING WORLD WAR II (1941-1945)
The bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in December 1941 brought the United States into the Second World War. Military bases were established at Port Hueneme in 1942, and later at Point Mugu, bringing more than 21,000 military personnel and 10,000 civilian workers to the region and reviving the economy. This influx of residents created a severe wartime housing shortage in Ventura County.

NAS POINT MUGU & NCBC PORT HUENEME
While not located within the City of Ventura, the Naval Air Station (NAS) Point Mugu, and the Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) Port Hueneme had a significant impact on the development of the region during and after the war. While the development of these bases had the greatest impact on adjacent Oxnard, Ventura saw enormous population growth during this period, as 21,000 military personnel and 10,000 civilian workers came to the region to staff the bases. To this day, the military bases remain the largest employer in Ventura County.

During the war, NAS Point Mugu was a training facility for the Seabees and an anti-aircraft training center. It also became the Navy’s major missile development and test facility during the 1950s and 1960s. The facility was also home to many ordnance testing programs with a test range extending to the Navy-owned San Nicolas Island, one of the many islands that make up the Channel Islands.

In 1942, the Navy dispatched survey teams up and down the Pacific coast looking for new locations for naval facilities. With Port Hueneme being the only deep-water port between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the site was selected for a base that supported Navy construction operations at advance bases in the Pacific theater. NCBC Port Hueneme was officially established on May 18, 1942 as a temporary depot to train, stage and supply the Seabees. During the Second World War, 20 million tons of supplies and equipment and more than 200,000 men were staged and shipped out from the CBC. During that time, more construction supplies and equipment were shipped from Port Hueneme than from any other port in the United States.
251 Originally known as Camp Rousseau, the Advance Base Receiving Barracks was established in Port Hueneme in September 1942. During World War II about 100,000 construction workers were trained for duty with the construction battalions.252

251 “Command History,” Naval Construction Training Center Port Hueneme, https://www.public.navy.mil/netc/centers/csfe/hueneme/CommandInfo.aspx (accessed July 2020). 252 “Command History,” Naval Construction Training Center Port Hueneme. 102

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

During World War II, downtown
Ventura became an important
place for congregating in support
of the war effort. On September 9,
1943, there was a Third War Loan
Drive and parade down Main
Street featuring the Seabees from
Camp Rousseau. The same day,
the Victory House (1943, Harold
E. Burket, demolished), where war
bonds could be purchased, was
dedicated at the northwest corner
of Main Street and N. Palm
Avenue. The site included a
bandstand/platform featuring a
large federal eagle backdrop facing the intersection. The 150-piece Seabee band, drum and bugle corps and a host of performers appeared to entertain war bond buyers. The entire effort was sponsored by the Ventura Junior Chamber of Commerce and on that day alone, the 10,000 attendees raised $58,000.
253 The war finance committee of Southern California
routed some of its major bond selling attractions through Ventura to appear at Victory House.
254 As a result, the northwest corner of East Main Street and North Palm Street became a central gathering place in downtown Ventura.

SATICOY PRISONER OF WAR BRANCH CAMP
During World War II, with 15 million Americans having been called into military service, agricultural labor was scarce. The labor shortage was particularly acute for Ventura County fruit producers whose harvesting was hand-labor intensive. The US Army came up with an unusual solution; it brought German prisoners of war (POWs) from England to America to fill the labor gap.

Thousands of German POWs were brought to America and housed in camps throughout the South and Southwest, including California. Early in 1945, the Saticoy Lemon Association requested POW labor from the Army. The nearest POW camp was Camp Cooke (on the site of Present-day Vandenberg Air Force Base). With the long commute, the Army established a series of “branch camps” (16 from Camp Cooke) so that the POWs could be closer to their work. Saticoy had one of the largest branch camps and it was the last to be closed.
255

253 “Parade Spurs Bond Drive,” Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1943, I3. 254 “Fund Raising Drive for Victory House Ready Here,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, August 3, 1943. 255 Andy Ludlum, “Saticoy’s Prisoner of War Camp,” Museum of Ventura County https://venturamuseum.org/research-library-blog/saticoys-prisoner-of-war-camp/(accessed March 18, 2020).

Port Hueneme Seabees at Bond Rally Drive, September 1943.

Source: Black Gold Cooperative Library System.
103

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

After an initial location for the camp adjacent to Seaside Park was rejected, 18 acres of land three miles south of Saticoy was selected at the intersection of Central and Rose Avenues in Oxnard.
256 POW labor was used to construct the camp. It was occupied from May 1945 until Spring of 1946, after which prisoners were returned to Camp Cooke and then repatriated.

In September of 1946, the Saticoy Lemon Association put the buildings and equipment up for sale. The Moorpark Enterprise described the liquidation, “Included in items for sale are 17 Quonset barracks and buildings [and] a carpenter shop.” 257 These buildings were purchased
and relocated to sites presumably in Ventura and other parts of the county.

SEASIDE PARK
In response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military installed fortifications and sighting stations along the Pacific Coast.258 As part of this program, the federal government took control of Seaside Park, where it placed artillery batteries and searchlights. Existing buildings as well as newly constructed barracks and mess halls (demolished) were utilized. After the war, the State of California purchased Seaside Park.

DESIGNATED RESOURCES FROM THE PERIOD

NAME LOCATION DATE DESIGNATION
WWII Artillery Emplacements Near Ventura River
Mouth 1942 Landmark #88

256 Ludlum, “Saticoy’s Prisoner of War Camp.”
257 “Saticoy War Camp Material on Sale Soon,” Moorpark Enterprise, August 15, 1946. 258 Rosemary Pollock, “A Brief History of the Ventura County Fair: 1874-1946,” Journal of the Ventura County Historical Society, 2009, 15-16.
104
A statewide freeway network is
proposed, ending downtown
Ventura's role as the primary
commercial center and ushering in a
new era of growth
Ventura Oil Field reaches its
production peak as it becomes the
twelfth most productive oil field in
the United States, employing more
workers and driving development
The new four-story Ventura County
General Hospital, constructed to
cater to the area's expanding
population, is dedicated
Former agricultural land is
subdivided throughout the region to
meet the increased demand for
housing

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

X. POST-WORLD WAR II PROSPERITY (1945-1960)
The immediate post-World War II era was a boom period for the United States. Postwar optimism and prosperity, unprecedented population growth, and the burgeoning middle class brought significant changes to cities throughout the country. World War II was a catalyst for the transformation of the City of Ventura from a 19th century township focused on the Mission San Buenaventura, agriculture, and oil into an affordable Mid-Century Southern California suburban oasis. Between 1940 and 1960, the population more than doubled, from 13,264 to 29,114.
259 The majority of this growth took place during the 1950s, however, as the population rose a mere 3,000 residents in the preceding decade. During the same period, the footprint of the city grew from 4.6 to 9.0 square miles, with significant eastward growth.
260
With the end of World War II, wartime industries in Southern California successfully converted to civilian manufacturing and offered good jobs to thousands of returning servicemen. Fueled by the postwar prosperity, thousands of young families flocked to Ventura County, making it the fastest growing county in California by 1964. In 1945, the eastern edge of the city was approximately bounded by Mills Road. Commercial corridors of Main Street and on Thompson Boulevard had been largely built out and were surrounded by residential tracts. Thus, most of the growth during the postwar period was accommodated by outward expansion into surrounding ranchland and open space. Agricultural lands to the east of the city were sold to developers, providing sought-after flat land for the rapid development of dozens of housing tracts. Residences and agricultural structures associated with the city’s agricultural history were lost in this process. 261
The establishment of the California freeway system was a key catalyst for the city’s growth and development in the postwar period. Although the program is most often associated with the transformation of Los Angeles and cities in Orange County, its impact on the City of Ventura cannot be denied. Not only did it make the city more accessible from Los Angeles, it cut a swath through downtown that changed it forever.

In 1945, the first proposal was made for a statewide freeway network that included a north- south thoroughfare along the coast, closely paralleling the existing State Highway 101 which ran along Thompson Boulevard through Ventura. The coming of the freeway brought both anticipation and concern throughout Ventura County. The Camarillo Chamber of Commerce, eager for the increased access the freeway would bring, lobbied to have the freeway built directly through the city instead of bypassing it on the south. However, there was vocal opposition to the freeway route from the City of Ventura. Residents were

259 U.S. Decennial Census, 1940-1960.
260 David W. Hill, The Streets of Ventura, (Ventura, CA: Museum of Ventura County, 2008), 16. 261 Common agricultural structures included packing houses, farmworker housing, cold storage facilities, storage buildings, and sheds. Architect Roy C. Wilson designed many agricultural buildings for Ventura County citrus growers and other ranchers.
106

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

concerned that the proposed elevated freeway would block both views and access to the beach. They were only somewhat successful in pressuring the state highway department to depress the freeway through part of the downtown, thereby preserving the clear view of the ocean from the County Courthouse on Poli.262 The freeway was completed in September 1962.

However, State Highway 101 was not the first freeway initiated in Ventura. In 1955, land was condemned in and north of the City of Ventura along Highway 399/Ventura River. At the time, much of this land was controlled by the oil companies. In December 1956, the first leg of the Ojai Freeway was completed. It ran from Main Street to an area of North Ventura Street near the Shell Chemical Corporation plant. Continuation of the Ojai Freeway was temporarily suspended, during construction of Highway 101 but resumed in the 1960s.

One community that was adversely affected by the building of the freeway was Tortilla Flats, one of the oldest and poorest neighborhoods in the city, located near the southwest edge of downtown.
263 This multi-ethnic community, home to people of Native American, Spanish, Mexican, African American, Japanese, Chinese, Basque, Filipino, and Italian descent, was almost entirely demolished to clear land for the freeway.264 Construction of the freeway also destroyed a portion of the Beach Tracts neighborhood, and physically separated what remained from the city proper.

262 Editorial, Ventura Star Free Press, May 1957.
263 Tortilla Flats is discussed further in Chapter XII. 264 “Tortilla Flats Mural Designs to Be Showcased at ArtWalk,” City of Ventura Press Release, August 2004.

Aerial views of Ventura. Left: 1953; Right: 1966. Source: University of California Santa Barbara Historic Aerial Photography Collection.
107

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

However, ultimately, the freeway was to the 20th century what the railroad had been to the 19th century – a symbol of opportunity and progress. The freeway’s arrival ushered in a new era of growth for the city, opening up opportunities for widespread residential and commercial development.

108

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

THEME: POSTWAR RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
Like most cities in Southern California, Ventura experienced a residential building boom in the period following World War II. Returning GIs and others who elected to make their homes in Southern California faced a critical housing shortage. Many were fortunate to benefit from the GI Bill that offered favorable terms and interest rates for home buyers.

Merchant builders responded by subdividing large swaths of land for new residential subdivisions. The period after the war was also characterized by great prosperity, technological advancements, and experimentation. The result was the construction of a number of architect-designed custom homes expressing the new modern age. Residential designs in Ventura from this period reflect regional trends in both the vast expanses of suburban neighborhoods and the many custom-designed Ranch and Mid-century Modern residences by prominent local architects and builders.

Notable local designs were features in the contemporary press, which often promoted the postwar, Southern California lifestyle. Custom-designed residences of the period include the Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Garner Residence
265 (1525 Vista Del Mar, demolished), and the Mr. and
Mrs. Edward Tetzlaff Residence (2168 Vista Del Mar), which both appeared in Better Homes and Gardens. The Genevieve Gruell Residence (148 N. Catalina Street) appeared twice in House Beautiful and again in the Los Angeles Times Home Magazine. The John Candianides Residence (119 Via Baja) was designed by Oxnard-based architect Carl Schwarz, AIA (1904- 1990), and was featured in the Los Angeles Times Home Magazine.266 The design reflects Schwarz’s training at the University of Vienna with rectangular geometries, a flat roof, floor-

265 Edwin Gardner was Mayor of the City of Ventura at the time. 266 “An Outdoor Decorative Viewpoint,” Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1963, A26.

Left: Addison Residence at 2597 Grove Street designed by Carl Maston. Source: © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10). Right: Robert and Janet Addison live the indoor-outdoor lifestyle in their home by Carl Maston. Source: © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

109

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

to-ceiling glass, and a floorplan that facilitated supervision of children in the playroom with views from the kitchen.267
Other notable residential designs from the period include the Mr. and Mrs. Robert A.

Addison Residence (2897 Grove Street), designed by prominent Southern California architect Carl Maston. The Ernest Nichols Residence (12403 E. Darling Road) designed by the Ventura-based architect Herman Muller, AIA and Robert L. Tveit, is a Modern Ranch- style residence built on a 20-acre working citrus ranch in what was then Saticoy. Featured in the Oxnard Press-Courier, the house has an open plan, large floor-to-ceiling windows providing views to the surrounding orchards, and sliding glass doors in every room. The wood, stone, and slate materials connected the house to nature.268 Due to advancements in building technology and the demand for open land after the war, in addition to the eastward expansion of the city, development also increased in the hills. There are numerous notable hillside residences from this period. The Ray Tidwell Residence (362 Agnus Drive) designed by Muller & Tveit and completed in 1960 was clearly inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. The residence is nestled into its sloping site, and exterior materials include concrete block, redwood, glass, and stucco.
269
In c. 1962, Muller & Tveit designed a custom post-and-beam, Ranch-style home in the hills for Mr. and Mrs. Martin McCarney (3466 Fairmont Drive). The exterior had redwood board and batten siding, a shake roof, and a large Palos Verdes stone chimney. In the McCarney Residence, large expanses of glass captured hillside views of Ventura oriented toward the marina and ocean.

267 American Architects Directory, 1962, 2nd ed., R.R. Bowker LLC, 627. 268 “Glass Walls and Sliding Doors Utilize View,” Oxnard Press-Courier, January 31, 1963, 17. 269 “U-Shape Serves as Home Divider,” Oxnard Press-Courier, April 11, 1963, 15. 110

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Sub-Theme: Postwar Suburbanization
Following the end of World War II, suburban communities sprang up in cities across the United States. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) funding of home loans played a major role in the development and popularity of suburban tracts across the country. Highway and infrastructure development in California also contributed to the feasibility and desirability of living in the suburbs and facilitated the significant eastward expansion of the City of Ventura during this period.

The need to create a great deal of new housing quickly, combined with the economic needs of the middle class, resulted in neighborhoods of tract housing being constructed throughout Southern California. In Ventura, vast acreage of former agricultural lands was subdivided and developed with new housing tracts for the growing population.

The growth of savings and loan institutions also played a vital role in the post-World War II residential development of Southern California. These institutions were created in response to the difficulty middle class Americans faced in obtaining mortgage loans during the early 20 th century. The earliest mortgages were issued not by banks, but by insurance companies.

These loans had unfavorable terms by today’s standards and often involved large balloon payments. As financial institutions that specialized in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and construction loans, savings and loans established a niche market crucial to postwar residential development.

Aerial view of Eastern Ventura in 1948, prior to postwar suburbanization.

Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/1286.

111

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

The rise of the savings and loan coincided with the large population influx into Southern California during the pre- and post-World War II periods. Victory in World War II and government policies stimulating mortgage lending drove significant increases in home ownership. From the 1950s through the mid-1960s, savings and loans provided more than half of the mortgages for these homes and the industry “enjoyed a golden era in its history, especially in Southern California.”
270
Another key factor in postwar residential development was a new efficiency in construction.

One of the most famous developments, Levittown, was known for quickly and efficiently erecting thousands of moderately priced housing units in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. Levittown was known for its monotonous, cookie-cutter designs. Such developments were roundly criticized for their lack of imagination and homogenization of neighborhoods.

In California, rapid expansion and competition among developers led many to eschew the cookie cutter approach and instead commission noted architects and designers to lay out the tracts and provide options for the residential designs. This influenced how the developments were designed, the variety of models and facades available, and how the houses were placed on the lots. California developers like Joseph Eichler and George and Robert Alexander represented the gold standard for hiring architects to generate avant-garde modern designs in tract developments. The reality is that most developers who employed the services of architects had them design a wide range of more traditionally styled homes that appealed to a wide range of potential buyers, including variations on the Ranch style. This also facilitated financing, as many of the lending programs open to veterans typically would not finance “unorthodox” designs such as flat roofs.

In Ventura, between 1945 and 1960, 76 tracts were platted in the “east end” of the city. 271
Prolific merchant builders who were responsible for significant new construction in Southern California were also active in Ventura. Prominent regional architects, including Edward Fickett, FAIA, and Palmer & Krisel, who designed some of the most innovative postwar housing tracts, provided designs for new subdivisions in the area.

A key characteristic of postwar houses by merchant builders is that they were built in multiples. Unlike prewar tracts by subdividers, all of the houses within a postwar housing tract are often the work of a single builder and constructed in a short period of time using mass-production methods. Even in “custom home” tracts, which may include the work of more than one builder, all of the houses are likely to have been built within a short time period and will be similar in their size, quality, and degree of architectural elaboration. 272

270 Bruegmann, “King of the Thrifts.”
271 Hill, The Streets of Ventura, 16.
272 California Department of Transportation, Tract Housing in California, 1945-1973: A Context for National Register Evaluation, Sacramento, CA, 2011.
112

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Following is an overview of select residential subdivisions that were recorded between 1945 and 1960. The narrative discussion is meant to provide an overview of residential developments after World War II, focusing on the work of prominent developers and/or those who commissioned architectural firms to provide distinction to their tracts. Note that display ads intended to entice residents often included superlatives that did not necessarily reflect the reality of the built environment. Similarly, intended design characteristics or other amenities may not have been fully realized, architect-designed model homes may not have been constructed throughout the tract, or economic or other factors may have halted development before a tract was built out.

The tracts included here represent the breadth of postwar development in Ventura, provide background information on some of the most prominent developers of the period, highlight some of the notable architectural firms working on creative solutions to the postwar housing shortage, and illustrate postwar planning principles. Suburbanization transformed the built environment of Southern California after the war; the details of that transformation are important to understand the built environment from the period. However, inclusion of a tract in the narrative does not necessarily mean that it was built out as envisioned, or that it is eligible for historic designation.
113

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Figure 3. Post-World War II tract development. Source: Historic Resources Group. 114

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Five Points Park (1951, Edward H. Fickett, FAIA)
Five Points Park was subdivided in
May of 1950. It was developed by
the Equitable Realty Co. led by Ray
Hommes (1901-1983) with designs
by Edward H. Fickett, FAIA (1916-
1999). The 276-parcel subdivision is
bordered by Highway 101 on the
north, the Southern Pacific Railroad
right of way on the south, the east
side of South Brent Street to the
east, and the west side of Frances
Street to the west. Essentially a
rectangular tract conforming to the
highway and railroad tracks on the
north and south, the parcels are
roughly 60’ wide by 76’ deep. Each
street in the development had its
own distinctive street trees: pepper trees on Eva and Frances Streets and Magnolia trees on Porter Lane.

The designs for Five Points Park consisted of one-story, Ranch-style homes with some variation in the rooflines and a variety of architectural details including whiskey porches, dovecotes, and traditional “Colonial” woodwork. Fickett typically utilized post-and-beam construction, but when needed to satisfy a client employed a number of traditional exterior design elements. The net result was that Fickett homes that looked rather traditional on the exterior, often enjoyed modern, open interior floorplans enabled by the post-and-beam construction method.

Ray Hommes was a veteran developer based in Beverly Hills. He started his development business in 1923 and was building apartments and commercial structures in the 1930s.

During the war, Hommes worked on government and military contracts at Port Hueneme and in Oxnard. This is likely when he became familiar with the opportunity for postwar tract home development in eastern Ventura. Hommes’ postwar development strategy was to build large subdivisions engaging the services of an architect to create 20 to 30 exterior designs.

He employed this strategy in the Los Angeles developments Sierra Vista Homes in Hacienda Heights and Meadowlark Park in the San Fernando Valley. Hommes worked on multiple projects with John C. Lindsay and Edward H. Fickett.

Aerial View of Five Points Park.

Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/42.
115

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Ondulando Estates (c. 1955, George Vernon Russell, AIA, Master Plan) In 1955, John T. Culbertson and Associates announced the installation of improvements on the new Ondulando Estates tract.273 The architectural firm of George Vernon Russell drew the master plan for the custom home sites. It was one of many new subdivisions to play off of its location near the new Ventura College campus.

Located in the lower foothills, the plan was designed to provide half-acre or larger home sites with “dramatic views of the Ventura countryside to the sea.”274 Some portions of the property that were not subdivided into residential lots were terraced and planted with avocado trees from the Cascade Nursery. The orchards were intended to create a lush tropical background for the subdivision. The 50-acre Unit No. 1 was the first phase of an anticipated 320-acre development. Adjacent tracts to the north and east were subdivided by other developers, suggesting that Culbertson elected to sell the land rather than develop it himself.

John T. Culbertson was a longtime rancher in both the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and Ventura County. His Culbertson Investment Co. dated back to the 1930s. He owned substantial acreage of citrus groves east of the city of Ventura and in Santa Paula. Much of his vast holdings were sold to others for tract development. Ondulando Estates appears to be one of the few projects for which he acted as developer. 275
The office of George Vernon Russell, AIA was a robust practice that included commercial, industrial, institutional, master planning services, and select custom residential commissions.

Other master planning projects included the town of New Cuyama, California; various campus layouts for Lockheed Aircraft; the Diamond Bar Equestrian Center; Chadwick School in Rolling Hills; and Santa Cruz Island.

El Camino Ranchos (1953, Paul Duncan, AIA)
El Camino Ranchos was a 214-parcel subdivision developed by Walter Scholtz. The parcels are narrow, with just 56’ of street frontage. The two- and three-bedroom homes were designed by architect Paul Duncan and included 14 Ranch style variations. Marketed to locals as well as Los Angelenos for whom Ventura offered a “smog free” environment.276 Walter Scholtz (1911-1973) was a successful builder and contractor in postwar Southern California. President of Los Angeles-based Walter Scholtz Construction Co., he and his brother/partner Mark Scholtz were responsible for the development of dozens of

273 “New Subdivision Readier Near Ventura College,” Oxnard Press-Courier, February 8, 1955, 4. 274 “New Subdivision Readier Near Ventura College.”
275 In 1961, Culbertson and his wife Jeanne T. resided at 496 Via Plaza in the Ondulando Estates subdivision. 276 “Display Ad 129,” Los Angeles Times, December 13, 1953, F6. 116

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

subdivisions including North Downey Park and Porter Estates in Fullerton. Architect Paul Duncan was a frequent collaborator with Scholtz on these projects.

Scholtz began his career as a structural engineer after obtaining his master’s degree at the California Institute of Technology. He worked briefly for the Elmer S. McKittrick Company.

In 1942, he took on his first private venture when he founded a firm to specialize in timber construction for the Army. After the War, he began getting contracts in and around Los Angeles and built his first tract development in 1947.

In 1953, Scholtz moved the company from Los Angeles to Ventura. “Ventura County has a tremendous future,” said Scholtz, “and we want to be a part of it.” 277 Scholtz did his own
projects and occasionally collaborated with other developers, including working with the Janss Development Corporation on Las Posas Park in Camarillo. El Camino Ranchos was Scholtz’s first Ventura project, but he followed it with College Park Estates and Anacapa Estates. In 1957, Scholtz moved the company offices to 3319 Telegraph Road (extant) that he developed for businesses and professionals. Scholtz was the first chairman of the Ventura County Builders Association and a director of the Southern California Builders Association.

Between 1953 and 1962, the firm constructed numerous tracts, apartments, custom homes, commercial buildings, and a country club.

Ventura Park (1955, Paul J. Duncan, AIA)
Ventura Park was a 466-parcel tract developed by Lakewood Park Mutual Homes (developers of Lakewood Park).278 Ventura Park (a.k.a., the Ventura Park Mutual Homes tract) was designed by architect Paul J. Duncan. Residences included one- and two-story models with three or four bedrooms. There were four floor plans and 12 exterior designs.

Renderings shown in the Oxnard Press-Courier suggest that the designs were Ranch in style, including traditional models with board and batten siding along with more contemporary/modern styles. Model homes were located along Porter Lane. 277 “County Has Bright Future,” Oxnard Press-Courier, July 5, 1957, 9. 278 Lakewood Park was a $250 million planned community of 17,000 residences. The developers claimed to be the largest builder of homes from 1945 to 1954. Paul J. Duncan was also the designer of Lakewood Park. “Lakewood Park Developers Building 3-4 Bedroom Houses at Ventura Park Homes,” Oxnard Press-Courier, October 19, 1954, 6.
117

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Ventura Park’s precise association with the developers of Lakewood Park, led by developers Louis H. Boyar and Mark W. Taper, remains somewhat unclear. Executives associated with Ventura Mutual Homes were Mark Boyar (Louis H. Boyar’s brother) and his wife Ruth I.

Boyar. According to the Los Angeles Times, the two Boyar brothers developed Lakewood and “…built many suburbs in the San Fernando Valley.”279 However, the officers of the Ventura development also included Charles W. Petit, mayor of Ventura, and Charles Reiman, City Controller and ex-officio City Clerk.

Paul J. Duncan (1889-1963) made steady work of designing traditional homes for residential tract developers. Not only did he design several projects for the developers of Lakewood Park, in the early 1950s he worked for some of the most successful developers in Southern California: Marlborough Homes, Mark Taper’s Biltmore Homes, Spiros G. Ponty’s Ponty- Built Homes, Inc., Midland Properties, and many others. He continued to design tract housing until his death in 1963.

Walnut Park (1955, John C. Lindsay, AIA)
Walnut Park was a 333-parcel subdivision located on a former walnut grove. It was developed by the Sherman Park Development Company owned by developer Ray Hommes.

Walnut Park opened to the public in November of 1955. Parcels are primarily narrow 56- foot-wide rectangular lots, though the development includes several cul-de-sacs which create some irregularly shaped parcels. Approximately 20 lots were reserved for commercial development.
280
Architect John C. Lindsay designed 26 different exterior options to avoid “the monotony of two look alike homes in a row.”
281 Stylistically, the designs are primarily in the Ranch style.

279 “Take Me to Your Power Structure,” Los Angeles Times, October 4, 1940, O9. 280 “Home Plans Approved,” Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1955, F1. 281 “Ventura’s Walnut Park,” Oxnard Press-Courier, November 25, 1955, 14.

Ventura Park model home as shown in an ad for the development.

Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, October 10, 1954, 6.

118

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

The three- and four-bedroom homes included attached two-car garages, modern appliances, and other interior design amenities.

John C. Lindsay (1918-1977) was a well-known architect with a wide range of custom residential, multi-family residential, industrial, and commercial projects throughout Southern California. While he primarily designed in the Modern style, he was facile in Ranch and Period Revival designs when called upon. He was also comfortable with large developers who required dozens of exterior styles – delivering on this developer model for Meadowlark Park in Encino (1954) and Lemon Heights West in Santa Ana (1956).

In 1958, the expansion of the Santa Paula Freeway forced the demolition or relocation of eight Walnut Park homes.
282 In 1962, Walnut Park homeowners on the south side of Dean Drive adjacent to Camino Real Park battled county efforts to construct a flood control channel along the Arundel/Barranca waterway.
283
Ventura Plaza (1956-1957, John C. Lindsay, AIA)
The developer of Ventura Plaza, George D. Pas, along with his partners Arthur Weber and Lee Burns, were forced to sell a tract of property they owned for the construction of the 101 Freeway. They had already engaged with architect John C. Lindsay to design three- and four- bedroom Ranch-style homes for that subdivision, so they applied the same designs to Ventura Plaza. The 224-home development featured 22 different elevations with heavy shake roofs and decorative detailing. They sold for $14,000 each. 284
Model homes for Ventura Plaza were furnished by the Ventura-based Bell Furniture Company and took their names from famous women in American history: the Betsy Ross (5852 Hunter Street), the Dolly Madison (5840 Hunter Street), and the Martha Washington (5838 Hunter Street).

Valley Vista Homes (1957-1958, John C. Lindsay, AIA)
Lindsay was again tapped by George D. Pas, Arthur Weber, and Lee Burns to design homes for a new subdivision, Valley Vista Homes located at what at the time was the terminus of the first leg of the Ojai Freeway. The 257-lot subdivision in what was then an unincorporated part of Ventura County. The three-bedroom, two bath models featured two- car garages. Proximity to the City of Ventura via the new freeway was a selling point. The modest, Ranch-style homes were located on Bounds Road, Cypress Lane, Garland Street, Larkspur Drive, Norway Drive and Primrose Drive, and priced at $11,000 per unit.285

282 “Must Be Moved Immediately,” Oxnard Press-Courier, October 11, 1958, 2. 283 “Court OK’s Flood Control Channel Through Yards,” Oxnard Press-Courier, July 25, 1962, 28. 284 Advertisement, Ventura County Star-Free Press, September 14, 1956, 4. 285 Advertisement, Ventura County Star-Free Press, November 8, 1957, 5. 119

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Original tract layout for View Park Estates by Palmer & Krisel showing placement of models.

Source: City of Ventura.

View Park Estates (1957-1958, Palmer & Krisel, AIA)

View Park Estates was originally planned as a 39-parcel hillside tract for Arizona-based developer Howard S. Miller and his Oak Park Investment Company. However, only the homes in Phase I (along the north and south sides of Island View Drive) were constructed.
286 Miller engaged Palmer & Krisel, AIA to design 3-bedroom 2-bathroom homes for the development. Howard S. Miller had previously worked with Palmer & Krisel in 1955 on a housing tract in Torrance.287
Using their characteristic alphanumeric system, Palmer & Krisel designed a mix of two plans and six elevations for View Park Estates. The plan/elevation combinations were then mapped out for maximum variety (including the “Reverse” of some plans, noted with an “R” in the alphanumeric system), including consideration of the placement of the semi- detached or detached carport/garages, to create the unique architectural cadence of a Palmer & Krisel development. Roofline options included butterfly, side-gable, inverted butterfly, and shed roof with inverted carport shed roof to create the illusion of a butterfly roof.

286 In 1961, the Security and Exchange Commission charged Howard Miller with defrauding trust deed investors with undervalued real estate. As a result, Miller filed for bankruptcy and offered his Oak Park Investment Co. assets, consisting of “some land in Ventura” obtained in conjunction with Beverly Hills Security Investments. Miller was ultimately convicted on 30 counts of federal securities and mail fraud and sentenced to three years in prison.
287 More information on this project will be obtained when the Getty Research Institute archive reopens. 120

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Model home for Ondulando Highlands.

Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, April 4, 1963, 16.

Ondulando Highlands (1957-62, L.C. Major & Associates)
Ondulando Highlands was one of the first hillside tract developments in Ventura.

Developed in six units, it was an irregularly shaped development consisting of approximately 300 parcels. In 1956, Howard Ferguson and Encino builder Don R. Pender purchased the land for Ondulando Highlands from John T. Culbertson. Pender maintained the master plan originally created by George Vernon Russell. Ondulando was sold as “More than a community of fine homes – it is a way of life. Fine neighbors, with keen interests in good living and human values.”288 Other key selling points were the “panoramic views and smog free air.”289
Pender gave Unit 1 the moniker “Private Club Estates” due to the construction of the Ondulando Club at 632 Skyview Terrace (1961, demolished).”290 The club featured an Olympic-sized swimming pool, tennis courts, and club rooms that were available to all homeowners. Other amenities included horse riding trails and horse corrals.

288 “Ondulando Highlands Ad,” Los Angeles Times, June 23, 1963, SF-4. 289 “Ondulando Highlands Ad,” Los Angeles Times.
290 “Private Club Estates Opens,” Oxnard Press-Courier, June 22, 1962, 13. 121

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

The development opened in June of 1962 with four model homes on Colina Vista. The homes were all designed by L.C. Major & Associates in the Ranch style. Ondulando Highlands offered three-, four- and five-bedroom models, with some split-level designs available. Buyers could select the lot, choose from nine floor plans, and select one of 12 exterior designs.

The earliest homes were built near the intersection of Via Baja, Via Ondulando, and Colina Vista. Subsequent phases moved northward up the hillside. By 1965, 400 homes had been built and occupied. That year, seven new model homes were introduced, and the entertaining and barbecue areas of the clubhouse were expanded. Handball courts were also planned. A total of eight floorplans were available with exterior designs climbing to 40. 291 In December
1966, the Ondulando Highlands Corporation faced lawsuits from 33 homeowners regarding earth movement and geological stability issues that resulted in damages to their homes.292 L.C. Major & Associates was a one-stop architectural firm for merchant builders started by LeRoy Cluff Major (1915-2000). Founded in 1945, the firm was the nation’s largest community coordinator and housing designer and offered master planning, market research, cost analysis, home design, architectural renderings, color coordination, model home furnishing, landscaping, merchandising, promotion, and financial counsel. Major, the son of an architect with no formal training of his own in the discipline, became an appraiser in 1933, eventually working FHA, VA, and major banks. By 1961, it is estimated that the Downey-based firm designed and coordinated some 337,000 homes in more than 1,550 developments in the 11 western states.
293 The efficacy of the L.C. Major approach was
evidenced at Ondulando Highland – one hundred homes were sold before the models were opened.294 Time magazine dubbed Major a “tractioneer” for his creation of more than a million tract homes across the United States.295 His work earned numerous awards, including several Gold Nugget awards from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference.

Dayloma Plaza (1958, John C. Lindsay, AIA)
Dayloma Plaza was a 103-parcel tract developed by Sunset Development Company Builders.

Designed by John C. Lindsay, AIA, tract designs consisted of one-story Ranch style homes and a two-story “Colonial” model.296 Plans included a three-bedroom, four-bedroom, and three bedroom + den models with 19 different exterior designs.297

291 “Seven Model Homes Opened by Ondulando Highlands,” Van Nuys Valley News, March 21, 1965, 49A. 292 “Sale of Tract Homes, Ordered Halted,” Los Angeles Times, December 23, 1966, A2. 293 “Press Award to Be Given,” Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1961, M9. 294 “Tract Sells 100 Homes Before Models Opened,” Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1962, M18. 295 Myrna Oliver, “LeRoy Cluff Major; Tract Housing King,” Los Angeles Times, July 1, 2000. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-01-me-46766-story.html (accessed March 25, 2020). 296 “Grand Opening,” Oxnard Press-Courier, February 21, 1958, 7. 297 “Grand Opening,” Oxnard Press-Courier.
122

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Top: Traditional Ranch model. Bottom: “Austronesian” roof model.

Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, March 8, 1963, 12.

Edgemont Ventura (1962-64, Johnson & D’Agostino, AIA)
Edgemont Ventura was developed by veteran Ventura developer Walter Scholtz.

Constructed in four phases between 1962 and 1964, it is an irregularly shaped development composed of 213 parcels. The development officially opened to the public on March 10, 1963. Designed by Johnson & D’Agostino, AIA, Edgemont Ventura Phase I consisted of three- and four-bedroom Ranch-style homes with four floor plans and 13 different exterior designs. Homes started at $18,900 with VA, FHA, CAL Vet and conventional financing available. Phase II included four new floor plans including a five-bedroom model and a fourteenth exterior style. A model home for Phase II was located at 891 Montgomery Street.
298
Ads for Edgemont Ventura touted proximity to the new Santa Paula Freeway and the newly constructed East End Shopping Plaza. Edgemont Ventura consisted of Medallion Homes, acknowledged by Southern California Edison for their all-electric kitchens, twenty circuits (“a minimum for modern living”), and electric home and water heating. 299
By November of 1963, the first three units of Edgemont Ventura were sold out, with 150 families occupying the neighborhood.300 In 1964, the Walter Scholtz Building Corporation turned its attention to a new development of Edgemont homes in Camarillo.

298 “Grand Opening Sunday at Edgemont,” Oxnard Press-Courier, October 25, 1963, 24. 299 “Buyers Guide to Medallion Homes,” Oxnard Press-Courier, March 8, 1963, 13. 300 “Edgemont Ventura Unit 4 Selling,” Oxnard Press-Courier, November 15, 1963, 9. 123

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Sub-Theme: Multi-Family Residential Development
Ventura has relatively few neighborhoods zoned exclusively for multi-family residential development. However, there are several clusters of multi-family development, some that were developed as part of larger, primarily single-family developments; examples of duplexes and fourplexes built by individual landlords; and large-scale apartment complexes built by development companies.

There is a cluster of apartment buildings that were constructed near the Ventura County Hospital. An article appearing in the Oxnard Press-Courier suggests that as early as 1947, a $30,000 housing project for doctors at the hospital was underway (location unknown, architect G. Roy Wilson).
301 The establishment of the new Ventura College campus likely increased demand for apartments in the area. The cluster of Minimal Traditional-style apartment houses along Luna Drive, Dos Caminos Avenue, and Homer Avenue helped fill the gap in the rental market. The development was part of the Foothill Terrace No 1 and Loma Vista Center tracts. The tracts were developed by Dr. Daniel M. Clark and his wife, Jeannette in 1953 and 1955. The connection to the nearby hospital was evident in the street they named Homer, likely after Dr. Ralph Homer, a prominent physician in Ventura. 302
One of the largest planned multi-family residential neighborhoods began with the subdivision of a large triangular piece of land in 1959 by well-known Southern California developers George Ponty and Maxwell J. Fenmore under the name the Ventura-Western Land Company.303 It was bordered by East Main Street on the north, the Ventura Freeway to the south, an alley east of Sidonia Avenue on the east, and the east side of Lemon Grove Avenue on the west. The Los Angeles Times reported that the development was originally intended to include 106 four- and six-unit apartment buildings, Empire Park (a city-owned park), and a large shopping center. The architect was Alfred Wilkes with Bart Bosworth as architectural designer. By April 1961, Unit 4 was completed (comprising ten one-story, four- unit apartment buildings) with Unit 5 (eight duplexes) under construction.

One of the first apartments to be constructed in the Park Marina area was the 1960 “Casa Marina” (820-890 Empire Avenue). It is currently unclear if this was part of the Ponty- Fenmore collaboration or land that was sold off to another developer. 304
Sub-Theme: Trailer Park and Mobile Home Community Development Trailer and mobile home parks were largely a post-World War II phenomenon, though they have their roots in prewar America. Growth in automobile ownership, combined with a

301 “Apartment Project for Doctors Approved,” Oxnard Press-Courier, January 8, 1947, 5. 302 Hill, The Streets of Ventura, 106.
303 “Work Begins on Apartments New Ventura County Community,” Los Angeles Times, January 10, 1960, F15. 304 Additional research is required.
124

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

post-World War I restlessness led to the rise of family camping trips as a popular past time during the mid-1920s. Enterprising car campers began building their own canvas tent trailers on wooden single-axle platforms. The idea caught on and soon several manufacturers were making recreational tent trailers; these were called “travel trailers” or “trailer coaches” by the nascent industry. Soon manufacturers began building larger trailers and adding amenities such as camp stoves, cold-water storage, and fold down bathroom fixtures. 305
The Great Depression proved a boom for the travel trailer industry as thousands of migrants from the Dust Bowl made their way to California—many in modified travel trailers. With housing for the new migrants scarce, many turned to travel trailers as full-time living accommodations.
306 Campgrounds that accepted the trailers were referred to as “trailer parks” and their more urban concrete counterparts became known as “trailer courts.” By 1938, the American Automobile Association calculated the number of travel trailers at 300,000 and estimated ten percent of them were being used for extended full-time living, not recreational travel.
307
Some citizens reacted to the trailer parks and courts as unsightly and argued they were occupied by people of questionable character. In response, many cities passed zoning ordinances designed to keep the trailer villages out: banishing them from the city limits, prohibiting the use of such trailers for living, or require that they be moved every few days.

The dire need for housing in many communities changed the perceptions of trailer living after World War II. The industry responded quickly to the need and designed the first true house trailer: a 22-foot long, eight-foot wide trailer with a canvas top that included a kitchen and bathroom. The U.S. Government purchased 35,000 of these units and constructed 8,500 trailer parks to hold them. As the demand for postwar housing increased and people began migrating to the west to live, demand for house trailers that could be towed by the family car increased. Once the industry was freed from wartime materials restrictions, it responded with a number of new models using metal siding and larger bedrooms and kitchens.

The first trailer park in Ventura was the 1948 conversion of the Ranch Trailer Court from a camping venue to a permanent home park. It was later known as the Magnolia Mobile Home Park (4197 N. Ventura Avenue). The second trailer park in Ventura, Avenue Trailer Town (251 N. Ventura Avenue) was developed circa 1949 and included trees throughout the development. Buena Vista Trailer Villa was constructed in 1954. The 72-space Sea-Esta Trailer Village (3900 E. Main Street) held its grand opening in January of 1959.

Of all the pre-1960s trailer parks in the city, the 112-space Victorian Mobile Home Park (2040 Park Drive) had the most noteworthy site plan. Built in 1958 on a large piano-shaped

305 John Grissim, The Complete Buyers Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land (Sequim, WA: Rainshadow Publications, 2003), 15.
306 Grissim, The Complete Buyers Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land, 15. 307 Grissim, The Complete Buyers Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land, 15. 125

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

parcel, the trailer units were placed at an angle to the street, creating a more interesting visual cadence than the traditional orthogonal arrangement. Victorian Mobile Home Park also featured a playground, clubhouse, and swimming pool.

THEME: POSTWAR COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
With the eastward expansion of the city and the subdivision of new residential settlements, new commercial corridors and neighborhood shopping centers began to appear to support the new communities. In 1945, the eastern edge of the city of Ventura was approximately bounded by Mills Road. Commercial corridors of Main Street and on Thompson Boulevard had been largely built out and were surrounded by residential tracts. Most of the growth during the post-World War II period was therefore accommodated by outward expansion into surrounding ranchland and open space.

Within the downtown area and immediate surrounding neighborhoods, the postwar prosperity brought infill development and the upgrading and expansion of existing structures. Commercial buildings such as the Jack Rose Department Store built in 1948 (demolished) reflected the optimism and confidence of the postwar period with Late Moderne and Mid-century Modern designs. Existing storefronts were also modernized during the period. The clean, sleek facades of the new Foster Library and the City Hall complex on Santa Clara Street helped bring Ventura into the modern age.

The East Main Street Commercial Corridor
After World War II, as the city’s population began to expand eastward a new commercial corridor arose to serve the newly established neighborhoods. This was the first commercial expansion outside of the original downtown commercial core. While the new commercial center was just three miles east of downtown, the primarily low-rise commercial buildings represented a more modern city of suburbs than the architecture in the historic core.

East Main Street, n.d.

Source: California State Library.

126

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

It is not surprising that it was “America’s Retailer,” Sears, Roebuck and Company, that led the way. The retailer had been founded in Minnesota in 1886 and became famous for its mail order catalog. The postwar years, however, were one of unprecedented growth for Sears.

Between 1946 and 1955, eleven new stores were added in existing markets and 114 others were constructed in new cities, including Ventura.
308
Construction began on the Sears Roebuck & Co (2750 E. Main Street) in 1947. The store opened to great fanfare on August 19
th, 1948. At the time, it was Ventura County’s largest
and most complete retail department store—featuring 43 different departments.309 Prior to World War II, Sears often used in-house architects to design its stores. After the War, the company engaged regional/local architects to design and prepare the plans. These firms were chosen for the commercial expertise. Interiors were still designed by the in-house Store Design and Display Department. Although sited on E. Main Street, the Sears Ventura design continued the planning tradition that had roots in the automobile culture of Southern California. The site featured ample, free parking and emphasized the parking lot entrances as well as the pedestrian entrance on E. Main Street.
310 In September of 1951, Sears abandoned
the free-standing store strategy to focus on the creation of anchor stores in shopping centers and regional malls.

In addition to the Sears, the Main Street Commercial Corridor included various types of retail establishments that would serve a suburban community of families: Mc Cowan Drugs (2723 E. Main Street, extant/altered), McMahan’s Furniture (2809 E. Main Street, extant/altered), Capp’s TV, Radio and Appliances (2460-78 E. Main Street, extant/altered), the Stork Shop (2719 E. Main Street, extant/altered), Richard’s Store for Men (2727 E. Main Street, extant/altered) and numerous restaurants and other services.

The East Main Street Commercial Corridor ultimately stretched from N. Seaward Avenue on the west to Brent Drive on the east. Like many “Main Street” shopping districts, the advent of regional malls and shopping centers siphoned shoppers from their stores, and the East Main Street commercial corridor began to lose its luster. Sears eventually relocated and became an anchor store for the Buenaventura Mall east of the Corridor.

The Loma Vista Road Medical/Professional Corridor
The 1961 City Directory for Ventura County shows that more than 65 medical professionals had independent practices along Loma Vista Road, and an examination of 1966 Sanborn Maps confirms a medical/professional office corridor on Loma Vista Avenue between E.

Main Street and Lynn Drive. With the presence of Foster Memorial Hospital at the southwest corner of Loma Vista Road and Brent Street, and Ventura County Hospital at the northeast corner of Loma Vista Road and Hillmont Avenue, doctors and dentists in

308 Richard Longstreth, “Sears, Roebuck and The Remaking of the Department Store, 1924-42, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 65, No. 2, June 2006, 261. 309 “Display Ad,” Oxnard Press-Courier, August 18, 1948, 2. 310 The architect of the Sears will be added when building permit research is completed. 127

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

individual practice began opening offices along Loma Vista. Many of these new small commercial office buildings were Mid-century Modern in style.311 The presence of the doctor and dentist offices along Loma Vista drew the development of other professional services including lawyers, investment consultants, real estate professionals, and architects. The Buena Vista Medical Center (2681 Loma Vista Road, demolished) was an example of this typology along the Corridor.

The Thompson Boulevard Auto Corridor
As Californians took to the roads in record numbers, dozens of roadside motels and drive-in dining establishments were built along the Thompson Boulevard corridor. Many of these examples of roadside architecture can still be found in this area.

There is also a concentration of auto-related businesses along Thompson Boulevard between Coronado Street and S. Borchard Drive where a number of used car lots and automobile- related businesses such as gas stations and automotive repair shops served the suburban residents in the eastern part of the city. Notably, the Sears store (for which the southern boundary of their parcel fronted on Thompson Boulevard) placed one of its automobile service stations on the northeast corner of Thompson Boulevard and S. Borchard Drive.

Sears had begun including large automobile service stations as an integrated part of its plans for stores in the 1930s. They served as extensions for the sales of tires and Sears Cross- Country brand gasoline.

In addition to the commercial corridors discussed above, Ventura saw the development of many small suburban shopping centers in the eastern portion of the city. Poinsettia Plaza (southwest corner of Telephone Road and E. Main Street, extant/altered), developed in 1953, is an example of one of these neighborhood shopping centers. The 10-acre, $2.5 million, 22-store center planned by architect Harold Johnson also provided off-street parking for 766 cars. In 1955, Safeway erected the largest of its stores in Ventura County in the Plaza on the southwest corner of Thompson Boulevard and Borchard Drive. The concrete and Santa Maria stone store was designed by noted architects Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall.

Holiday Square Shopping center at the northeast corner of Telegraph Road and N. Ashwood Avenue was completed in 1957. As with many of these one-story developments, a large anchor tenant such as a supermarket drew nearby residents to large, modern stores with ample parking. In Holiday Square, the anchor tenant was McDaniel’s Market (50 N.

Ashwood Avenue, extant/altered). McDaniel’s was a regional grocery store chain popular throughout Southern California in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

311 A more detailed discussion of the hospitals appears below in the Postwar Civic and Institutional Development section.

128

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Front and Rear of Medical building for Walter C. Jump at 735 E. Main Street, 1960.

Source: © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

In 1960, the Ventura Plaza Shopping Center opened for business south of Thompson Boulevard at Borchard Drive. It was the first major shopping center outside the downtown area. Tenants included Vons, J.J. Newberry, Gallenkamp’s Shoes, and Drug King.

With all the residential development and associated lending, banks and related institutions also established a presence on the east side of Ventura. For example, in 1958 the Security Title Insurance Co. opened a new location (2660 E. Main Street). Designed by Los Angeles architect Samuel E. Hart, the building was constructed of masonry blocks patterned to reflect Chumash design.
312
As the eastern end of the city grew, a number of modern medical/professional buildings were built. An exceptional example of a Mid-century Modern-style professional building is the medical office building at 735 E. Main Street (extant/altered). In 1958, the owner, Dr.

Walter C. Jump demolished an existing residence in preparation for construction of a new building designed by Carl Maston.

Other freestanding commercial buildings from this period include the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (3994 E. Main Street) and the Eastman Dillon Union Securities & Co. Offices (2895 Loma Vista Road).
313 Both were designed by local architect
Lewis A. Storrs, AIA.314
No discussion of postwar commercial development in Ventura would be complete without a brief look at Archie W. Luper (1912-1998), founder of Loop’s Restaurants. Born in Elk City, Oklahoma, Luper was one of many “Okies” who migrated to California during the

312 “Ventura Office of Title Concern Newly Opened,” Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1958, G12. 313 Confirm with building permit once available.
314 Storrs also did residential work in Ventura as yet to be identified. 129

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

depression. He found work with a grocery chain and was transferred to Ventura in 1942. He arrived in town with 21 cents in his pocket.315
In 1947, Luper seized the opportunity to go into business for himself and purchased a small café at 230 W. Main Street (demolished). He focused his restaurant business on being family-friendly and open 24/7. In 1960, he built Loop’s Restaurant (3159 E. Main Street, altered) in the auto friendly Googie style on the Highway 101 tourist corridor. Soon, other restaurants followed in Oxnard (1290 S. Oxnard Boulevard, demolished), and Little Loops (2300 Victoria Boulevard, demolished). Eventually, he began to franchise and by 1967 he had a chain of ten restaurants in locations such as Ventura, Oxnard, Tarzana, Montalvo (Ventura), Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Lompoc, and the Loop’s cafeteria at the Buenaventura Shopping Center.

By the early 1960s, Ventura was no longer a small, 19th century town with a central downtown commercial district, but rather a sprawling suburb of mid-20th century development. During this period, how and where Venturans shopped for goods and services was forever changed.

Highway 101 Tourist Corridor
After World War II, new tourist accommodations were constructed along auto tourist routes. This included new motels along the Highway 101 Ventura/E. Main Street tourist corridor, and a second cluster of motels and services for motor tourists along the Highway 101/E. Meta and Thompson Boulevard corridor. Unlike their prewar equivalents, these new motels tended to be two-story, Mid-century Modern buildings designed with parking directly adjacent to the rooms. Many of the older motels also received modern face lifts to make

315 Jay Ellis Ransom, “God is His Partner: Archie Luper Combines Faith with Toil,” Oxnard Press-Courier Weekly Magazine, October 22, 1967, 4.

Left: Archie W. Luper c. 1955, founder of Loop’s Restaurants; Source: Ancestry.com.

Right: Little Loops in Montalvo (not extant); Source: San Buenaventura Conservancy.

130

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

them appear fresh and new to passing motorists. Eye-catching signage, often neon, was another important feature of roadside architecture both for motels and restaurants.

Examples of the Highway 101 motor tourist corridor remain including the Silver Sands Motel (3215 E. Main Street), Loop Motor Lodge and Restaurant (3135-3159 E. Main Street), Circle W Motel (3075 E. Main Street), and White Caps Motel (1612 Thompson Boulevard).

Completion of the 101 Freeway in the early 1960s enabled faster travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and now routed travelers off Ventura city streets. As a result, automobile travelers bypassed the tourist corridors that went through town and demand for these accommodations, restaurants, and gas stations waned.

THEME: POSTWAR CIVIC AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The wave of postwar residential development and the city’s eastward expansion necessitated the construction of new civic and institutional buildings to support the growing community.

This included neighborhood churches, fire stations, and hospitals which blossomed in the eastern end of the city. The city’s first institute of higher learning, Ventura College, also established its first purpose-built campus during this period. The ensuing postwar baby boom translated into the need for new public and private schools. As a result, the period from 1945 to the early 1960s offered local and regional architects hundreds of commissions for needed civic and institutional expansion.

New & Expanded Civic Services
During this period, several expansions to the Ventura County Courthouse (now City Hall at 501 N. Poli Street) were initiated.
316 In 1954, an annex was added to the northeast corner. In 1955, a second annex was planned at the southeast corner, originally to be designed by local architects Roy C. Wilson and Kenneth H. Hess. In October of that year, architect Harold E.

Burket was named as the architect for the project and by the end of the year he was advising the county on how to deal with projected cost overruns. 317 In 1956, Burket was directed to
draw up new specifications to cut approximately $83,000 from the budget.318 In the mid-1950s Burket was also awarded the commission for the downtown library project, the E.P. Foster Library (651 E. Main Street). With a budget of almost $500,000, the library proved a showcase for Burket.319

316 The building was purchased from the County and became the Ventura City Hall in 1974. 317 “Courthouse Addition Costs $52,000 Over Budgeted Sum,” Oxnard Press-Courier, December 28, 1954, 1. 318 “Courthouse Annex Cost Slashed $83,747,” Oxnard Press-Courier, October 24, 1956, 3; “Courthouse/City Hall Conversion Proceeds,” Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1973, D6. In 1973, Ventura architect Ted Fisher of Fisher & Wilde spearheaded a remodel, which included replacement of about 40 percent of the old terra cotta tile cladding with new tile by the original manufacturer, Interpace Co. Additionally, 2,000 tons of old pipes, wiring, loose bricks, and other materials were removed and replaced. 319 “New Library to Be Built,” Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1957, C9. 131

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

To protect the rapidly expanding eastern parts of the city, the City of Ventura Fire Department built three new fire stations. These modest Mid-century Modern stations (41 S.

Seaward Avenue, 5838 Telegraph Road, and 8303 Telephone Road, all extant) are examples of city services that needed to grow with the city.

Another important institution to expand during this period was Ventura County General Hospital (3291 Loma Vista Road/altered) now known as the Ventura County Medical Center. On November 7, 1953, a new four-story hospital was dedicated. The $1.25 million facility was designed by Roy Wilson and featured 108 beds, six operating rooms, and a new emergency department.
320, The previous hospital building was then remodeled and used for overflow. Over the years, the facility was expanded and remodeled several times, including work done by Muller & Tveit in the late 1960s.

Public and Private Schools
The wave of postwar residential development as the city expanded eastward required the building of many new elementary schools, high schools, and a satellite campus for Ventura High School. Grounded in the lessons learned from the effects of the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake on traditional schools, California architects continued to innovate in school design during the postwar period. A golden age of modern school construction occurred from the mid-1930s through the late 1960s, with many architects from the region contributing to this this body of work.321
Postwar schools were typically one-story, with a series of connected classrooms open to an outdoor corridor. The style was distinctly modern, employing steel post-and-beam construction with flat or low-pitched shed rooflines. Key elements of the new California school design were fresh air circulation and “school room day-lighting.”322 After World War II, integrating lighting conditions that approximated the conditions found in nature continued to be a major dialogue in the profession. The “trilateral” lighting of classrooms (lighting from three different directions) was a solution coined by noted school architects Franklin, Kump & Falk in January of 1947 for their Laurel Creek School near San Mateo that featured a large skylight. Solutions such as off-set clerestories, window walls, and skylights were often employed in the school designs featured in Architectural Record in the late 1940s.
323
In addition to the infiltration of natural light, mid-century school design was also concerned with increasing air circulation in the classroom. California’s moderate climate lent itself to passive heating and cooling designs that employed full-length sliding doors to outside

320 “Dedicated to the Health of Ventura County,” Oxnard Press-Courier, November 6, 1953, 7. 321 For example, the Los Angeles-based firm of Kirstner, Wright & Wright served as the consulting architect for Ventura Union High School and Junior College from 1952-53. American Institute of Architects, American Architects Directory, 1st ed. (New York: R.R. Bowker LLC, 1955), 621. 322 School Planning: the Architectural Record of a Decade (New York: FW Dodge Corporation, 1951), 394-397. 323 School Planning: the Architectural Record of a Decade, 394-397. 132

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

classrooms as well as operable windows at varying heights from different directions to draw in cool breezes and release warmer air.

As described in the Los Angeles Unified School District Historic Context Statement, 1870-1969, “postwar schools were designed to feel decentralized, non-hierarchical, approachable, informal, and child-centered [in scale].”324 In California, three main plan types emerged during this period: the finger-plan school, the cluster-plan school, and the open-plan school.

Ventura’s postwar schools followed these trends.

Finger-plan schools were designed to resemble a tree with a central corridor (the trunk) and wings extending like branches. This type of plan was flexible and therefore attractive to growing cities for their ability to expand, either outwardly or with the construction of new “branches.” Finger plan schools in Ventura include Loma Vista School (300 Lynn Drive), Sheridan Way School (573 Sheridan Way), Anacapa Junior High School (100 S. Mills Road), and Ventura Senior High School No 2/Buena High School (5670 Telegraph Road, designed by noted Santa Paula-based architect Roy C. Wilson).
325 According to the project list for the
Roy C. Wilson papers, Wilson was frequently engaged by the school district to make additions to existing schools including Pierpont School, E.P. Foster Elementary, and Blanche Reynolds School.

Ventura also has examples of the modified radial finger plan (which more literally resembles the fingers on a human hand): Blanche Reynolds School (450 Valmore Avenue) and Pacific High School (51 Day Road). Each was each planned with four rows of classrooms extending from a radial entry point.
326
By the late 1950s, the popularity of the finger-plan school began to decline.327 Cluster-plan schools began to replace the tree trunk and branch model, resulting in more compact plans of stand-alone buildings around a shared central courtyard. Classrooms still had large expanses of windows, but views now included the courtyard and other classrooms that yielded a more communal feeling. DeAnza Junior High School (2060 Cameron Street) and El Camino School (501 College Drive) are good examples of this type of plan. Other Mid- century Modern-style schools in Ventura constructed during this period include the new Mound School (455 Hill Road) and Poinsettia School (350 Victoria Avenue).

Local architect Harold E. Burket was at the forefront of school lighting and ventilation design, as evidenced by his work at Will Rogers Elementary School (316 Howard Street) and Our Lady of the Assumption School (3167 Telegraph Road, 1956). As featured in the Los

324 Sapphos Environmental, Inc., “Los Angeles Unified School District Historic Context Statement, 1870- 1969,” March 2014, 78.
325 “Ventura Board Joins Please for County-Wide Meeting on Future of College,” Oxnard Press-Courier, November 29, 1957.
326 Depending upon date of construction, these schools may need to be moved into the following section. 327 Sapphos Environmental, Inc., “Los Angeles Unified School District Historic Context Statement, 1870- 1969,” March 2014, 87.
133

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Angeles Times, the Burket’s design for Will Rogers called for “solar electric eye robots” to control vertical louvered window panels to provide “measured daylight” for school rooms.

The system, the first installed in the nation, was designed by Minneapolis Honeywell at Burket’s request.”328 Burket’s use of skylights at Our Lady of the Assumption School represents another evolution in his interest in the day-lighting of schools. His use of operable windows on two sides of each classroom and the assembly space and at the ends of the circulation corridor are evidence of his interest in innovative school design.

In addition to the construction of new schools, several existing schools were expanded during this period. In c. 1954, Cabrillo Junior High School (1393 E. Meta Street) added three new classrooms.329 In 1956, the same year that Our Lady of the Assumption School was built, Burket was asked to add six new classrooms and renovate the existing buildings at Montalvo Elementary School (2050 Grand Avenue).
330
In 1960, Kistner, Wright & Wright were commissioned to design a new office building for the California Teachers Association (940 E. Santa Clara Street). The firm’s ongoing work on schools throughout Ventura County made it a natural choice for the Teachers Association.

Ventura Junior College (Ventura College)
Although it was originally established in 1925 as the Ventura Junior College, Ventura College came into its own during the postwar years.
331 In 1952, a study was commissioned that
examined population growth and building needs (it was then housed on the campus of Ventura High School), and it was determined that a purpose-built campus was necessary.

Funded by a $5.7 million bond issue passed in 1951, the college moved to its new 133-acre hillside campus at 4667 Telegraph Road (extant/altered) in 1955.

In 1954, permits were issued for the campus center, college library, arts and crafts building, electronics laboratory, agricultural building, chemistry lab, life-sciences unit, physics lab, engineering unit, home economics building, and business education and shop unit. The master plan anticipated a total of 15 buildings.
332 In 1955, the trustees authorized 13
additional classrooms by architect Kenneth H. Hess.333 Three temporary buildings were also moved from the former High School campus, two of which were joined to form an administration building, with the third serving as a photography lab. 334 Quonset huts were
brought in as temporary facilities until additional construction was completed.335 In 1957,

328 “Sun to Regulate Light in New Ventura School,” Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1950, A7. 329 “$500,000 of New School Projects are Scheduled,” Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1954, E1. 330 “School to Expand,” Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1956, A7. 331 Ventura Junior College changed its name to Ventura College around 1953, around the time of its anticipated move to the Telegraph Road location.
332 More research is needed to determine who did the master plan for Ventura College. 333 “School Work to Start,” Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1955, F9. 334 “Dedication of New Ventura College Campus Set April 29,” Oxnard Press-Courier, April 18, 1955, 8. 335 “New Ventura College Units Are Dedicated,” Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1955, D20. 134

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Birdseye view of Ventura College and surrounding area, c. 1962.

Source: USC Digital Library.

construction began on a new administration and counseling building, two classroom buildings, a gymnasium—all designed by Harold E. Burket.336

The campus architecture, as described in the Los Angeles Times, was “on contemporary functional lines, with generous uses of glass in wall areas.” 337 Comparing a 1962 aerial
photograph of the campus to a published rendering of the campus plan suggests that the master plan was more or less realized. The buildings are generally low-scale, one- and two- story buildings. The western end of the campus was dominated by ample parking for the commuter school population and the large campus center. The campus center included a glass-walled coffee shop and dining room with views to the north and south. 338 The adjacent
D.R. Henry Library included three large reading rooms grouped around a central foyer.

The eastern end of the campus was dominated by one-story C-shaped and rectangular classroom buildings designed to facilitate student interaction. The campus landscaping, designed to facilitate learning as well as beauty, featured native oaks, evergreens, subtropical plants, and other unusual species identified by both their scientific and common names to aid in teaching botany and horticulture.339

336 “Investment in Ventura College Campus Near $5 Million,” Oxnard Press-Telegram, July 24, 1957, 9. 337 “Facilities of New Ventura College Campus Announced,” Los Angeles Times, May 14, 1954, E14. 338 Catherine Phillips Howe, “A History of Ventura College, 1925-1958,” (master’s thesis, University of Southern California, June 1958), 99.
339 Howe, A History of Ventura College, 1925-1958,” 99. 135

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

In 1956, an additional bond measure was passed for $1.4 million to create a speech arts/music building, a little theater, administrative and counseling services building, and a gymnasium. The gymnasium, business education building, and the permanent administration building were constructed c. 1958-59.
340
Churches and Religious Institutions
The expansion of residential development to the east also produced a wave of construction of Mid-century Modern-style churches to serve residents in this part of the city, ranging from small and modest, to larger or more avant-garde. More modest examples include the Friends Church (400 Valmore Avenue), People’s Church of Ventura (3076 Loma Vista Road), St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (3290 Loma Vista Road), and the 1956 Evangelical Methodist Church (3645 Telegraph Road).

A prominent example from the early
1950s is Our Lady of the Assumption
Catholic Church (1952-53, 3175
Telegraph Road) by Harold E. Burket.

Scholar Michael Gibson selected Our
Lady of the Assumption Catholic
Church as representative of what he
calls the Minimalist Classic Sacramental
Church. Gibson describes the notable
features of the typology as 1) a strong
longitudinal axis, 2) strong focus on the
main altar, 3) diffused natural light
filtered through stained-glass windows,
4) minimalist exterior design (including tower design) emphasizing the building’s basic structural elements, 5) minimalist interior design emphasizing the building’s basic structural elements, and a collection of visual images of modernism design rendered in sculpture, stained glass and painting, some of which have identifiable connections to the local community or its members.
341 Our Lady of the Assumption expanded operations during the 1950s through the mid-1950s. The church worked with architect Harold E. Burket on a master plan for the campus. 342 Burket also designed several buildings on the site: a rectory and garage in 1953-54; the elementary school in 1956; and a convent in 1958-59.

Other significant Mid-century Modern style churches in the eastern portion of the city include those for Baptist, Methodist, and Lutheran congregations. In 1958, the Ventura First Baptist Church (426 S. Mills Road) embarked on a building program. It began with the

340 Howe, A History of Ventura College, 1925-1958,” 103. 341 Michael J. Gibson, “Creating Sacred Spaces in the Suburbs: Roman Catholic Church Architecture in Postwar Southern California,” (master’s thesis, University of Southern California, August 2009), 329. 342 “Plot Plan of Schools for Our Lady of the Assumption Parish,” City of Ventura, January 21, 1958.

Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church, c. 1950s.

Source: Collectible California Postcards.

136

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

construction of the Fellowship Hall, which served as a worship space while funds were raised to build a sanctuary, Sunday school classroom, and offices. In 1959, construction began on a new octagonal sanctuary for the College Methodist Church (4320 Telegraph Road). Trinity Lutheran Church (196 N. Ashwood) was dedicated May 24, 1959. 343 A
notable exception to these Mid-Century-style churches was the Spanish Colonial Revival- style Ventura Community Church (115 Lincoln Drive).

Clubs and Fraternal Organizations
During this period, social and civic organizations increased in membership and often built purpose-built clubhouses and other buildings. An example of this is the Ventura American Legion Post No 399 (83 S. Palm Street). Constructed in 1948-49, the Mid-century Modern design was remodeled in the 1960s by architect Kenneth Hess.344 THEME: POSTWAR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
At the end of the war, automobile production returned to its prewar heights, spurred by the growing middle class, the expanding freeway system, and the increased reliance on automobile travel. As a result, the demand for oil increased commensurately. The Ventura Avenue Oil Field reached its production peak in the early 1950s, becoming the twelfth most productive oil field in the nation.345 Although oil production at the field would again decrease in the late 1950s, new drilling technologies maintained the oil field’s viability into the new millennium
1950 Sanborn maps show a cluster of industrial and light industrial development along the N. Ventura Avenue corridor, and to a lesser degree, along the southern end of nearby N.

Olive Street. Maps show steam laundries, bakeries, auto mechanic shops, mattress manufacturing, and a clothing factory in the area. N. Ventura Avenue also continued to house a number of supportive businesses for the oil industry including machinists, oil well- supply stories, welding, and tool and dye works. One of the largest was the Wilson Oil Tool Corporation at the northeast corner of N. Ventura Avenue and Kellogg Street (demolished).

The largest industrial development of the period was the construction of a $2.5 million anhydrous ammonia plant by Shell Chemical Corporation in 1952. It was located on Ventura Avenue for its proximity to established oil and natural gas fields. It produced 150 tons of ammonia daily for use in the manufacturing of fertilizer and the production of munitions, dyes, synthetic fibers, nitric acid, paper pulp, and explosives. At full production capacity the plant consumed ten million cubic feet of natural gas daily and 700,000 gallons of reclaimed

343 Display Ad, Oxnard Press-Courier, February 4, 1959, 7. 344 No architect of record appears on original building permit. It may have been Hess as well. 345 “Tar on Your Foot,” VC Reporter, April 16, 2009.
137

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

water. It employed over 100 people.346 It was the largest construction project in the county since the American Beet Sugar Factory in Oxnard in 1898.347 The plant boasted a pair of spherical ammonia tanks, a number of 70-foot tall steel columns, a compressor plant, a steam boiler, an administration building, and a change house. The plant was expanded in 1955 with the construction of a large warehouse and equipment field to the south. The plant was shuttered in 1972 then reopened as a gasoline refinery in 1975.

Much of the equipment was removed during the 1980s.
348

DESIGNATED RESOURCES FROM THE PERIOD
There are no locally designated resources from the period.

346 Oxnard Press Courier, May 5, 1952.
347 San Buenaventura Research Associates, Historic Resources Report: 4777 Crocked Palm Road, 2016, 4. 348 San Buenaventura Research Associates, Historic Resources Report: 4777 Crocked Palm Road, 2016, 7. 138
Construction of the Ojai Freeway
(State Route 33) helps accelerate
the development of the northern
section of the City of Ventura
Construction begins on the 900+
acre Ventura Industrial Park,
located on a portion of the Taylor
Ranch, master planned by Welton
Becket and Associates
Following a rehabilitation, the
Ventura County Courthouse is
rededicated as Ventura City Hall,
beginning a new age in Ventura's
municipal government
The first phase of the Ventura
Marina opens, contributing to the
City's growth as an affordable
tourist destination

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

XI. EXPANSION AND REDEVELOPMENT (1961-1979)
Population increases in the City of Ventura during this period illustrate the city’s transformation in the mid-to late-20th century. According to the U.S. Census, the population was 29,114 in 1960. By 1970, it had effectively doubled to 57,964. By 1980, it rose again to 73,774 – more than two and a half times what it had been in 1960. Likewise, the County population skyrocketed; it more than doubled from 199,138 in 1960 to 529,174 in 1980.

Therefore, as the county seat, Ventura had to respond to the needs of more than half a million people. The major manifestation of this, aside from housing development, was the construction of new civic and institutional projects.

This rise in the City of Ventura’s population did not equate to a rise in density, however. In 1960, the city contained 9.042 square miles of land. By 1980, the city covered 19.062 square miles—doubling in size through the annexation of additional tracts to the east. 349 In late
1974, the City adopted an open space plan that placed a moratorium on developing open space within the city before 1990. This led to the creation of a Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee which, in the mid-1970s, unveiled a proposed phasing plan for the future development of the city.
350
Two important infrastructure projects also mark the beginning of the expansion and redevelopment period. The first was the completion of the Ventura Freeway in 1962, and the second was the decision to construct the Ventura Marina. Even the construction of the two projects were inextricably linked; dirt from the freeway construction was used to fill around the Ventura Marina. All of this contributed to the city’s continued maturation as an affordable suburban paradise/tourist destination, and away from its agricultural and oil- dominated past.

THEME: RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
The expansion eastward that characterized the immediate postwar period showed no sign of slowing down during the 1960s, and suburban tract development continued apace during this period. The construction of the Ojai Freeway (State Route 33) in the early 1960s helped accelerate the development of the northern section of the city, in established areas on the Westside and along Ventura Avenue.
351 The development of the marina radically
transformed Ventura into a hub of leisure activity that perfectly reflected the changing times…from backyard barbecues with families, to empty nesters seeking fun and sun with a minimum of maintenance in new condominium developments.

Between the early 1960s and 1979, residential tract development transitioned from small starter homes for postwar families to larger, more luxurious homes with a wider variety of

349 Hill, The Streets of Ventura, 18.
350 Hill, The Streets of Ventura, 18.
351 City of San Buenaventura, “Historical Overview: The Ventura Brownfield Project,” prepared by West Coast Environmental and Engineering, February 2001, 19.
140

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

exterior designs. Multi-family residential development also blossomed in the city as empty nesters sought new ownership opportunities such as condominiums. The city’s attraction as a tourist and leisure activity destination also generated demand for vacation homes.

Entrepreneurs and corporations alike saw the opportunity and created innovative mobile home park developments designed to draw people from Los Angeles and other areas of Southern California.

Sub-Theme: 1960s-1970s Tract Development
During the 1960s and 1970s, residential construction generally included larger, two-story homes that were often marketed as trade-ups from smaller homes designed immediately after World War II. Developers were also more likely to rely on information gleaned from consumer/marketing studies when designing these homes. These developments were also more likely to be by large development companies, rather than individual entrepreneurs. As a result, they often incorporated more elements of master planning and incorporated more exterior elevation options. The oil crisis and recession of 1973 halted almost all residential development of any type in the area, and the City’s moratorium on open space development all but codified it.

Overview of Tracts Subdivided in the 1960s-1970s
Following is a discussion of select residential subdivisions that were recorded between 1960 and the early 1970s, reflecting the continued rapid residential development and eastward growth. The narrative discussion is meant to provide an overview of residential developments from this period, focusing on prominent developers and/or merchant builders who worked with architectural firms to provide distinction to their tracts. Inclusion in the narrative does not indicate potential significance as a historic district.

Vendale Park (1961-1964, Irving Sarfaty, Chief Designer for S.V. Hunsaker) The 450-acre, 412-parcel Vendale Park was developed by S.V. Hunsaker & Sons, Inc. beginning in 1961 with designs by Irving Sarfaty.352 It is an L-shaped tract, developed in five units, and consisting of Tracts 1333-1, 1333-2, 1333-3, 1333-4,353 and 1333-5.

Vendale Park was among the first holistically planned communities in Ventura. It was designed for 1,200 homes, 330-units of apartments, a 25-acre shopping center, golf course, school, and parks. Single-family residences were offered with a range of options for the exteriors: “tropical, California modern, and California ranch.”354 The first homes constructed south of Fairford Street were smaller than the subsequent designs; the homes located west of Montgomery Avenue from 1964 appear to be the largest and most architecturally distinctive.

352 Little is known about designer Irving (Isaac) Sarfaty (1934-2002). He was a member of the American Institute of Building Design (AIBD).
353 No tract maps for TR 1333-4 were found in available County records. 354 “Vendale Park Opens in Ventura,” Oxnard Press-Courier, June 30, 1961, 7. 141

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Traditional Ranch style model home with board and batten siding, diamond paned windows, and dove cote.

Source: Oxnard Press Courier, June 30, 1961, 7.

The Vendale Park homes built in 1964 were also marketed under Hunsaker’s popular “Sunshine Home” moniker, which focused on “the needs of today’s housewives.”355 Sunshine Homes were constructed by the S.V. Hunsaker & Sons in developments throughout Southern California.

Features of S.V. Hunsaker & Sons projects from the early 1960s include the company’s holistic approach to residential and commercial development, free landscaping, quality construction, and an emphasis on recreation. By 1964, Vendale Park was offering three-, four-, and five-bedroom models. Four floor plans and 12 exterior elevations were available.
356
Covina-based S.V. Hunsaker & Sons was founded by Simeon V. Hunsaker (1897-1969), a former construction worker and salesman, in 1932. By 1961, they had built more than 125 housing developments. 357 The company went public in August of 1963. The following year, the company was sold to Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Hunsaker then founded S.V.H.

Investments that developed and sold thousands of acres of recreational land throughout California. By 1966, they had constructed 13,000 single-family residences and 3,000 units of multi-family housing.358 Their development projects can be found in Brea, Covina, Duarte, El Toro, Fountain Valley, Newhall, Stanton, Walnut, and West Covina. Hunsaker & Sons, Inc. was one of the largest developer/builders in Southern California.

Ventura Keys (1964-69, Will Foster/Morris and Lohrbach, AIA) The 781-parcel Ventura Keys is a $30 million project by Pacesetter Homes. It is a harbor development composed of Tract 1601-1, 1601-2, 1601-3, 1601-4, 1601-6 and 1601-7. There is a 160-foot wide, man-made channel which provides water from the adjacent Ventura Marina. The channel meanders around a central island and a peninsula before returning to its source. Three hundred of the waterfront lots have private boat slips. The master plan for the

355 “Women Planned Homes Presented,” Los Angeles Times, April 26, 1964, I14. 356 “Visitors at 4 Tracts to Get Homeowner’s Kits,” Los Angeles Times, May 17, 1964, J10. 357 “Vendale Park Opens in Ventura,” Oxnard Press-Courier, June 30, 1961, 7. 358 “Hunsaker Firm Will Preview Cape Huntington Units Today,” Santa Ana Register, March 13, 1966, E5. 142

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Map of Ventura Keys development.

Source: Oxnard Press Courier, May 5, 1964, 16.

community was designed by Wilsey, Ham and Blair, Inc., one of the west’s largest integrated engineering, planning, and architectural firms. Typical of other harbor developments of the period, three types of residences were planned: waterfront homes, and less expensive landlocked homes and duplexes in order to engage a variety of potential buyers.

Ventura Keys was designed to take advantage of a wave of interest in boating. During the 1960s, the pleasure boat industry boomed as a generation of empty nesters turned to more leisure activities. In 1955, there were only 95,000 pleasure boats registered in Los Angeles County; by 1968 that number grown to 180,000.
359 Southern California developers
responded to this trend with the creation of small craft marinas up and down the coast, and the development of unique residential harbor communities. Following on the heels of Huntington Harbor in Huntington Beach, Ventura Keys was a prominent example of this trend.

From the first day of sales in May of 1964, Ventura Keys was a resounding success. Potential buyers camped overnight in their cars to get in line. Unit 1, composed of 242 lots, sold out in three days. People bought out the island lots, on-the-water duplexes, and mainland houses – all with only the benefit of blueprints and drawings, as no model homes had been constructed.
360 When Unit 2 opened in July, another land rush occurred for the lots and duplexes along Bayshore Avenue. In September of 1964, Unit 3 opened up, this time with 12 model homes. Unit 4 was offered for sale in March 1965. By early 1965, the first waterfront

359 “Builders Riding High Tide of Boating Boon,” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1968, N19. 360 “Rush to Buyers Like Old Days,” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1964, L1. 143

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Plan 450 with multiple options for exterior design details.

Source: Ventura Keys Brochure.
homes were nearing completion. By July of that year, over 150 homes had been finished.361 Prospective buyers were often taken on a tour of the development by boat.362 Residential harbor communities offered homes that effectively had two primary façades – one for arrival in a car on the street side and one for arrival via boat. Ventura Keys offered single-family residences in one- and two-story models, with forty-four exterior options. The development also offered unprecedented customization opportunities: buyers could purchase a site with a pre-determined model; they could purchase a lot and request the model; or they could buy a lot and build a custom home meeting the specification of the Pacesetter architects.

Single-family homes offered by the developer were designed by architect Will Foster. The one-story homes, Plan 300 and Plan 400 (each approximately 1,400 square feet) were three- and four-bedrooms, respectively. These wood-sided homes were available in one of four exterior styles. Six two-story home designs, Plans 450, 550, 1035, 1030, 1040, and 1045 ranged from 2,000 to 2,200 square feet with larger models boasting a larger master bedroom.

Again, each of the six two-story plans was available in four exterior elevations.

361 “Ventura Keys Party Draws 700 Guests,” Los Angeles Times, July 18, 1965, 31. 362 “Ventura Keys Offers Tract Tour by Boat,” Los Angeles Times, December 26, 1965, N5. 144

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

The duplexes, which were divided into first-
and second–floor units, ranged from
around 1,000 square feet to extra-large
2,800 square-foot units. Duplex Plan C, and
Plan 1050 were designed by Will Foster.

Duplex Plan A and Plan B were designed by
Morris and Lohrbach, AIA. Each duplex
plan came in two exterior elevations,
offering variations in rooflines and details.

Unit 5 opened in March of 1967 with
homes on Peninsula Avenue. These homes,
designed by Earl Kaltenbach, included four
new models with three elevation options.
363
Unit 5 homes were awarded a Concrete
Industry Award of Excellence.364 The sixth
and final unit of Ventura Keys opened in
1968, with homes completed in 1969.365
John W. Klug (1928-2007), President of Pacesetter Homes, earned a degree in architecture from USC in 1953. Following graduation, he joined Macco Corp. where he became director of real estate. He founded Pacesetter in 1961 and built and sold homes in San Clemente, Laguna Niguel, Costa Mesa, and other coastal locations. Envisioned as complete communities with plenty of opportunity for outdoor activity, recreation, and gracious vacation-style living, Pacesetter Homes became known for their “temperate climate, smog- free atmosphere, sunny skies and green countryside for parks and golf courses.” 366
Will Foster & Associates was a Tustin-based firm that worked closely with Pacesetter Homes on many development projects, as well as Ponderosa Homes, which was a division of Kaiser Aetna. Foster was also the designer of the Pacesetter headquarters building. The architect’s development work is characterized by the availability of multiple, Contemporary Ranch-style designs that blend harmoniously into a cohesive development.

Morris, Lohrbach & Associates was one of the largest and most well-respected architectural firms working with developers during the 1970s. The partners, Frank D. Morris, AIA (1935- 2006) and Edward D. Lohrbach (born c. 1936) established the firm in 1962. They quickly became specialists in land planning and architectural development. Developer/consultant John T. Martin remembered, “one of the best architects at the time was Morris and

363 “Models on View at Ventura Keys,” Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1967, N16. 364 “Award Won for Project in Ventura,” Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1967, J10. 365 The architect of Unit 6 is currently unknown.
366 “Builder Keys Tracts to Recreation,” Los Angeles Times, June 19, 1966, M16.

Duplex Plans A1 and A2.

Source: Ventura Keys Brochure.
145

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Lohrbach (sic).”367 Ventura Keys was one of their earliest projects. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the firm worked with Southern California’s leading developers on single-family residences, apartments, and condominiums. Their designs earned Gold Nugget awards for developer housing throughout the 1970s. Morris, Lohrbach & Associates was the frequent architectural partner to Richard B. Smith for his Broadmoor home developments; they built 5,000 homes together by 1977.
368
Presidential Place (1964, 1970, Earl Kaltenbach, Jr. AIA) Presidential Place was developed by Douglas W. Burhoe and opened in February of 1965.

The Late Modern-style residences were designed by architect Earl Kaltenbach, Jr., AIA. The development consisted of 32 parcels, and options included one- and two-story models with three different floor plans. One model featured an unusually large garage to accommodate three cars or “two cars and a boat,” signaling the development’s proximity to the new Ventura Marina.369
Douglas W. Burhoe (c.1927-unknown) was a builder and developer of residential and commercial tracts in Ventura between 1962-1971 under the firm of Douglas Burhoe Investment Company. At the same time he was working on Presidential Place, Burhoe was developing a 150-home tract in Newbury Park with architect Earl Kaltenbach. 370 He
developed Cameo Homes in Conejo Valley for which he earned a Southern California Edison Company award for high standards of electrical excellence. 371 In 1971, Burhoe
became project manager for Boise Cascade Recreation Communities.

Earl G. Kaltenbach, Jr. was an architect who worked extensively with Southern California developers during the 1950s and 1960s. He worked with some of the largest and most prominent developers including James Hilliard of Palisades Builders, Pacesetter Homes, Kaufmann and Broad, and Harlan Lee-Byron Lasky. Kaltenbach’s tract designs often included inspirations from a variety of architectural styles such as Hawaiian, Spanish, and the California Ranch. However, author of Houses for A New World, Barbara Miller Lane describes Kaltenbach’s houses in Orange County as “uncompromisingly modernist.” 372 Other articles
stress the architect’s commitment to natural materials and traditional detailing. Despite having designed tens of thousands of tract homes, Kaltenbach is best known for his design of Disneyland’s original Tomorrowland.373

367 John T. Martin, interview by Robert David Breton, April 21, 2012, 22. https://cityofmissionviejo.org/sites/default/files/Documents/FinalTranscript_Martin_John_April%2021%20 2012.pdf (accessed March 28, 2020).
368 “Team to Produce its 5,000th Home,” Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1977, I31. 369 “Presidential Place Opens This Sunday,” Oxnard Press-Courier, February 12, 1965, 21. 370 “Work Begins on $4 Million Housing Tract,” Oxnard Press-Courier, November 22, 1963, 3. 371 “Electrical Award for Builder,” Oxnard Press-Courier, April 23, 1965, 12. 372 Barbara Miller Lane, Houses for a New World, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015, 91. 373 Lane, Houses for a New World, 91.
146

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Ashwood Terrace (1964)
Ashwood Terrace was developed by Fairhill Homes, Inc. and featured 190 irregularly shaped parcels on terraced lots in the gently rolling slopes just below Foothill Road. It appears to have been developed in two phases (Tract 1559-1 and 1559-2), which were both subdivided in 1963. Development began in the southern portion of the tracts and moved north. In February of 1964, Ashwood Terrace opened for public viewing and attracted 1,500 people. 374
Models included one- and two-stories, three-, four-, and five-bedrooms, and a variety of exterior elevations. One Polynesian-themed model, the Trade Winds, was named after the Trade Winds restaurant in Ventura. Another one-story Ranch design won an award from Better Homes and Gardens magazine in June of 1964.
375 The furnished models for viewing were
located at Loma Vista Road and Ashwood Avenue and decorated by interior designer Ione Keenan who designed many restaurants and other projects in Ventura County.

Exposition Internationale (1964-65, David Freedman, AIA) Exposition Internationale homes in Ventura were developed by Irwin and Lillyan Siegel of Siegel Enterprises. The $4 million project consisted of 121 parcels in two L-shaped tracts.

Another Exposition Internationale development was established simultaneously in Camarillo. The tracts debuted concurrently in June of 1964, with the opening day attracting between five and ten thousand people.376
The one- and two-story homes were designed by David Freedman, AIA, a seasoned tract home designer. Four large three- and four-bedroom plans were offered in 16 different exterior styles drawn from cultures around the world, including “Oriental,” “Spanish,” “Americas,” and “Western.” As described in the Oxnard Press Courier, the Oriental design featured “…gambreled rafters, up-peaked rooflines, large stone work accents and symmetrical wood facings.”377 The Spanish design featured “graceful arches, rectangular windows and a wrought iron gate.”378 Americas models had “…free-flowing lines with leaded windows, peaked gables, massive brick accents, exterior shutters and a charming forecourt entry.” The Western design incorporated “…board and batten siding, split-rail fences and generous used of stone and brick.”379 One popular floorplan included a “bonus room” above the garage for family activities or to be used as an additional bedroom. All models included front landscaping. Four model homes were constructed at the Ventura

374 “1,500 View Ashwood Terrace Homes During Gala Opening Last Sunday,” Oxnard Press-Courier, March 6, 1964, 22.
375 “Magazine Lauds Design,” Oxnard Press-Courier, June 19, 1964, 20. 376 “Crowds Overwhelm Internationale Ventura and Camarillo Openings,” Oxnard Press-Courier, June 19, 1964,

20. 377 “Exposition International Sells 50 Homes in Week,” Oxnard Press-Courier, June 26, 1964, 20. 378 “Exposition International Sells 50 Homes in Week,” Oxnard Press-Courier. 379 “Exposition International Sells 50 Homes in Week,” Oxnard Press-Courier. 147

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

development on a street with series of flags of the world to emphasize the international influences.

Polynesian, Spanish-style, and one-story California Ranch options.

Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, June 18, 1965, 15.
148

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Merchandising appears to have been a key attribute for Exposition Internationale. The local newspaper featured an article about a mechanical display that would match the desired floorplan to the desired exterior design helping buyers envision their new home and delighting children. Both FHA and VA financing were available.

By January of 1965, 450 people were living in the Ventura and Camarillo developments. 380 In
March of that year, a third unit was announced with several new exterior designs and slight variations on the floor plans,381 including new three- and four-bedroom +den plans. Two additional model homes were constructed and decorated by local Oxnard Beach designer, Greg Beisel. Exposition Internationale home sales continued into 1966.

Irwin Siegel developed other tracts in Ventura County including Larchmont (Tract 1716) on neighboring Wako, Elko, Phoenix and Utah Streets. He also developed Flamingo Gardens in Oxnard. Previously, he built 550 homes in the Santa Maria and Lompoc areas.

Victoria Heights (1964-68, Kermit Dorius & Associates, FAIA) Victoria Heights was developed in six phases by Suburbia Homes, Inc., consisting of T.J.

Bettes Co., R.L. Cobb, Rose M. Vidas, Thesues, Inc., and Harry Tancredi. Phase I included three-, four-, or five-bedroom homes designed in the Modern Ranch style by architect Kermit Dorius.
382 Phase IV opened in 1965 with five different floor plans and more than a dozen elevations including Early American, Contemporary, Traditional, and Spanish.383 The 1965 models offered other new advancements in design, including built-in gas fireplaces in the master bedrooms, and a “patio kitchen” with a sliding pass through window and tiled outdoor counter to facilitate indoor-outdoor meal preparation. In 1969, five new model

380 “Who’s Happy?” Oxnard Press-Courier, January 15, 1965, 11. 381 “Third Unit Planned at Exposition Internationale,” Oxnard Press-Courier, March 12, 1965, 22. 382 “Ground Broken for Victoria Heights,” Oxnard Press-Courier, July 17, 1964, 11. 383 “Fourth Unit Suburbia Homes Open,” Oxnard Press-Courier, July 9, 1965, 22.

Two-story Exposition Internationale home.

Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, June 18, 1965, 15.
149

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

homes debuted with 14 exterior elevations. All of these were four- and five-bedroom plans with exceptional views to the marina and beyond.

Suburbia Homes, Inc. was founded circa 1952, and constructed several developments in Ventura County including Las Posas Heights in Camarillo and North Mesa Heights in the Conejo Valley. They also built three developments in Orange County. They frequently worked with Kermit Dorius & Associates to design their projects.

Kermit Dorius & Associates was founded by Kermit Parrish Dorius (1926-1999). The firm built a practice primarily working for developers on single- and multi-family residential projects. His work with contractor Harry Tancredi/Hercules Construction Co. dates back to 1962 when they worked together on a six-story professional building in Santa Ana. Dorius’ work at Victoria Heights and other Suburbia projects propelled his career forward, and he ultimately worked with Ponderosa Homes/Kaiser Aetna, Larwin Group, and the Irvine Company. His projects from the 1970s and 1980s received numerous awards and he was elevated to Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects in 1977.

Los Flores Foothills (1965, Johnson & D’Agostino)
Los Flores Foothills is a rectangular tract of 87
parcels. Los Flores Development Company,
Q.D. (Bob) Brewer, general partner, was the
developer.
384 The three- and four-bedroom
homes were designed by Johnson & D’Agostino.

The first phase of homes (Tract 1352-3) were
one-story, Ranch-style homes with Spanish
details. The second phase (Tract 1352-4) added a
two-story model to the mix with an upstairs
bedroom and bathroom.385

384 Two years prior to Los Flores Foothills, the Los Flores Development company developed two adjacent tracts to the south of Loma Vista Road (Tract 1352-1 and 1352-2). There is currently no evidence that they worked with Johnson and D’Agostino on the design of this previous development. 385 It is unknown whether the two-story models were designed by Johnson & D’Agostino.

Advertisement for Los Flores Foothills.

Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, August 6, 1965.
150

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Mediterranea Homes (1966, Howard Leach, AIA)386
Mediterranea Homes is an L-shaped tract of 59 parcels (Tract 1796-1) developed by the Sand Canyon Development Company and designed by architect Howard E. Leach. The homes are primarily one-story Ranch homes; although there were some two-story models, including an eclectic modern design featuring a two-story raked concrete block fireplace. As described in the Oxnard Press Courier, Leach’s designs for the tract were inspired by the plan for his own dream house. However, he included several exterior options to accommodate different tastes.387
Although little is known of the Sand Canyon Development Co., its president, Curtis Buster, was a contractor building homes in Simi Valley in the late 1950s with the D and A Land company. Another Mediterranea Homes development in Ojai was built by Sand Canyon Development around the same time as the Ventura development. Leach was the architect for the Ojai project as well.

Bristol Woods (1973, Leonard Brunswick & Associates)
Bristol Woods was developed by AVCO Community Developers, Inc. and subdivided in three phases (Phase I, Tract 1964-1; Phase II, Tract 1964-2; and Phase III, Tract 1964-3). It was designed by Leonard Brunswick & Associates.

Bristol Woods opened for sale on March 18, 1973. The development offered 124-single family residences with three-, four-, and five-bedroom plans, each in a choice of three Ranch-style exterior designs. Marketed as homes for young families, they ranged from 973 to 1,345 square feet. Features of the homes included spacious family centers and an open plan.

AVCO Community Developers was founded in the late 1960s, as the development arm of AVCO Financial Services. The firm was dedicated to “total concept living” in its large community developments.388 “To be a planned community, not just a bedroom community or a series of tracts,” explained AVCO leadership, “you have to strike a better balance of people who can live and work here. A planned community is by design and entire entity unto itself. Otherwise it is a planned subdivision, not a community.” 389 AVCO was best known
for its large planned communities in Laguna Niguel and Rancho Bernardo.

Based in San Diego, AVCO developed housing projects (single-family residences, townhouses, apartments) throughout California (e.g., Monarch Bay, Camarillo), as well as vacation homes in Illinois, Ohio, and Georgia. In 1972, the firm won design awards from the

386 Tract maps show “Mediterranea,” however it is also commonly misspelled as “Mediterranean.” 387 “Leach Philosophy Stamps Designs,” Oxnard Press-Courier, June 9, 1967, 8A. 388 “Pace Quickens at Laguna Niguel,” Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1971, K1. 389 Thomas Fortune, “A Reshaped Image Pays Off for AVCO,” Los Angeles Times, October 23, 1977, OC1. 151

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Journal of Home Builders, the magazine of the National Association of Home Builders. In 1973 alone, the company sold 2,017 homes.390
Bristol Woods was the first AVCO development in Ventura. Around 1972, AVCO subdivided “The Meadows,” then in 1973 Woodbridge Park (townhomes), and later Buena Village (discussed below). By 1975, AVCO Community Developer faced debilitating debt, difficulties with the California Coastal Commission, and a mid-decade recession. By 1977, AVCO ranked eleventh among developers in California with $53 million in sales volume.391 The company continued to build homes until 1982, when it shifted its focus to land sales.

After working as a draftsman in various architectural offices, Leonard R. Brunswick, AIA (1918-1973) worked for Roseglen Construction Corporation from 1960-63. Roseglen was a builder of traditional Ranch-style tract homes. Here Brunswick honed his skills in developer housing. After establishing his own firm, his principal client was Richard Cavanaugh, President of Cavanaugh Development Co.

390 “AVCO Shifts Sights,” Los Angeles Times, May 18, 1975, G27. 391 “Million Dollar Builders,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1978, I1. 152

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Bristol Woods Models. Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, March 17, 1973, 6; April 28, 1973, 11; and November 3, 1973, 10.
153

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Buena Village (1974-5, Johnson, Eastman and Charleston, Architects AIA) Buena Village was another AVCO Savings and Loan development in Ventura. It was developed in two phases (Tracts 2340 and 2407). The models were all single-story, ranging in size from 1,123 to 1,708 square feet.392
The initial 65 units in Phase I were designed and marketed with an emphasis on energy conservation for an increasingly energy-conscious buying public.393 Built by R.L. Hertel Constructors, Inc., the homes were constructed with high quality insulation and other energy efficient components.
394 The project was awarded the Southern California Gas Company’s CONCERN Award for energy conservation. Inaugurated in early 1973, CONCERN stood for Conserve Our Nation’s Crucial Energy Resources Now.

The architects for Buena Village were Van Nuys-based Johnson, Eastman, and Charleston Architects, AIA, another firm that specialized in tract housing. 395 Three architectural styles
were featured in the initial phase: Mediterranean, Spanish, and Modern. Five floor plans were initially available, three of which included patios with sliding-glass doors.

Bel-Aire Park (1976)396
Bel-Aire Park was developed by the Sunset Ventura Company, a general partnership of Aaron L. Raznick, Raznick & Sons, Inc.; Karl O. Bergheer, The Bergheer Co.; and J.

MacElhenny, Jr. Bel-Aire Park consisted of 129 parcels and officially opened for sale on August 3, 1976. A linear stretch of land on the east side of S. Petit Avenue was donated to the City of Ventura by the developers and designated Bel-Aire Park.397 This was the first time Sunset Ventura Co. donated a park adjacent to one of its developments; they replicated the practice in their later Harbor Walk development in Oxnard.

Bel-Aire Park consisted of one-and two-story homes in the Late Modern style with steeply sloping shed roofs, and a selection of exterior wall cladding. Phase I included five different floor plans ranging from 1,500 to 2,300 square feet. Phase I sold out before the completion of the model homes. Phase II was available for sale in Fall of 1976. The second phase included plans with sunken living rooms, and one which boasted a sunken “conversation pit.”
398

392 “Buena Village Units for Single Families Under Construction,” Oxnard Press Courier. 393 “Buena Village Units for Single Families Under Construction,” Oxnard Press Courier, April 6, 1974, 11. 394 “Buena Village Units for Single Families Under Construction,” Oxnard Press Courier. 395 Johnson, Eastman and Charleston Architects, AIA designed several projects in Ventura county in the mid- 1970s including commercial buildings in Lompoc and Sunnyglen Homes in Ojai. 396 Information about the architect to be confirmed when building permit research is completed. 397 A policy for linear parks was established for Ventura by the Parks and Recreation Department in 1974. 398 “All Phase I Homes Sold Out,” Oxnard Press-Courier, September 18, 1976, 14. 154

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Bel-Aire Park Model Homes.

Source: © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

155

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Sub-Theme: Multi-Family Residential Development
There was considerable multi-family development during this period, including multi-family apartment buildings, and eventually, a new form of homeownership called condominiums.

During this period, small pockets of multi-family development were interspersed in established neighborhoods in the city. There are Late-Modern-style apartments along Del Norte Street; and early to mid-1970s apartments along Woodland Street between S. Hill Road on the east and S. Victoria Avenue to the west. Although there were small enclaves of multi-family developments, the city primarily comprised neighborhoods of single-family residences.

In addition to the pockets of multi-family apartment buildings, Ventura’s mild climate made it conducive to large-scale garden apartment developments. One of the more unusual apartment complexes to be built in Ventura during this period was the Buenaventura Gardens in 1965. The concept was “a total recreational apartment community.” 399 The 12-
acre site contained 35 Mid-century Modern-style, two-story buildings with eight units per building to total 282-units.400 It was developed by the Harlan Lee-Byron Lasky Co., well- known residential tract home developers in postwar Los Angeles. Designed by architects Maxwell Starkman and Associates, the site includes important garden-apartment design elements including relegating automobiles to the perimeter of the complex, and individual 60’ x 60’ garden courts connected via landscaped walkways.401 Apartments were offered in one-, two-, and three-bedroom plans. Various buildings were designated as adults only, while others were for families with children. The highlight of the development was its $250,000 recreational center. The 5,000-square foot Spanish-style clubhouse contained a lobby, game room, lounge, and kitchen. The clubhouse faced a central courtyard with the swimming pool and spa, badminton, volleyball, and paddle tennis courts.

The Villa Scandia Apartments (1021 Scandia Avenue) won an award for “Excellence in Architectural Design” from the California Council of the Society of American Registered Architects in 1971. Planned for newly married couples and singles, the Ebbe Videricksen- designed apartments offered living rooms with 12-foot ceilings and loft bedrooms. The complex included two community buildings: one with a large meeting room for parties and meetings, a billiard room, wet bar, and kitchen; the second with men’s and women’s gyms and saunas, showers, restrooms, and a laundry room.

Other large-scale multi-family developments from the period include Ventura’s Beachfront Apartments (369 Paseo de Playa), completed in 1971. It was developed by the Metropolitan

399 “Buenaventura Gardens Plans 3-Day Opening,” Los Angeles Times, October 31, 1965, L2. 400 “Rentals Take New Approach,” Los Angeles Times, November 7, 1965, L1. 401“Buenaventura Gardens Groundbreaking Held,” Los Angeles Times, November 28, 1965, M27. 156

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Mortgage Corporation and Mutual Trust Life Insurance Company and designed by Robert E. Dinald & Associates.

Condominium Development
In the late 1960s and through the mid-1970s, a new real estate trend was affecting the development of multi-family properties in Ventura: condominiums. Condominium development generally reflected a movement away from single-family residences as empty nesters elected to downsize and eliminate backyard maintenance. The condominium movement was born out of an initial trend toward co-op apartments. However, condominiums diverged from co-op apartment arrangements in that the residences were not technically owned collectively; each unit was owned individually but common areas were subject to collective ownership. Typically, homeowners’ associations were established, and monthly ownership dues funded maintenance of the common areas. A lack of financing for the new ownership concept, however, suppressed development until 1964. In 1961, the FHA was only authorized to insure mortgages on condos for 85 percent of the appraised value. It wasn’t until September 1963 that tax appraisal methods for condominiums was settled and developers began building condominiums in earnest. 402
Condominium development flourished in Ventura in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The city’s beaches and freeway-close proximity to Los Angeles made it an ideal spot for vacation homes. With their relatively low investment and maintenance plans, condominiums were the perfect vacation home/income properties.

Ventura’s Buenaventura Gardens was part of the Harlan Lee-Byron Lasky Co. Masterhome Communities of the mid-1960s, which focused on recreational living. Among those communities, Buenaventura Gardens was the only multi-family complex—the rest were single-family residential communities. The location of Buenavista Gardens, adjacent to Buenaventura Shopping Center, was a key selling point.

By 1964, S.V. Hunsaker & Sons rolled out an innovative new concept in condominium/townhome ownership: the Hunsaker condominium. Where previous condominium ownership extended just to the interior walls of the occupied unit with exterior walls the domain of the homeowners’ association, the Hunsaker concept extended ownership to the exterior walls of the unit, protecting homeowners from unjustified repairs, maintenance, and improvements.
403
Hunsaker’s 1965 Sunshine Village Homes,404 designed by Irv Sarfaty, was the second condominium project of this nature from the company. It consisted of 585 townhomes, with

402 Dan Mac Masters, “Condominiums—The Most Exciting Housing Development in 15 Years,” Los Angeles Times, July 26, 1964, 44.
403 “Builder Introduces New Condominium Concept,” Los Angeles Times, April 26, 1964, I13. 404 Address/exact location pending further research.
157

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

six floor plans and 17 different exterior designs, so each variation was repeated no more than six times throughout the community.405 Designs included Ranch, Contemporary, Hawaiian, and Colonial styles. The townhomes were grouped in clusters of four to seven units around central recreation areas. Sunshine Village Homes had five separate swimming pool/recreation areas with clubhouses. Other amenities included fire rings, children’s playgrounds, putting greens, badminton, horseshoe, croquet, and shuffleboard courts. An identical project was built by Hunsaker in Stanton, California.

In 1966, Hunsaker developed Cape Ventura.
406 These one- and two-story “clubhomes” were
clustered in groups of four to seven units around recreational facilities. There were six floor plans and 17 exterior options, all of which were Mid-century Modern in style with Japanese influences.407 Amenities included a swimming pool, wading pool, octagonal-shaped clubhouse, barbecue area, and nine-hole putting green.

McKeon Construction Company, a large Sacramento-based condominium developer, selected Ventura in 1970 for its Villa Ventura project. Consisting of approximately 125 fourplex buildings, these condos were built as phased construction in the early part of the decade. During the recession, Villa Ventura marketing strategy changed from billing them as vacation homes, and instead offered the units as equity alternatives to renting, or homes that were affordable to divorcées and single working women. Villa Ventura homes had extra- thick insulating walls between units, separate entrances, and three community pools.

McKeon developments were constructed throughout Southern California including in Carpinteria, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Valencia, Azusa, La Verne, the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, and San Diego.

In 1971, the last phase of development at Pacesetter’s Ventura Keys was the Harbor Village Condominiums (2503 Harbor Boulevard) designed by Oxnard-based Carelly, Selieine & Associates. Originally designed as a 42-building development, only 16 buildings comprising 64 units were realized before the recession prevented further development. Each building contained four units: one one-story unit, two two-story units, and a single, ocean view unit over the garage at the rear. There were four different exterior designs. The Late Modern buildings featured “the popular new Pacesetter woodsy look with rough beams, wood siding, and high-pitched roofs with wooden shingles.”
408
The largest condominium development in Ventura, the 600-unit Todd Ranch townhomes (7272 E, Telephone road) utilized a finger-road and greenbelt plan to maximize the opportunity to create a park-like setting. Built between 1973 and 1976, the two-and three- bedroom plans evolved over time as subsequent phases were released for sale.

405 “Pioneer Firm Enters Condominium Field,” Los Angeles Times, November 15, 1964, O24. 406 Address to be confirmed during fieldwork.
407 Architect pending access to building permits.
408 “Harbor Village Set to Open in Ventura,” Oxnard Press-Courier, July 3, 1971, 15. 158

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Sub-Theme: Trailer Park and Mobile Home Development
During this period, trailer parks or mobile homes, as they had become more widely known, were getting larger and more elaborate. The “tenwide” (ten-foot-wide trailer) had over 90 percent market share by 1960.409 By 1963, the industry split into mobile homes and recreational travel trailers (later to be known as RVs).410 In the 1970s, as the mobile homes became more luxurious, the mobile home parks did as well.411 A good example of this was the Imperial Ventura Mobile Estates/Imperial Family Mobile Estates, developed by the Los Angeles-based Dyo Brothers, Inc.412 Ken (1921-1971) and Sei Dyo (1925-2000) were award-winning landscape designers in the postwar period whose work was featured in the Los Angeles Times. They collaborated with architects in the design of residential projects. Around 1966, the Dyo Brothers began investing in mobile home parks. Their formula was relatively unique: they created separate sections for “adult” and “family” parks, engaged the services of architects to design large, architecturally distinctive clubhouses for each section (often with Japanese-inspired designs), and included recreational amenities, and lushly landscaped parks. Their formula was wildly successful, and by 1968, the Dyo Brothers owned a chain of six mobile home parks from Escondido to San Jose.
413
In 1970, the Dyo Brothers embarked on a project for Ventura, which would become the most luxurious mobile home park in the county. The $2.5 million Imperial Ventura Mobile Estates/Imperial Family Mobile Estates (5065 Telephone Road and 5067 Thille Street) was designed by noted architect and financial partner Thornton Ladd, AIA. The plan consisted of two interesting sections, one for the adult and one for the family park. 414 The adult
section had 185 spaces and the family section had 190. At the center of each was a large Spanish-style clubhouse, designed to reflect the architectural heritage of Ventura. Each clubhouse had a large swimming pool and Jacuzzi spa.415 Other amenities included a pool and playgrounds. Imperial Family Mobile Estates opened on August 15, 1971. After opening in Ventura, the Dyo brothers continued expanding with Imperial Oxnard Mobile Estates and Imperial Avalon in Carson.

409 John Grissim, The Complete Buyer’s Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land, 18. 410 Grissim, The Complete Buyer’s Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land, 19. 411 Two mobile home parks, Country Estates (10685 Blackburn Road) was built in 1962 and the Stardust Mobile Home Estates (11100 Telegraph Road) was built in 1967. 412 The project was initially known as Rancho Ventura Mobile Estates, by the time of opening it had changed names.
413 The Dyo Brothers appear to have used several company names including Mobileparks America Corp. and Imperial Mobile Estates.
414 A newspaper article from 1970 suggests that the architects for the project would be Associated Design of Los Angeles. However, an article in the Oxnard Press Courier for opening day features an interview with Ladd as designer and partner. “New Mobile park For Family Living,” Oxnard Press-Courier, August 7, 1971, 13. 415 “Rancho Ventura Mobile Estates Offers Unique Living,” Rafu Shimpo, November 9, 1970, 3. 159

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

The popularity and profitability of mobile home parks in the early 1970s caused business conglomerate Boise Cascade to enter the market. Trailer parks offered the company an opportunity for vertical integration, as they were also manufacturing mobile homes. Ventura Cascade (11405 Darling Road) would eventually become the Buenaventura Mobile Home Estates. With 244 home sites it eclipsed the Dyo’s Imperial properties as the largest mobile home park in Ventura. The company had plans for 30 mobile home parks. By 1971, Boise Cascade owned parks in Vista, Upland, Bakersfield, Oxnard, and Ventura.

Each Cascade property featured a large clubhouse with a full-size ballroom, a color TV lounge, equipped kitchen, billiards and hobby rooms, heated swimming pools, spas, and horseshoe pits. Parking for boats and trailers was also provided. The design for Ventura Cascade resembled a Celtic knot, with all roads leading back to the centrally located clubhouse.

Innovation and competition for mobile home development continued to be intense in Ventura. Lemon Wood Mobile Home Park (7001 Telephone Road) was opened in 1973 as a 231-space park by developers Limco Del Mar. The design for Lemon Wood featured a large swath of landscaped green belt down the center of the development, man-made lakes, a putting green, and unique cul de sac streets. Another special feature of Lemon Wood was that all mobile homes were recessed so the floor line was level with the natural terrain; the idea was that each mobile home would blend into the landscaping and avoid the use of unsightly “skirting” at the base of each trailer.
416
Lemon Wood Mobile Home Park also featured a recreation center with a library-lounge, assembly room, fully equipped kitchen, card and billiard rooms, saunas, Jacuzzis, swimming pool, and shuffleboard courts. Lemon Wood spaces were also sized to accommodate the newest and largest mobile home designs.

During the recession of the mid-1970s, mobile home park development cooled in Ventura.

A rare addition from the latter part of the decade is the 1977 Patrician Mobile Home Park (4700 Aurora Drive). The 136-space park was developed by John S. Broome (1917-2009).

Broome was the son of Thornhill F. Broome and Caryl Spoor and the heir to part of the Rancho Guadalasca land grant purchased by his grandfather. John S. Broome ran the ranching business, founded Conejo Savings and Loan Association, and served on a number of Ventura County Commissions and philanthropic boards. The Patrician, however, was not his first foray into Ventura mobile home parks. In 1969 he had developed the 83-space La Posada Mobile Home Park (4499 Copland Drive).

416 “Utilities Placed Underground at Ventura Mobilehome Site,” Oxnard Press-Courier, January 20, 1973, 9. 160

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

THEME: COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Neighborhood shopping center construction continued during this period, albeit at a slower pace than during the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, it was the coming of the regional mall that marked the city’s rite of passage as a mature residential community.

In 1963, construction began on the Buenaventura Center417 (extant/altered) bordered by Telegraph Road to the north, E. Main Street to the southwest, and Mills Road to the east. A $15 million regional shopping center on 58 acres, it was the largest such project between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The first structure was the Broadway Department store, one of several anchor tenants that included Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney, Barker Brothers, Desmond’s, Thrifty Drug Store, Vons Market, and F.W. Woolworth. The developers were Gordon MacDonald and Charles Merritt.

Buenaventura Center featured the best of Southern California regional shopping center design. It was a rectangular-shaped, single-story, open-air design. The project architect was John Sturgis, AIA;
418 Leach, Cleveland and Associates and Louis Mazzetti were the architects for the first phase of stores.419 The interstitial buildings that featured shops such as See’s Candies, Kimo’s Polynesian Shop, Kinney Shoes, and a Singer Sewing Center, were clean, Mid-century Modern designs with floor to ceiling glass storefronts and generous eaves to protect from the sun. An ad from 1972 shows a large Modern-style concrete bell tower with landscaped planter. It was likely designed as an abstraction to evoke the Mission bell tower.

Buenaventura Center anchor stores were all Mid-century Modern in style but reflected the corporate-retail architecture of their owners. Charles Luckman Associates was the architect for The Broadway.420 Leach, Cleveland and Associates and Louis Mazzetti were the architect of record for the J.C. Penney Store.421
To serve the nearby Ventura Keys residential community, Marina Village Shopping Center was constructed in 1965. Located on an eight-acre parcel at Seaward Avenue and Harbor Boulevard, it was owned and developed by Mr. and Mrs. Walter W. Hoffman of Camarillo.

Tenants included a market, barber shop, Fotomat, bank, donut shop, coffee shop, and dry cleaners.
422
In 1973, Holiday Inn (450 East Harbor Boulevard) built a 23-story, 260-room high-rise hotel on the beach in Ventura. Designed by William W. Bond, Jr. and Associates, the $3.3 million

417 Also referred to as the Buenaventura Fashion Center and the Buenaventura Mall, it is now Pacific View Mall.
418 “Ventura Center Reports Complete Leasing Near,” Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1963, O15. 419 “LA Population Spillover Booms Ventura County,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1963, I1. 420 “Ventura Center Reports Complete Leasing Near,” Los Angeles Times. 421 “Chain Store to Build Outlet in Ventura,” Los Angeles Times, February 23, 1964, L10. 422 Advertisement, Ventura County Star-Free Press, Special Issue, January 10, 1975, 13-B. 161

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

project featured a rooftop restaurant.423 The hotel was part of the City of Ventura’s first urban renewal project designed to attract convention business.424 Banks and financial institutions continued
to expand their services in the growing
city during this period. By 1964, Ventura
Savings and Loan had outgrown their
Oak Street location. The company
engaged architect William L. Pereira to
design a new 15,000 square foot building
on Mills Road (250 S. Mills Road). The
location was ideal for serving the ongoing
eastward expansion of the city. The
Ventura Savings and Loan building, now
rebranded as AVCO, became the first
building of what was to be the “Ventura
Financial Center.”
425 Newspaper accounts
indicate that a master plan for the
Ventura Financial Center was prepared
by architect Kurt Meyer & Associates with Hummel, Rasmussen and Love as associate architects.
426
An ad promoting the grand opening reveals the mindset of the company in its design and construction, stating “We confidently believe this building to be an architectural landmark for our growing community.”
427 The program for the new Brutalist style building included a “Friendship Room” for community meetings, an exhibit space, and a kitchen. Ventura Savings and Loan used the new building to enhance its relationship with the community and become a focal point of arts and cultural events, including hosting the Ventura County Forum of the Arts Midsummer Festival that brought the work of Southern California sculptors, ceramicists, and musicians to the people of Ventura.

Another financial institution was added to the financial center in 1972 with the completion of the Bank of California (300 S. Mills Road). The building was described in the newspaper as “a blending of two architectural styles…arched windows created in the ancient Roman style and set in the contemporary Spanish structure with its mission tile roof.” 428 In 1973,

423 “Holiday Inn Planned Over Pierpont Bay,” Los Angeles Times, Mary 14, 1972, J2. 424 “Ventura ’72 Redevelopment,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, January 1, 1973, C-16. 425 “Bank of California Building in Ventura,” Oxnard Press-Courier, January 17, 1972, 10. 426 “Mills Road Finance Center Work to Begin Next Month,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, January 1, 1970, C11.
427 “Display Ad,” Oxnard Press Courier, June 24, 1964, 3. 428 “Display Ad,” Oxnard Press Courier.

Interior of Ventura Savings and Loan (William L.

Pereira, 1964) designed in the Brutalist-style with a
sculptural terrazzo staircase.

Source: © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).
162

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

County Bank (270 S. Mills Road) was completed. The Brutalist style bank building was designed by Kruger, Bensen, Ziemer Architects.

In 1972, the Bank of A. Levy constructed a new branch to serve the eastern portion of Ventura (1011 or 1130 S. Victoria Avenue).429 Fisher and Wilde designed this Late Modern
building for one of Ventura County’s earliest banking
entities.430
Like many communities in California, Ventura had a branch of Home Savings and Loan (2075 S. Victoria Avenue) to serve the eastern portion of the city. 431 Designed by renowned artist Millard Sheets for Howard Ahmanson,432 the imposing design fit the Homes Savings branch standards: imposing massing, lush cladding materials, gold decoration, and public art. In the 1960s, Sheets obtained permission from Ahmanson to include portrayals of branch communities in the art.
433 For Ventura, he
designed a mural featuring the Mission and the city’s
agricultural roots. According to Sheets author and scholar Adam Arenson, this mural was made of Fox Tile from the Las Vegas Studio of Garry and Catherine Fox.434
Sub-Theme: Ventura Marina & Growth of Leisure Culture
Perhaps the greatest addition to the leisure culture of Ventura was the 1963 development of the Ventura Marina. The small pleasure craft industry surged in popularity after World War II. Owning a boat became an integral part of the American Dream for millions of Southern Californians. Enabled by wartime technologies and products such as plastics and plywood, and lower postwar labor costs, boat construction became less expensive. These products also resulted in a lighter weight hull that enabled more mobility and easier launching. The new boats also offered new financing plans that made it “as easy to buy a boat as a household

429 Address to be confirmed pending review of building permits. 430 The French-born Achille Levy (1853-1922) first came to Ventura County in 1874. He began lima bean farming in Port Hueneme. By 1900, he and his brother established a lima bean brokerage, ultimately becoming a banking business in 1905. The bank survived the Great Depression and continued to serve Ventura County into the 1970s. It merged with First Interstate Bank in 1995. 431 Historic address 2115 S. Victoria Avenue.
432 Date of construction will be included when building permit research is completed. 433 Adam Arenson, Banking on Beauty (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press), 2018, 144. 434 Adam Arenson spreadsheet, http://adamarenson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Master-Inventory- of-Millard-Sheets-Studio-and-Home-Savings-Art-and-Architecture-Published-Version.pdf (accessed June 2, 2020).

Mr. A. Levy.

Source: Research Library at The
Museum of Ventura County,
https://photographs.venturam
useum.org/items/show/328.
163

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

appliance.”435 Between 1951 and 1962, the number of small craft rose from 7,137 to 70,300 in Los Angeles County alone.436 In 1964, 67,561 new craft were registered in California.

Demand for small pleasure craft fed interest in the creation of a chain of man-made small- boat harbors. One of the most visible and successful was the $30 million Marina del Rey project of 1961, which was the world’s largest small craft harbor with accommodations for 8,500 boats.437
In Ventura, the dredging of Pierpont Bay for fill dirt for the 101 Freeway gave a marina project a head start. In 1962, $4.75 million in bonds for marina construction was issued.

Groundbreaking on the project occurred in May of the same year. Macco Construction Co. of Paramount received the first contract for excavation and development. The first phase, which opened in June of 1963, included slips and moorings for 576 boats and ramp and hoist facilities. When complete, the marina was intended to house 2,300 small boats. Over half of the dedicated boat slips were rented upon opening.

After opening, the Ventura Marina suffered some setbacks. The harbor entrance “was accepting 40 percent of sand drifting past in the north-to-south flow…and a shoal built up at the entrance.”
438 An expensive dredging project was implemented in 1964 that continued through subsequent years. There were also issues with management by the Ventura Port District, with complaints by three early lessees - Buena Marine Center, Seacoast Marine, and a yacht broker named George Medley.
439 Regardless, the Marina proved a catalyst for
industrial, commercial, and residential development during this period. The Marina suffered yet another setback in January of 1969, when a series of “100-year rainstorms” caused the Santa Clara River to flood causing $4 million in damage to docks and 200 small crafts, including several luxury yachts.
440
Public & Private Recreational Development
Golf Courses
By 1968, the Los Olivas Golf Course (3750 Olivas Park Drive, now known as Olivas Links) had been completed. Capitalizing on a wave of interest in the sport that had been sparked by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, this public course offered yet another leisure amenity for Venturans and tourists near the newly popular Ventura Marina. By early 1969, the course had 27 holes open and nine more were planned.
441 The same flooding of the Santa Clara

435 “Week-End Sailors Find Craft for Every Budget,” Los Angeles Times, August 16, 1959, WS1. 436 “Boat Ownership Spurs Building Industry Here,” Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1962, K1. 437 Marina Del Rey is in unincorporated Los Angeles County. 438 “Small Craft Spree Hits Southland with Splash,” Los Angeles Times, June 6, 1965, F1. 439 “Lessees Rap Managing of Marinas,” Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1965, B13. 440 “Marina Loss Placed at $4 million,” Oxnard Press-Courier, February 2, 6,1969, 1. 441 John McCormick, “I Got Air Sick,” Oxnard Press-Courier, March 4, 1969, 9. 164

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

River that caused damage at the marina, also damaged the golf course, depositing several feet of mud.

The Buenaventura Golf Course (5882 Olivas Park Drive) received its first mention in the Oxnard Press-Courier in April of 1967, suggesting that it too was constructed in the mid-1960s as part of the wave of interest in the sport. An ad in the Los Angeles Times noted, “Golf is cool in Ventura. No crowds. No waiting. No Smog.”442 The course was seriously damaged by flooding in 1969. During its restoration, it was redesigned to appeal to seniors, women, beginners, and young players.
443
The Olivas Park Golf Course was completely destroyed in the same floods. Twelve acres of course next to the river were completely washed away. In its rebuilding, it was designed to be a major league tournament course and an executive course. 444
Saticoy Regional Golf Course (1025 S. Wells
Road) also took advantage of the increasing
interest in golf. Originally established in
1921, the course was Ventura County’s first
country club.
445 In the early 1960s, the
Saticoy Country Club elected to move to a
new site in unincorporated Somis. The
original 72.6-acre site was annexed into the
City of Ventura in 1963,
446 and sold to
Oxnard developer, Martin V. Smith. It
became known as the Saticoy Regional Golf
Course during the 1980s.

As land values in Southern California increased, postwar golf courses began to slowly and steadily disappear for the construction of suburban home development, shopping centers, and business parks.

442 “Display Ad 34,” Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1966, B5. 443 “Golf Course Rebuilding Continues,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, January 1, 1970, C5. 444 “Golf Course Rebuilding Continues,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, January 1, 1970, C5. 445 According to the club’s website, the founders chose the best in design at the time. Golf course design was by George C. Thomas, Jr. and William P. Bell, whose works include the golf courses of the Riviera, La Cumbre, Ojai Valley Inn, and Los Angeles, North Course country clubs. Clubhouse design was by Sumner P. Hunt and Silas R. Burns, whose portfolio includes the Wilshire Country Club, Southwest Museum the Los Angeles Automobile Club, and locally the Pierpont Inn and the Glen Tavern Inn. 446 “Saticoy Golf Club Annexed by Ventura,” Oxnard Press-Courier, August 13, 1963, 6.

Saticoy Golf Course, first hole from parking lot,
1964.

Source: Cynthia Thompson.
165

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Miniature golf course layout of Golf N’ Stuff.

Source: https://golfnstuff.com/img/ventura/news/GolfNStuffVentura-Map.pdf.

Pierpont Racquet Club
Another recreation facility constructed during this period was the Pierpont Racquet Club at Sanjon Road at California 1, adjacent to the Pierpont Inn. Opened in 1976, the four-acre club featured a clubhouse, gymnasium, nine tennis and four racquetball courts, an enclosed swimming pool, and a jacuzzi. The architect for the project as William C. McCulloch of Newport Beach.447
Miniature Golf
Although miniature golf originated in Scotland, it became a popular diversion in Southern California during the 1920s. Golf courses became more elaborate during the postwar period with the addition of fanciful buildings and more creative landscaping. As the freeways were built, miniature golf courses were often located on large expanses of inexpensive land adjacent to the freeways drawing in passersby. Miniature golf declined in popularity during the 1960s as young people turned to protesting the Vietnam War. As a result, courses often combined miniature golf with other activities such as arcades, fast food, batting cages, water slides, and go-karts and they once again increased in popularity.

Golf N’ Stuff (5555 Walker Street) opened in 1969. It was developed by GNS Development Corp which later developed, Golf N’ Stuff parks in Norwalk (extant), Anaheim (demolished), Fountain Valley (demolished) and Phoenix, Arizona. The most visible building from the freeway is the fanciful castle. Other notable structures on the course include a fanciful Russian orthodox church, windmill, and London clock tower. Fanciful landscaping and topiaries were also part of the design.
448

447 “Racquet Club to Be Built in Ventura,” Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1975, F2. 448 In October of 1991, the Beach Boys selected Golf N’ Stuff in Ventura as the backdrop of their Crocodile Rock video. The director of the video, D.J. Webster, an avid mini-golf enthusiast, selected the course after visiting 20 Southern California miniature golf courses reflecting, “this was the best one.” “Beach Boys Trade the Surf for Miniature Golf Turf: Ventura, Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1991, VCB1. 166

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

THEME: CIVIC AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The late 1960s and 1970s were a boom period for civic and institutional development in the City of Ventura. Ventura’s role as the county seat required new facilities and institutions to accommodate the burgeoning population. These included new City and County facilities, museums, educational institutions, and schools.

Civic Expansion
Despite several expansions, the iconic Ventura County Courthouse was no longer adequate to serve the growing County’s needs. By 1969, the courthouse was declared unsafe in the event of an earthquake and was closed. In 1971, the building was sold to the City for $145,000 to become Ventura City Hall. Following a $2.7 million rehabilitation, the building was formally re-dedicated as City Hall in 1973.449 The repurposing of the courthouse in this way not only preserved Ventura’s most iconic building, it represented a new age in municipal government for a city that had changed significantly in the years after World War II.

To replace the courthouse, the County embarked on an ambitious plan to construct a new Government Center (800 S. Victoria Road). Designed by John Carl Warneke & Associates in association with Daniel L. Dworsky and Associates, the massive Late Modern-style government complex was dedicated in November of 1978.
450 The administration and courts
buildings totaled 700,000 square feet and were connected to the 75,000 square foot service building via a “Spanish courtyard” a fountain, trellis and flowering plants. 451 A large parking
lot accommodated 3,600 cars. The interior of the service building features a large atrium waiting area with skylights from which various city departments can be viewed.

In the 1970s, the city added Ventura Fire Station #5 (4225 E. Main Street) in its continued efforts to serve the growing eastside. The Late Modern-style brick building designed by architect LeRoy Andrews was the first building in Ventura County to use solar energy as the primary heating source.
452 In addition to its climate sensitivity, the building was also progressive in that it was designed with separate sleeping quarters for men and future women firefighters.

449 Carol Weinstock, “Old Courthouse Does Justice to Design,” Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1990. 450 Architect Larry Rasmussen did an early schematic design for the project in 1972. 451 “Dedication of Government Center in Ventura Marked,” Los Angeles Times, November 19, 1978, J2. 452 “New Fire Station to Use Solar Energy for Heat,” Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1976, H20. 167

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Institutions
During this period, Albert C. Martin & Associates designed new buildings for several local institutions. In 1963, the firm was commissioned by Ivy Lawn Cemetery Association to design a new 5,400 square foot central building, and east and west garden buildings for the cemetery (5400 Valentine Road).

Another important A.C. Martin commission from this period was a new building for the Pioneer Museum, now the Museum of Ventura County (100 East Main Street, altered) from 1975-77.
453 The 15,000 square foot building was constructed with private funds on a city- owned parcel of land. A.C. Martin and Associates was a natural choice for the project, as the firm had completed numerous high-profile projects in the area dating back to the early 20th century. Design for the new museum was led by Albert C. Martin, Jr. The Late Modern design included a large unadorned stucco volume with Spanish clay tile roof—a modern abstraction and nod to the County’s history and the Mission San Buenaventura just down the street. A series of skylights illuminated interior spaces and galleries with indirect light.

During the 1970s, Ivy Lawn turned to local architect Kenneth Hess to design another expansion of facilities: a modern administration building, maintenance area, and crematory.454 Ivy Lawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

453 The Museum of Ventura County first opened in 1913 and was housed in the newly built Ventura County Courthouse (now Ventura City Hall).
454 Cynthia P. Thompson, A Place for All Time: The History of Ivy Lawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home (Ventura, CA: Schaf Photo & Design, 2014), 87.

Ivy Lawn Cemetery central building (Albert C. Martin & Associates, 1963). Source: © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

168

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Recreation and Parks
During this period, several new parks were created to serve residents in the eastern portion of the city. In April of 1963, Arroyo Verde Park (Foothill and Day Roads) opened as one of the first “family type” parks in Ventura.455 City personnel developed the plan for the park that included picnic areas, barbecue pits, swings, and play areas for children. It featured classic playground equipment such as playground cacti, fighter jets, and an abstract concrete animal for climbing.

In 1963, the City received a gift of 250 acres of land valued at $1.5 million from the Max C.

Fleishmann Foundation of Nevada. This land became the Olivas Adobe Historical Park (4200 Olivas Park Drive). Around 1975, the Camino Real Park and Tennis Center was established to provide further recreational facilities on the eastside.

As Ventura’s population expanded into the eastern portion of the city, plans were made for Arroyo Verde Park (Foothill and Day Roads). The first 25 acres of Arroyo Verde Park opened in May of 1963 on parkland that included grass-covered flat land and gently sloping hills. Upon opening, the park offered children’s play equipment, picnic benches, BBQ pits, and other amenities. By all accounts the park was the result of a community effort between Ventura College students and various city clubs who donated their time and money to make the park a reality. A seven-foot long fiberglass turtle and two smaller turtles, three cactus climbers and two arched ladders were donated by the I-DA-KA Club, composed of the wives of the Downtown Lion’s Club.
456 A jet airplane and two rockets for climbing were
donated by the Junior Chamber of Commerce. Over time, the park was expanded to the 132 acres it occupies today.

In the mid- to late-1960s, the city expanded Mission Park by removing of all the buildings on Main Street from Figueroa to Ventura Avenue. The site roughly coincides with the location of the original Mission Garden.
457
Schools
With the baby boomers of Ventura becoming teenagers, and the sustained population growth of the 1960s, the construction of new school facilities continued during this period.

In 1963, Our Lady of the Assumption Church and the Catholic Diocese decided to build St.

Bonaventure High School (3167 Telegraph Road). Designed by Los Angeles-based A.C.

Martin and Associates, the classroom complex was followed by a restroom building, temporary shower/storage building, locker room building, and gymnasium. The church

455 “Family Type Arroyo Verde Park Will Be Dedicated in Ventura Sunday Afternoon,” Oxnard Press-Courier, April 3, 1963, 8.
456 “Fun in the Sun at City’s New Arroyo Verde Park,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, April 5, 1963, 28. 457 “A Garden in the Plaza,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, August 10, 1962, 28. 169

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

engaged David J. Jolly from Lawrence A. Thompson Associates to design a kindergarten near the elementary school in 1979.

In the 1960s, Ventura College continued to expand. New construction worth $1.57 million for an administration and counseling building, two classroom units, gymnasium and speech- music unit were commissioned from architect Harold E. Burket in 1957.458 At least some of these projects were delayed well into the next decade. A 1963 newspaper account suggests that the speech arts and music building was delayed due to escalating costs and materials changes.459
In 1974, Ventura College began offering classes in Fillmore. In 1980, the Santa Paula Vocational Center opened in Santa Paula. In March 2002, voters authorized a $356 million general obligation bond to renovate and expand all three campuses. As a result, the designs of the 1955 campus have been substantially altered.

Religious Institutions
Several new religious buildings were added to the architectural landscape of Ventura in the 1960s. Ventura’s Jewish community dates back to a small number of Jewish merchants who established businesses around the turn of the century including Julius Hirschfelder (1883- 1958), Leon Cerf (1840-1907), and George Zander (1904-1954). They founded Temple Beth Torah in 1938. A new synagogue for Temple Beth Torah (7620 Foothill Road) was completed in 1963, designed by Ojai-based architect Chalfant Head. The building had two wings: one wing with a rabbi’s study, library, administrative offices, and an assembly hall; the second wing contained eight classrooms around a garden patio served by a stage that also faced into the assembly hall. An outdoor memorial courtyard was part of the first wing. 460
In 1965, Fred Hummel, AIA designed a new location for Church of the Foothills (6279 Foothill Road). The oldest protestant church in Ventura County, the building of the new church represented the progressive ideals embraced during this period.

THEME: INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
By the late 1960s, American production of oil could no longer keep up with demand. Oil companies, therefore, were incentivized to use innovative new technologies to increase supply. According to local historian and author Cynthia Thompson, the technology known as waterflooding was responsible for revitalizing Ventura’s oil industry in the late 1960s and early 1970s, drawing a new generation of workers to Ventura in a “second oil boom.” Waterflooding relied on injecting salt and freshwater into tapped out oil fields to bring any remaining oil to the surface. Although the use of waterflooding in Ventura dated back to 1949, the process began to be used in earnest by the Shell Oil Company at the Ventura

458 “Investment in Ventura College Campus Near $5 Million,” Oxnard Press-Courier, July 24, 1957, 9. 459 “College Arts Building Delay Seen,” Oxnard Press-Courier, April 4, 1963, 28. 460 “Jewish Council to Dedicate Temple,” Oxnard Press-Courier, March 2, 1963, 13. 170

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Avenue oil fields during the late 1960s.461 Soon other Ventura oil companies, including Conoco and Getty, started employing the technique they termed “second recovery.” So exhaustive was the search for oil that in 1972, new oil deposits were found in some of Ventura’s earliest oil fields.

With the ongoing importance of the oil industry in Ventura County, Tidewater Oil Company established a new district office for its oil and gas operations in 1965. Designed by Fred Hummel of Ventura, the office comprised four one-story buildings arranged in a pinwheel plan around a lushly landscaped central courtyard. Businesses serving in support functions also thrived. Tool and equipment companies quadrupled and were chiefly located along Ventura Avenue, with the greatest concentration between McFarlane Street and Shell Road.
462
Like many areas in Southern California, in a response to the area’s postwar population growth and the completion of the freeway system, the Ventura County Economic Development Association encouraged the development of industrial parks as a revenue- generating form of economic development. An outgrowth of the Ventura County Chamber of Commerce, the group used industrial parks to kickstart industry in the county when oil and agriculture were lagging. Although their emphasis was decidedly centered on the acres of open farmland near Oxnard, Camarillo, Montalvo, El Rio, and Saticoy, the City of Ventura was also part of this overall trend.

At the east and west outskirts of Ventura, acreage later annexed into the City was devoted to industrial development. One of the largest and most notable of these projects was the 900+ acre Ventura Industrial Park. In July 1962, the Ventura City Council agreed to plans for industrial development on a portion of the Taylor Ranch just west of the Ventura River. The Ventura Industrial Park master plan was prepared by architects Welton Becket and Associates, with Thomas Durfee as their local representative. Valued at $9.5 million, the proposed development was located “…from the ocean, over Highway 101, along the west side of the Ojai Freeway almost to the Shell chemical plant at the terminus of the freeway.”
463 Planned in six phases, it was estimated that it would take 20 years to develop.

Phase I called for industrial development of 95 acres near Highway 101 and the Ojai Freeway. Phase II was intended to bring in 52 acres of light industrial and commercial and

461 “Ventura’s Top Employer,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, Supplement: The Great Ventura 1970 Oil and Industry, January 1, 1970, D-6; “About 150 Million Barrels of Water Have Been Pumped,” Ventura County Star-Free Press, January 1 1970, D-5. By the 1970s, between its oil and chemical operations, Shell Oil became Ventura County’s top employer.
462 Greenwood and Associates, Historical Resources Evaluation for 2110 N. Ventura Avenue, July 2017, 8. 463 “Planners Approve Huge Ventura Industrial Park,” Oxnard Press-Courier, July 24, 1962, 1. 171

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

recreational area. The intended occupants of the industrial park were electronics and distribution firms, although no leases were signed at the time of the plan’s approval.464 New industrial parks continued to be developed within the city limits or in areas soon to be annexed into the City. San Diego developer Preston Kerr developed the North Point Industrial Park on a former Taylor Ranch parcel adjacent to the Ventura Industrial Park. 465
In 1974, the San Buenaventura Business-Industrial Park was subdivided by the Moreland Development Company.466 Located south of the Ventura Freeway along Knoll Drive, Colt Street, Sperry Avenue, McGrath Street, and Valentine Road in the greater Arundell area, the site was divided into 26 parcels ranging in size from one to ten acres. The 80-acre park attempted to set new standards for industrial park planning, architecture, and landscaping, and maintained setback restrictions and an architectural review board for the review and approval of all building and landscape designs. More than 400 trees were planted to enhance the campus concept. An agricultural center was scheduled to break ground in summer of 1975. Tenants included the Ventura Federal Land Bank, Production Credit Association, and the Ventura County Farm Bureau. The new four-story Union Oil Company office building opened at the San Buenaventura Business-Industrial Park in September 1977. In October of 1977, the Sun Lumber Corporation decided to subdivide property around the area of Breene Road, Crescent Street, Sherwin Avenue, and Johnson Drive in Montalvo for another industrial park.
467
Ventura’s industrial park expansion also influenced the development of new property types in the area. In December of 1979, Dunn International Corp. started construction on the first condominium office complex (Howard F. Thompson and Associates) in the San Buenaventura Business-Industrial Park.
468 The $6.3 million development consisted of five
tilt-up structures on 18 individual lots ranging from 2,500 to 4,975 square feet.469 A new concept in office ownership, each office condo buyer received a deed and fee title interest in the land and the building. The concept remained popular into the 1980s. As with residential condominium projects a decade before, California helped lead the way for office condos.

464 One known tenant was Hilford Moving & Storage Co., which broke ground in 1966 on a tilt-up concrete building at 1595 S. Arundell Road (LeRoy Andrews, 1966). Founded in 1928, the company was previously located along the N. Ventura Avenue industrial corridor. 465 The parcel was previously held by the Crown Zellerbach Corp., but never developed. 466 Moreland was a large-scale commercial/industrial developer with projects around Southern California. 467 Theodore Schaefer and Norbert E. Lado were president, and vice president of the company, respectively. 468 More research is needed to determine the address of this potential resource. 469 “Work to Start on Office Condos in Ventura Center,” Los Angeles Times, December 9, 1979, I8. 172

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

DESIGNATED RESOURCES FROM THE PERIOD

NAME LOCATION DATE DESIGNATION
Commercial and Institutional
Mausoleum and Columbarium;
Sunrise/Sunset Crypts
Ivy Lawn Cemetery
Historic District
1963-
1964 Contributor

173
After buildings are removed from
the east side of Figueroa Street,
Chinese families form a new
Chinatown on Main Street
Thousands of Mexican farm
laborers arrive, quickly becoming
the largest group of farm workers
in Ventura County
Tortilla Flats, originally occupied by
the Chumash, is inhabited by
predominately Latino and African
American residents
Filipino workers are the preferred
source of farm labor; a small group
of Filipinos live at the N. Ventura
Avenue Lemon Packing House
Executive Order 9066 leads to the
detention of people of Japanese
heritage; most never return to
Ventura County
Tortilla Flats is taken by eminent
domain and demolished for
construction of the Highway
101/Highway 33 interchange

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

XII. ETHNIC CONTEXTS
This section introduces the diverse cultural groups who helped shape Ventura from its earliest periods of development. This section begins with a definition of terms, moves into a discussion of the historic Tortilla Flats neighborhood, and then provides a brief overview of the Latino, African American, Japanese American, Chinese American, and Filipino American communities. It is anticipated that fieldwork, property specific research, and community outreach efforts will provide additional information, along with people and places significant within each community.

TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
The following outlines some important aspects of the approach to terminology included in this section:

The term “African American” is used interchangeably with the term “Black,” as has been suggested by Keith Mayes, Associate Professor of African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota.
470 Historically, the term “African American” has been used to refer to those who were direct descendants of slaves. Over time, the U.S. has experienced the migration of Black people from other parts of the diaspora and other parts of the continent, including East Africans, West Africans, and Caribbean Blacks. For these groups, some may identify as American Blacks, rather than African Americans.

Over time, several terms to describe the Latino community have evolved. The use of the term “Latinx” has increased in popularity as a non-gendered term describing both men and women whose heritage is tied to Latin American countries, including Mexico. However, recent studies have shown that many Latinos do not identify with the term Latinx. In 2019, the Associated Press stylebook, a standard-bearer for language and style, was revised to acknowledge that “‘Latino is often the preferred noun or adjective’ for people of Spanish heritage. ‘Latina’ is the feminine form.”
471
In reference to “Latinx,” the stylebook notes that the term’s use “‘should be confined to quotations, names of organizations or descriptions of individuals who request it and should

470 “African American or Black, Which Term Should You Use,” https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/breaking-the-news/african-american-or-black-which-term- should-you-use/89-0364644d-3896-4e8b-91b1-7c28c039353f (accessed July 6, 2020). 471Associated Press Stylebook, as quoted in Merrill Perlman, “AP tackles language about race in this year’s style guide,” Columbia Journalism Review, April 1, 2019 https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/ap-style-guide-race- black-vs-african-
american.php#:~:text=In%20another%20change%2C%20the%20stylebook,Latina%E2%80%9D%20is%20th e%20feminine%20form. (accessed December 17, 2020).
175

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

be accompanied by a short explanation.’”472 Therefore, in deference to this guidance, we have elected to use “Latino” in place of “Latinx” for purposes of this study.

The historic term “Chicano/a” is used throughout this context to represent the chosen identification of some persons of Mexican American descent, emphasizing an indigenous/mestizo heritage and anti-establishment political views during the 1960s and 1970s. The term “Chicano” was adopted by people of Mexican descent who did not fully identify as either as Mexican or American. At the time, the vast majority of Latinos in Los Angeles were of Mexican American descent. In recent years, immigrants from Latin America have created vibrant Guatemalan and Salvadoran communities in Southern California, contributing to the wider adoption of the term Latinx.

With respect to Japanese American history and sociology, generational terms are important for the reader to understand. The first‐generation immigrants are known as Issei. They came to the U.S. between 1890 and 1924 and were steeped in Japanese culture and tradition. Few attended American schools, except for those who came specifically to pursue a college education. English proficiency varied among this generation. The children of Issei are the Nisei, or second generation. Nisei were born in the United States, primarily between 1910 and 1940. They grew up during the Great Depression and were teenagers during World War II. They attended local public schools, and many attended Japanese language schools (gakuen). The third generation is the Sansei, or members of the post‐World War II baby boom. Many Sansei have American first names. Most came of age at the height of the student protest movement of the 1960s, and many attended college and became working professionals. The fourth generation is the Yonsei. They were born in the mid‐1960s, came of age in the post‐Watergate years, and have the highest rates of interracial marriage of any Japanese American generation.

Over time, the preferred vocabulary for describing events relating to World War II and Japanese Americans has evolved to reflect a more accurate and authentic terminology. As such, the terms “forced removal,” “incarceration,” “temporary detention center,” “incarceration camp,” and “illegal detention center” are used to describe events and actions that may appear in previous historic documentation as “internment,” “evacuation,” and “relocation.”
With respect to the Filipino community, the spelling of Filipino with the letter “F” is the most commonly used to represent the people and language of the Philippines. When referring to the country and islands, the spelling of Philippines with the letters “Ph” is used because the name derives from Philip, the English equivalent of Felipe, referring to Spanish

472Associated Press Stylebook, as quoted in Merrill Perlman, “AP tackles language about race in this year’s style guide,” Columbia Journalism Review, April 1, 2019 https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/ap-style-guide-race- black-vs-african-
american.php#:~:text=In%20another%20change%2C%20the%20stylebook,Latina%E2%80%9D%20is%20th e%20feminine%20form. (accessed December 17, 2020).
176

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

King Felipe II for whom the islands are named. People from the Philippines also refer to themselves and their national language as Pilipino with the letter “P,” as most Filipino language and dialects do not include phonetics for the letter “F.”473

473 “Filipino, Pilipino, Pilipinas, Philippines-What’s the Difference?” Center for Philippine Studies, University of Hawaii, Manoa, http://www.hawaii.edu/cps/filipino.html (accessed February 4, 2020). 177

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

TORTILLA FLATS

It seems appropriate to start the section on ethnic and cultural communities in Ventura with a discussion of Tortilla Flats, which has layers of history associated with several Indigenous and ethnic communities. The area was originally occupied by the Chumash following the secularization of the Mission and the loss of their Native lands. A small population of Native Americans remained in Tortilla Flats until its demolition. The area was also home to predominantly Latino and African American populations. It was known by a variety of monikers including “Indian Town,” “Tiger Town,” and “Spanish Town.” 474 In the 1940s, it
was given the name “Tortilla Flats,” based on the 1942 film Tortilla Flat which was shown at the local theater.475 The film focused on a poor Latino neighborhood in a seaside community, not unlike Ventura. Residents recognized the similarity and nicknamed their neighborhood accordingly.476
Tortilla Flats was roughly bounded by W. Main Street to the north, W. Front Street to the south, the east side of Figueroa Street to the east, and the Ventura River to the West. Streets include W. Santa Clara Street, W. Meta Street (present-day E. Thompson Boulevard), Brooks Avenue, W. Front Street, S. Garden Street, S. Olive Street, and River Drive. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps show that the neighborhood, which was bifurcated north to south by railroad tracks, consisted of small, vernacular, one-story wood residences, elevated between

474 Gibson, “Looking Beyond the Mirror,” 12.
475 “Ventura Legacies: Featuring the Tortilla Flats Story,” https://vimeo.com/181689088 (accessed March 4, 2020).
476 “Ventura Legacies: Featuring the Tortilla Flats Story.” Young girl above “Spanish Town” Ventura, stereoscope, c. 1878.

Source: J.C. Brewster, Photographer, California State Library. 178

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

two and three feet off the ground due to the consistent flooding of the Ventura River.477 Most of the homes were concentrated south of W. Santa Clara Street; however, a small pocket of residences existed on the northeast corner of W. Santa Clara and S. Garden Streets. Often, multiple houses were constructed on a single lot. Once paved, the area’s asphalt streets had no curbs or sidewalks.

In the 1920s, two auto camps existed in Tortilla Flats: one at the northwest portion of the neighborhood along W. Main Street, and one at the southwest corner of W. Meta Street and River Drive (Shore Acres Trailer Park). Shore Acres was known to house Dust Bowl migrants, known as Okies, during the Great Depression. By 1950, a third trailer camp had been established at the northwest corner of S. Garden and W. Meta Streets.

U.S. Census data shows that the area was home to large families with Spanish surnames.

Household heads and their wives often worked in the lemon picking/packing industry or as construction laborers. Oral histories of people who grew up in Tortilla Flats discuss a tight- knit community of up to 1,000 families, often consisting of extended family members. The neighboring Ventura River provided recreation, fishing, and exposure to nature.

A large concentration of African Americans lived in a section of Tortilla Flats that was referred to as “The Negro Quarter.”
478 It was roughly bounded by Meta Street to the north, halfway between Meta Street and the railroad tracks to the south, the alley between Palm and Figueroa Streets to the east, and Walnut Street to the west. Once again, the homes were small, vernacular wood structures. Each parcel typically contained multiple structures, including small shacks that were rented to extended family members or other African Americans in need of shelter. Vegetable gardens and livestock were common.

477 This information is corroborated by oral histories about the neighborhood. 478 Gibson, “Looking Beyond the Mirror,” 12.

Albert Leiva and the Barrios family children in front of 104 E. Meta Street, c. 1905.

Source: Black Gold Cooperative Library System.
179

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

In approximately 1955, the neighborhood was taken by eminent domain, and the residences were bulldozed for the construction of the Highway 101/Highway 33 interchange. One of the last remaining buildings in the area is the Hobson Bros. Packing Company Building/Great Pacific Iron Works (235 W. Santa Clara Street; Landmark #23).

Map identifying the “Negro Quarter” of Tortilla Flats.

Source: Looking Beyond the Mirror.
180

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

LATINO COMMUNITY IN VENTURA
The City of Ventura has been home to individuals of
Spanish and Mexican heritage since its founding. In the 1860s, this included a few merchants of Mexican heritage, a hotelkeeper, and a Chilean apothecary. During the
1870s, several Spanish and Mexican families lived at the southern end of Figueroa Street, including Pacifico and Joaquina Tico, Jose Borondo, and Lucas and Maria
Barrios.479 However, a majority (24 percent) of Ventura’s Latino residents during this period were farmers who
owned, in total, less than 200 acres of land.480 Toward the end of the 19th century, a large influx of people from
Mexican came to work in the fields. Between 1879 and
1900, the percentage of Mexicans employed as farm
workers rose from 2 percent to 47.6 percent.481
This trend continued during World War I, when more laborers were needed to increase agricultural production. As a result, thousands of workers from Mexico moved into the area, and quickly became the largest group of farm workers in Ventura County. Many lived on the land they worked, as many ranch owners created their own worker camps to house Latino laborers. Others settled in Santa Paula, Oxnard, and Fillmore.

479 Triem, Ventura County, 50. Other known early residents were Antonio R. Ayala (1861-1936) and Luis B.

Arellanes (1840-1922); however, little is known about their occupations or where they lived at this time. 480 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines, 102.
481 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines, 102.

Alfred Ortega in field with wagon, n.d.

Source: Black Gold Cooperative Library
System.

Farm workers in the lima bean fields, n.d.

Source: Black Gold Cooperative Library System.
181

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Cabrillo Village was a 32-acre farm laborer camp built in the 1930s by the Saticoy Lemon Association. When the growers wanted to raze the homes for development in the 1970s, affordable housing advocate Rodney Fernandez led a coalition of 82 farmworker families to purchase their homes from the Saticoy Lemon Association in 1976. It was one of the first times, if not the first time, that U.S. farm workers purchased the housing camp where they resided. Cabrillo Village was annexed to the City of Ventura in 1994.

Latinos living in Saticoy were subjected to educational segregation. They attended Manantial School (demolished) at Wells Street and Telephone Road. Residents of the Saticoy Lemon Camp attended Cabrillo School. Manantial School was composed of a few wooden classroom structures. Segregation in the Saticoy School District was officially ended in August 1948.
482 The surplus school and property were sold to Manuel Rivera, owner of the Rivera Market in Saticoy.483 The Cabrillo School site was closed c. 1959 when operation of the West Saticoy School and Cabrillo became untenable. In 1962, the Saticoy School District joined the Ventura School District.

With the United States entry into World War II, more Mexican laborers were recruited to replace incarcerated Japanese American farm workers. With labor scarce because of the war, the federal government created the Bracero Program. Under this program, which lasted from 1942 until 1964, the federal government contracted Mexican braceros to work for minimum wage and housing in exchange for labor. By September 1942, an estimated 1,500 braceros had arrived in California, rising to 120,000 by 1945. 484 More than 3,000 braceros
worked in Ventura County harvesting citrus fruit.485
The Latino population of Tortilla Flats was largely Catholic and, thereby, served by the Mission San Buenaventura on Main Street. Children were often sent to Holy Cross Catholic School at the Mission. Those residents who were not members of the Catholic Church primarily attended the Mexican Evangelical Church at 280 S. Ventura Avenue (demolished).

In addition to the Latino population in the area that became known as Tortilla Flats, other parts of the city housed pockets of Latino residents. A 1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance map shows “Mexican Tenements” on the south side of E. Front Street (demolished). 486

482 “Segregation of Students in Saticoy District Ends,” Ventura County Free Press, August 20, 1947, 1. 483 Saticoy Historic Resources Survey, 19.
484 Martin Valadez Torres, “Indispensable Migrants: Mexican Workers and the Making of Twentieth-Century Los Angeles,” in Latino Los Angeles: Transformations, Communities, and Activism ed. Enrique Ochoa and Gilda L.

Ochoa (Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2005), 30. 485 Farm Worker Housing: A Crisis Calling for Community Action (Ventura, CA: Ventura County AG Futures Alliance, June 2002), 12.
486 It is not currently known if these were related to the nearby Associated Oil Co. 182

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

In 2010, the Latino population accounted for 31.8% of the population of the City of Ventura.487

AFRICAN AMERICANS
The first recorded birth of an African American in the City of Ventura was that of Cerisa House Wesley in 1898. The 1900 U.S. Census for Population and Housing lists only 20 African Americans in Ventura; by 1910, the number had risen to just 31. 488 In the early 20th
century, African Americans were often employed as ranch hands or farm laborers, supporting the agricultural economy. It is therefore likely that the number of African Americans in Ventura County was much larger, with many farm laborers living outside city limits.

Most African Americans who lived within the city limits occupied the “Negro Quarter” in Tortilla Flats, though there is evidence of a few families living in other areas of the city. In the book Looking Beyond the Mirror: The Untold Story of Growing Up African American in Ventura County, California it is noted that both Cerisa House Wesley and Annie Smith lived outside Tortilla Flats (neither residence is extant).

By 1940, data shows that Black women were primarily employed in housekeeping and service positions for white families, while African American men did manual labor. Common occupations from the 1940 Census included car washers, janitors, and shoe shiners. A new wave of African Americans came to Ventura with the jobs created by the Port Hueneme Naval Base in the 1940s; however, many of them settled in nearby Oxnard.

According to the 1940 Census, a
substantial number of Ventura’s African
American residents were inmates at the
Ventura School for Girls (801 Seneca
Street, demolished). The school was
established as a correctional facility in
1913, housing girls formerly incarcerated at
the Whittier State Reformatory. Residents
were girls who had been deemed
delinquent, morally lacking, or suffering
mental illness. Eighteen African American
girls (out of a total of approximately 175
girls) were incarcerated there. The
correctional facility was moved to
Camarillo in 1962 as part of the California Youth Authority.

487 U.S. Census, 2010.
488 Gibson, “Looking Beyond the Mirror,” 57.

Ventura School for Girls, 1921.

Source: Los Angeles Times Photo Collection, UCLA.
183

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

By the 1920s, there were several African American churches in Ventura. In the early 1920s, the Community Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church was established, initially meeting for Bible study in members’ Tortilla Flats homes.489 A building at 166 W.

Meta Street (present-day W. Thompson Blvd, demolished) was converted for use prior to 1928. The church appears to have merged with an Oxnard church after World War II.

Another important church for Ventura’s African American community was the Olivet Baptist Church, founded in 1932. Initially the Olivet Baptist Mission on West Brooks Avenue, the church moved to 151 West Santa Clara Street (demolished) in 1951. It remained at this location through the late 1970s, before moving to the former Church of Christ space at 174 Anacapa Street. In the 1960s, the Church of God in Christ was constructed at 660 N.

Ventura Avenue.

By 1950, there were about a dozen African American-owned businesses in Ventura. These included beauty shops, barbershops, nightclubs, restaurants, and trucking companies. 490 One
enterprising Tortilla Flats resident, entrepreneur Emory McMurray, solved a significant need in the community. Despite being within its jurisdiction, the city did not provide sanitation services in Tortilla Flats. McMurry, who owned a small truck, developed a successful trash collection business within the neighborhood by charging residents a nominal amount for trash pick-up. In the 1940s, McMurray served as the first president of the Ventura National

489 Gibson, “Looking Beyond the Mirror,” 40.
490 Gibson, “Looking Beyond the Mirror,” 107.

Left: Rev. Luther McCurtis of the Church of God in Christ helps build his own church, 1965.

Right: Rev. L Leander Wilkes outside Olivet Baptist Church, 1966. Source: Black Gold Cooperative Library. 184

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) before it merged with the Oxnard branch in 1946.

Despite the significance of tourism to the growth and development of Ventura, the lack of listings in the Green Book for Ventura County suggests that African American travelers were not welcome in the area. 491 This continued into the postwar period, with no entries in the 1947 Negro Travelers Green Book for Ventura (or in the other cities in Ventura County).492 As of 2010, African Americans accounted for 1.6% of the population of the City of Ventura.
493

491 In 1936, Hugo Green compiled a list of restaurants, hotels, service stations, taverns, nightclubs, drug stores and salons catering to an African American clientele around the New York Metropolitan area. Over the next three decades, the Green Book expanded to every state in the Union and included international travel destinations in Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean. California Humanities, “The Green Book in California: A Historical Exploration,” https://calhum.org/the-green-book-in-california-an-historical-exploration/ (accessed July 2020).
492 As late as 1966-67, Ventura did not have a listing in the Green Book. The only Central Coastal community with a listing was San Luis Obispo.
493 U.S. Census, 2010.
185

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

JAPANESE AMERICANS
Japanese immigration to the United States was officially restricted until 1884, when an agreement with Hawaiian sugar plantations for labor was reached. In 1885, Japan legalized the emigration of labor, and Japanese workers were recruited to fill railroad jobs previously held by Chinese immigrants who had since been barred by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Indeed, the first Japanese residents of Ventura were railroad workers. According to the 1900 Census, eight Japanese railroad workers were housed in a Southern Pacific Section House.
494 Comprising seven section hands and a section foreman, they ranged in age from 17 to 28 years old.

Only two other Japanese residents appear in the 1900 Census for Ventura. The first was a 36-year-old cook for the Charles Sewall family on Oak Street. The second was a 23-year-old woman who emigrated from Japan in 1898 and was working as a prostitute on Main Street by 1900. However, many Japanese men who lived outside of Ventura worked in the city’s sugar beet, lima bean, and citrus industries. Those not working in the fields were employed as unskilled day laborers, cooks, and section hands for the railroad, essentially replacing the diminishing Chinese workforce.

In 1903, the Japanese and Mexican field workers organized the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association (JMLA). They recruited the majority of their membership from the sugar beet industry in Oxnard, and even approached replacement workers as they disembarked the train at Montalvo. By the first week in March, the JMLA had amassed 1,200 members. 495 They
elected to strike and were ultimately successful in establishing a higher minimum wage for the thinning of beets by union workers: $6 per hour.496 By 1910, the number of Japanese residents in the City of Ventura had increased significantly but remained under 100. Predominantly male, their occupations were reflective of broader occupational trends for Japanese immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. A large number were farmers, field workers, pickers, or packers. Others were employed by private families as cooks or servants. 24-year-old Fred Higuchi was the gardener at Bard Hospital and resided on Fir Street.

By the 1930s, the majority of Ventura County’s Japanese American population lived in Oxnard, likely reflecting their work as farmers, farm laborers, or truck farmers. A 1930 Japanese Census indicated that 461 Japanese Americans were living in Ventura County, many of whom were living and working on farms close to Port Hueneme and the Oxnard Airport.
497 It was during this period that Japanese Americans dominated the wholesale produce and flower market in Southern California.

494 A railway section house is a structure located near or next to a section of railroad. It is used for housing railroad workers or for the storing and maintenance of equipment for a section of railroad. 495 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines, 194.
496 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines.
497 “Population Totals Near Completion,” Rafu Shimpo, November 24, 1930, 4. The “Nipponese Community Center” was located in Oxnard in 1937.
186

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

During this period, Japanese residents throughout Southern California established institutions, sporting leagues, and social clubs. In 1937, S. Takasugi was president of the Ventura County Japanese Association. Japanese baseball and basketball leagues were widespread throughout Southern California. Local baseball teams included the Ventura Merchants and the Ventura American Grocery Nine. They often played the L.A. Nippons, one of the best teams in the league. The County also formed a chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in December of 1940.

Ventura Junior College also welcomed Japanese students during the 1930s. Yuriko Yamada became the first Japanese woman to enroll. In 1936, student Jiro Kawata was selected as official cartoonist for the school. Kawata and another Japanese student, Miyeko Ota, graduated in 1937.

The Japanese American population in Ventura increased slowly in the late 1930s. The 1939 Sun Yearbook identifies one Japanese person, T. Furuya, who operated the Fuju Chop Suey restaurant at 97 Main Street (demolished). Although Chop Suey was an Americanized version of Chinese food, it was quite common for Japanese to operate Chop Suey establishments in urban areas. The 1940 Census enumerated two Japanese families living on River Road in Tortilla Flats. The Tannoda family was involved in truck gardening, while the head of the Takasugi family, who lived on a rural
stretch of Telegraph Road, was a packing house
worker. Lemon packing was a common occupation
for Japanese residents in rural areas.

Everything changed for Ventura County’s Issei and
Nisei populations with the bombing of Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941. On February 4, 1942, the
Ventura County Board of Supervisors adopted a
resolution demanding evacuation “of all persons of
the Japanese race” from territory within 200 miles of
the coast.
498 In the days after Pearl Harbor, Japanese
residents were arrested and detained for alien enemy
investigation, including many Oxnard citrus workers.

Two weeks later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed Executive Order 9066, calling for the
immediate removal and relocation of all persons of
Japanese heritage. It is approximated that 550 people
of Japanese heritage were removed from Ventura County.499 In the City of Ventura, the Wartime Civil Control Administration opened a service center to “streamline the handling of

498 “Ventura County Urges Removal of All Japanese,” Los Angeles Times, February 4, 1942, 22. 499 “New Japanese Exodus from Coast Ordered,” Los Angeles Times, April 22, 1942, A1.

Roy Esaki with fellow worker at State
Super Market at Main and Palm St.,
1938. Source: Black Gold Cooperative
Library System.
187

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

the property, crops, personal effects and personal problems of Japanese aliens.”500 It was located at 53 S. California Street. Japanese farmers were also urged to consult with U.S.D.A.

War Boards to handle the transfer of their property. In Ventura, the county AAA office was located at 46 N. Oak Street.501
Thirteen makeshift detention facilities were constructed at various California racetracks, fairgrounds, and labor camps. These facilities were intended to confine Japanese Americans until more permanent concentration camps, such as those at Manzanar and Tule Lake in California, could be built in isolated areas of the country. In May of 1942, Japanese from Ventura County were transported to a temporary detention camp at the Tulare-Kings County Fair Grounds by bus, train, and jeep-escorted private cars. By August of 1942, many internees from the Tulare-Kings County Fair Grounds were transferred to the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona.

After the end of the war, only a few Japanese returned to Ventura County. An article in the Oxnard Press Courier quoting Rev. Y. Tesuda, who had been pastor of the Japanese Methodist Church in Oxnard and became a pastor at Gila, noted that only the very few Japanese who owned property would return to Ventura County.
502 The vast majority would relocate
elsewhere in the U.S.503 Still, the Ventura County chapter of the JACL was reactivated after the war and became the focus of social and civic activity. By 1948, the Nisei Methodist Church in Oxnard was the only church for Japanese Americans in Ventura County.504 As of 2010, Japanese Americans accounted for approximately 0.03 percent of the population of the City of Ventura.505

500 “Service Centers for Evacuees Open Here,” Rafu Shimpo, March 18, 1942, 8. 501 “Farmers Urged to Consult Custodian Regarding Farms,” Rafu Shimpo, March 11, 1942, 8. 502 “Only a Few Japs Will Return to Ventura County,” Oxnard Press Courier, March 20, 1945, 1. Japanese-born Issei were not allowed to own property; only American-born Nisei were allowed to own property. Some Japanese got around the rule by placing property in the names of infant children; however, that was a rare occurrence.
503 “Only a Few Japs Will Return to Ventura County,” Oxnard Press Courier, March 20, 1945, 1. 504 “Oxnard Methodists Observe 45th Year,” Rafu Shimpo, September 28, 1948, 1. 505 U.S. Census, 2010.
188

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

View of Ventura’s
Chinatown with Mission in
the distance, n.d. Source:

Research Library at The
Museum of Ventura County,
https://photographs.ventur
amuseum.org/items/show/
1620.

CHINESE AMERICANS
Ventura’s Chinese population began to grow
in the early 1870s, as many people of Chinese
descent came to the area to find employment
as domestic servants, day laborers, and field
workers. According to historian Tomas
Almaguer, “the Chinese population in the area
at the time encountered more racial enmity
from European Americans than either the
Mexicans or the Native American population
and, consequently, endured highly restricted
employment opportunities.”
506 An 1872 article
from the Ventura Signal reported that the “few
Chinese” in the township were only employed
as house servants or day laborers.
507
By 1875, there were approximately 200
residents in Ventura’s Chinatown.508 In the
first block south of the Mission, the Chinese
community built several false-front wood frame structures on the east side of Figueroa Street, including a Joss House (place of worship), restaurant, barber shop, grocery store, and lodging house. In the 1870s, Ventura’s Chinese community also famously formed their own Fire Department. The area is commemorated by the China Alley Historic District (200 Block of E. Main Street, Landmark #91).

506 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines, 102.
507 Ventura Signal, September 22, 1872.
508 Triem, Ventura County, 50.

View of Chinatown, c. 1885.

Source: Research Library at The Museum of Ventura
County, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org
/items/show/2189.
189

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

According to the 1880 census, 85 percent of Chinese men were day laborers or held other unskilled jobs such as laundry men; servants; or cooks in county oil operations, railroad camps, and large farms.
509
By the early 1890s, the fears of the “Yellow Peril” fueled discrimination against the Chinese among concerns that they were taking American jobs. Chinese residents were frequently subjected to discriminatory practices, including a $15 licensing fee for Chinese laundry proprietors, and ongoing public boycotts. This fear led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (which paved the way for Japanese immigration). After the passage of the Act, the Chinese population waned, and their importance as a labor force in Ventura County declined.

In Ventura, discrimination against the remaining Chinese population took the form of “modernization,” which meant that by 1905, all of the buildings in Chinatown were removed from the east side of Figueroa Street. As a result, many Chinese merchant families formed a de facto new Chinatown on Main Street that remained until the early 1920s.

In 1910, the 400 block of Main Street was home to two large rooming houses for Chinese men; their primary occupations were laborers in laundries, or servants in private homes. During this period, Chinese laborers also continued to work as cooks in farm labor camps and hotels. The Anacapa Hotel employed several Chinese workers in this capacity. There is evidence of a substantial Chinese population in Saticoy as well, and a small cluster of Chinese and Chinese Americans lived along Colombo Street (demolished). Other Chinese and Chinese Americans displaced by discriminatory “modernization” efforts in Ventura went to Oxnard, where there was an established Chinese American community and the notorious “China Alley.”
510
Despite the dwindling population, Chinese Americans continued to maintain a business presence in Ventura through the early 20th century. In the 1930s, there were several Chinese-owned businesses in the 100 and 200 blocks of E. Main Street. They included the Chinese Garden Café (242 E. Main Street, demolished) managed by Edward Soo Hoo, and National Market (114 E. Main Street and later moved to 126 E. Main Street, demolished). In 1946, Walton Jue (1904-1994), who had been a partner in the National Market, opened Jue’s

509 Almaguer, Racial Fault Lines, 103.
510 Gibson, “Looking Beyond the Mirror,” 48.

Studio portrait of
Charles, an employee of
Thomas Bard, c. 1900.

Source: Black Gold
Cooperative Library System.

Studio portrait of Minnie
Soo Hoo, no date.

Source: Cynthia Thompson.
190

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Left: Family of Felipe Ventura, 1936. Right: Associated Farmers Ventura baseball team, c. 1930.

Source: CSU Channel Islands Filipinos in Ventura County Digital Image Collection.

Food Market at 1947 E. Main Street.511 Dorothy Jue Lee (1934-2015), daughter of Walton and Mary Jue, worked in the family business as well as with the Hueneme and Ventura Unified School Districts.

As of 2010, Chinese Americans accounted for approximately 0.4 percent of the population of the City of Ventura.512

FILIPINO AMERICANS

Filipinos came to the United States starting in the 1920s seeking opportunity. According to the SurveyLA Filipino American Historic Context Statement, deteriorating economies in Filipino provinces, favorable U.S. immigration policies, and affordable steamship travel facilitated Filipino migration in the early 20th century.
513 Those arriving from the Philippines often
came through northern ports such as Seattle or San Francisco. As a result, a robust Filipino community grew in Stockton, California, and according to author Elnora Kelly Tayag, Filipinos coming to Ventura County often had strong ties to the Stockton area. By 1930, the City of Ventura listed approximately 60 Filipino residents; there was also a concentration of Filipinos living in nearby Oxnard.

Most Filipinos who came to Southern California during this period worked as migratory laborers, following harvest and canning seasons. Ventura County therefore attracted many immigrants looking for opportunities in the agriculture industry. With the passage of the

511 Museum of Ventura County has a set of plans for Jue’s Market dated 1945 by Roy C. Wilson. Building permits are inconclusive as to whether this is the same building. 512 U.S. Census, 2010.
513 City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning, Office of Historic Preservation, SurveyLA Filipino American Historic Context Statement, 2018, 13.
191

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Immigration Act of 1924, Filipinos quickly became the preferred source of farm labor until the State legislature passed a resolution to limit Filipino immigration in 1929. In the 1930 Census, 37 Filipino laborers were listed as residing at the N. Ventura Avenue Lemon Packing House. The second largest area of employment appears to have been in the hospitality industry as cooks, dishwashers, and janitors in hotels and restaurants. Many resided in a rooming house at 458 East Santa Clara Street (demolished).

It was around this period that the earliest Filipino social organizations were established. A 1927 event organized by the Filipino Brotherhood Association of Ventura County attracted some 150 Filipinos.
514 The Filipino Community of Ventura County, Inc. was established in 1931.

In 1934, the McDuffie Act changed Filipino immigrant status from U.S. nationals to aliens, and limited entry to only 50 Filipinos per year. At that time the ratio of Filipino men to women was 14 to 1.
515 As a result, Filipino men often dated non-Filipino women, but California’s anti-miscegenation laws made it illegal to marry outside of one’s race. Those laws were finally repealed in 1948, two years after the Luce-Cellar Act gave Filipinos the right to naturalize, become citizens, and own property.

During World War II, Filipinos continued working in the agricultural industry, helping to fill the labor gap created by Japanese incarceration. Filipino military families became increasingly common. After the war, the Filipino community increasingly put down permanent roots in

514 Elnora Kelly Tayag, Filipinos of Ventura County, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2011), 14. 515 Tayag, Filipinos of Ventura County, 9.

Caballeros de Dimas-Alang at community social, c. 1950. Source:

CSU Channel Islands Filipinos in Ventura County Digital Image Collection.

192

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

the area and established additional institutions. Organizations such as the Sinait Progressive Association, the Jordan Lodge 604 Legionarios Del Trabajo, Caballeros De Dimas-Alang Incorporated, and the Filipino American Social Club served the growing community. Events appear to have mostly been held in Oxnard. The 1970 Filipino Community of Ventura County Inc. picnic, however, took place at Ventura’s Arroyo Verde Park.

The 1970s saw another wave of Filipino immigration, including a large number of professionals. During this period a number of new Filipino social and professional organizations were created. In 1971, Rudolfo Salazar, president of the Filipino Community of Ventura County, Inc. dreamed of creating a designated Filipino community in Port Hueneme with a motel, restaurant, and specialty shops where the food, art, craft, and culture of the Philippines would be on display.
516 Salazar and George Omo, one of the Filipino
Community directors, even consulted with architect Howard Leach on proposed plans.

The Filipino presence in Ventura County continues to this day.517 As of 2010, Filipino Americans accounted for approximately 0.6 percent of the population of the City of Ventura.518

516 “Port Hueneme Site Eyed for Filipino Community,” Oxnard Press-Courier, April 13, 1971, 13. 517 “Port Hueneme Site Eyed for Filipino Community,” Oxnard Press-Courier. 518 U.S. Census, 2010.
193

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

XIII. ARCHITECTURAL STYLES & LOCAL PRACTITIONERS
This section describes the predominant construction methods and architectural styles represented in the City of Ventura. Brief biographies for architects and builders who worked in Ventura are included in Appendix A.

The information below briefly describes the origin of each style and provides a list of character-defining features intrinsic to each. A property that is eligible for designation as a good example of its architectural style retains most - though not necessarily all - of the character-defining features of the style and continues to exhibit its historic appearance.

Ventura has a rich collection of buildings from each period of development representing high style examples of significant architectural styles, reflecting changes in popular tastes over the time. Represented styles include 19th century styles such as Shingle Style and Queen Anne; numerous individual examples in the Craftsman style, a distinctly regional style that enjoyed widespread popularity in the first two decades of the 20 th century; period revival
styles of the 1920s and 1930s which made explicit references to their European or North American predecessors (Spanish Colonial Revival, Mediterranean Revival, Tudor Revival, American Colonial Revival); Early Modern styles of the 1920s and 1930s (Art Deco, Streamline Moderne); Modern styles of the post-World War II era (Mid-century Modern, Ranch, Googie, Brutalist, Late Modern). This section will be refined further as fieldwork continues, and field photos will be added in a subsequent draft to illustrate each style.

194

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

19TH CENTURY METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION & ARCHITECTURAL STYLES Adobe Construction
Early adobe buildings were typically small, single-story structures, with thick adobe walls, low sloping tile roofs, and wood detailing. Adobe construction consists of thick walls composed of large sun-dried bricks, usually made from clay, sand, and straw and covered with plaster and whitewash. The unreinforced adobe walls typically vary from one and one- half to six feet thick, resting on a dirt or rock foundation. Roofs are typically tile or wood shingle, resting on wooden roof timbers. Door and window openings are normally surrounded by heavy timbers, often with a prominent timber lintel above the openings.

Adobe construction demonstrates a continuation of indigenous building traditions that were passed down from generation to generation of craftsmen. Adobe construction used locally available resources, and was appropriate for the climate in the Southwest, staying cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

After California was ceded to the United States in 1848, there was an increased migration of settlers from the east. During this period many adobe structures were destroyed to make way for new development. Many were altered during this period, with the addition of wood siding, composition roofing, and exterior finishes that may have obscured the adobe structure beneath. Clapboard siding was commonly used to protect adobe blocks from weathering, or to create a more stylish, ornamental appearance. In some cases, adobes were covered with a later cement plaster finish.

Any remaining examples of adobe construction in Ventura with fair integrity would likely be eligible. In general, the adobe walls should remain largely intact and the residence should retain the majority of the character-defining features associated with an adobe structure of its age. Alterations that are consistent with upgrades typically seen in early adobe structures, including later additions constructed with wood framing and replacement windows within original window openings, are acceptable. It is expected that the setting will have been compromised by later development.

Character-defining features include:
• Rectangular plan
• Thick masonry walls of adobe brick
• Simple, unadorned exteriors (often with plaster finish) • Small, widely spaced window openings
• Simple arrangement of interior spaces
195

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Queen Anne
The eclectic and elaborate Queen Anne style was one of the most popular styles for domestic architecture in the United States from the 1880s until about 1900, although it continued in California until about 1910. Misnamed after the early 18th century British sovereign, the style actually originated in 19th century Britain and combines freely adapted elements of English Gothic, Elizabethan, and classical architecture. Like the Stick style that it quickly replaced, Queen Anne uses exterior wall surfaces as a primary decorative element and was popularized throughout the United States by the rapidly-expanding railroad network that made pre-cut architectural features easily available. The style is characterized by irregular compositions with complex multi-gabled and hipped roofs, intricately patterned shingles and masonry, turned spindlework, and classical elements executed in wood.

Character-defining features include:
• Asymmetrical façade
• Steeply pitched roof of irregular shape, usually with a dominate front-facing gable • Wooden exterior wall cladding with decorative patterned shingles or patterned masonry
• Projecting partial-, full-width or wrap-around front porch, usually one story in height • Cut-away bay windows
• Wood double-hung sash windows
• Towers topped by turrets, domes or cupolas
• Tall decorative brick chimneys
• Ornamentation may include decorative brackets, bargeboards and pendants, as well as Eastlake details, such as spindle work
• Some examples may have a detached carriage house, usually at rear of property

196

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Folk Victorian
Folk Victorian519 describes modest, simple wood frame vernacular houses with Victorian era decorative detailing at the porch and cornice line. Folk Victorian houses are distinguishable from their Queen Anne counterparts by their small scale and simple, often symmetrical plans. Their overall shape is derived from the intersection of the roof forms, which were usually gabled with a porch sheltering the entrance. They feature simple forms with bold ornamentation in the form of pre-cut wooden scrollwork, spindlework, and trim. Such pre- cut details became widely available due to the invention of improved, mechanized woodworking tools and the expansion of the railroads.

Character-defining features include:
• One or two stories in height
• Rectangular or L-shaped plans
• Gabled roofs with shallow overhanging boxed eaves
• Porches with turned wood posts, spindle work, and decorative millwork detailing • Wood clapboard siding, sometimes with fish scale shingles in gable end • Narrowly proportioned double-hung windows
• Ornamentation often rendered by cut-out patterns, drilled holes, and thin, layered wood with sharp edges

519 The term “Folk Victorian” is not widely used in standard historic preservation practice. However, it has historically been used in Ventura, and is therefore included here for consistency. 197

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Shingle Style
The Shingle style was a uniquely American adaptation combining the wide porches, shingled surfaces, and asymmetrical forms of the Queen Anne style; the gambrel roofs, rambling lean- to additions, classical columns, and Palladian windows of the Colonial Revival; and the irregular sculpted shapes, Romanesque arches, and rusticated stonework of the contemporaneous Richardsonian Romanesque. The style first appeared in the 1870s and reached its highest expression in the fashionable seaside resorts of the northeast. Although the style spread throughout the United States it never achieved the widespread popularity of the Queen Anne, and therefore Shingle style houses are relatively rare in California. 520
Character-defining features include:
• Irregular plan and asymmetrical composition
• Steeply-pitched cross gable, hipped, and gambrel roofs • Shingle wall and roof cladding
• Towers or turrets
• Broad porches, sometimes wrapping two or more sides
• Wood double-hung windows, typically with divided lights in the upper sash and a single light below, frequently grouped in horizontal bands • Rusticated stone foundations, first stories, porch piers, and towers • Classical elements including columns and Palladian windows

520 Virginia and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), 290. 198

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

American Foursquare
The American Foursquare was one of the most popular house types in the United States from about 1890 well into the 20th century. The compact, sparsely ornamented Foursquare was an antidote to the ornate Queen Anne and, because of its simplicity, affordability, and ease of construction, was a popular mail-order “kit home.” It is thus found on small urban and suburban lots throughout the country.

Character-defining features include:
• Square or rectangular plan and compact, two-story massing • Symmetrical or asymmetrical composition
• Hipped or pyramidal roof, sometimes with wide boxed eaves and eave brackets or dentil molding
• Central hipped dormer
• Exterior walls finished in horizontal wood siding
• Projecting one-story porch across front, sometimes extending over driveway as a porte-cochère
• Wood double-hung windows

199

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Neoclassical Cottage
The term “Neoclassical Cottage” is used to describe simple house forms or cottages with fewer decorative features than other styles from the period. While vernacular residences may display certain characteristics of recognizable styles, especially Queen Anne, decorative detailing is typically confined to the porch or cornice line.

Character-defining features include:
• Symmetrical façade
• Simple square or rectangular form
• Gabled or hipped roof with boxed or open eaves
• Wood exterior cladding
• Simple window and door surrounds
• Bay windows
• Details may include cornice line brackets
• Porch supports with turned spindles or square posts

200

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Residential Vernacular
The term “Residential Vernacular” is used to describe residential buildings with little or no distinguishing decorative features, including modest wood-frame houses or cottages and worker housing. They were widely constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by builders without design input from professional architects. Many were built from “plan books” or kits. These buildings are characterized by their simplicity and lack of any characteristics of recognizable styles, but frequently feature prefabricated wood trim such as brackets, porch posts, and spindles. The “Shotgun” building sub-type consists of a linear organization of rooms, front to back, opening one to the other without intervening corridors.

Character-defining features include:
• Simple square or rectangular form
• Gabled or hipped roof with boxed or open eaves
• Wood exterior cladding
• Simple window and door surrounds
201

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Commercial Vernacular
Although not an officially recognized style, “commercial vernacular” describes simple commercial structures with little decorative ornamentation, common in American cities and towns of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are typically brick in construction, with minimal decorative detailing.

Character-defining features include:
• Simple square or rectangular form
• Flat roof with a flat or stepped parapet
• Brick exterior wall surfaces, with face brick on the primary facade • First-story storefronts, typically with a continuous transom window above • Wood double-hung sash upper-story windows, often in pairs • Segmental arch window and door openings on side and rear elevations • Decorative detailing, if any, may include cornices, friezes, quoins, or stringcourses

202

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Industrial Vernacular
The term “Industrial Vernacular” is used to describe simple industrial buildings with little or no distinguishing decorative features. These buildings are characterized by their utilitarian design, prosaic materials, and lack of any characteristics of recognizable styles.

This term encompasses buildings constructed as airport structures (i.e. hangars), factories, and packing houses.

Prior to the widespread use of electric lighting, controlling and capitalizing on daylight was a necessary component of the design of manufacturing buildings. Daylight was brought into the building using a variety of methods, including expansive industrial sash windows, orientation of intensive hand work next to the exterior walls of the building, skylights, and specialized roof forms to bring light into the interior. With the development of better illumination from fluorescent bulbs, manufacturers changed their focus in design from capitalizing on available light to controlling lighting and ventilation through closed systems.

Controlled conditions factories are distinguished by their minimal use of windows for light and ventilation. While some windows may be located on the front-facing façade or on an attached office, the building relies on internal systems for circulation and climate control.

Character-defining features include:
• Square or rectangular plan and simple massing
• One- or two-story height
• Flat, truss, or sawtooth roof, usually with parapet
• Roof monitors,
521 skylights, or clerestory windows
• Brick masonry construction, expressed or veneered in cement plaster • Divided-light, steel-sash awning, hopper, or double-hung windows • Oversized bays of continuous industrial steel sash on two or more façades (daylight factory)
• Lack of fenestration or sky-lighting (controlled conditions factory) • Architecturally notable entrance or overall design (controlled conditions factory) • Loading docks and doors

521 A roof monitor is a raised structure running along the ridge of a double-pitched roof. 203

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Agricultural Vernacular
The term “Agricultural Vernacular” is used to describe simple agricultural support structures (i.e. barns, corncribs). They are typically of wood construction with little or no distinguishing decorative features. These buildings are characterized by their utilitarian design, prosaic materials, and lack of any characteristics of recognizable styles.

Character-defining features include:
• Square or rectangular plan and simple massing
• One- or two-story height
• Wood frame construction
• Gabled or hipped roof with boxed or open eaves
• Wood exterior wall cladding
• Little or no fenestration
• Simple window and door surrounds
204

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Mission Revival
The Mission Revival style is indigenous to California, which drew upon its own colonial past as a counterpart to the Colonial Revival of the Northeastern states. The style grew out of the romanticized image of old California fostered by Helen Hunt Jackson’s popular 1884 novel Ramona, and through the efforts of writer Charles Fletcher Lummis, who promoted California tourism with his magazine Land of Sunshine and founded the Landmarks Club in 1895 to restore the crumbling Spanish missions. Beginning in about 1890 California architects borrowed and freely adapted features of the California missions, including bare plaster walls, curvilinear bell parapets or espadañas, arcades, and tile roofs, often in combination with elements of other styles. Never common beyond the Southwest, its regional popularity was spurred by its adoption by the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroads as the preferred style for train stations and resort hotels, where the original scale of the missions could be more successfully replicated. The style was less successful and therefore rarer in residential applications, but continued in decreasing use until at least 1920.

Character-defining features include:
• Red clay tile roofs with overhanging eaves and open rafters • Shaped parapets
• Cement plaster exterior wall finish
• Arched window and door openings
• Details may include bell towers, arcades, quatrefoil openings or patterned tiles

205

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Craftsman
Craftsman architecture grew out of the late-19th century English Arts and Crafts movement.

The movement began as a reaction against industrialization and the excesses of the Victorian era, and stressed simplicity of design, hand-craftsmanship, and the relationship of the building to the climate and landscape. Craftsman architecture developed in the first decade of the 20th century as an indigenous California version of the American Arts and Crafts movement, incorporating Southern California’s unique qualities. Constructed primarily of stained wood, with wide overhanging eaves, balconies, and terraces extending the living space outdoors, the style embodied the goals of the Arts and Crafts movement.

The Craftsman bungalow dates from the early 1900s through the 1920s. The bungalow’s simplicity of form, informal character, direct response to site, and extensive use of natural materials, particularly wood and stone, was a regional interpretation of the reforms espoused by the Arts and Crafts movement’s founder, William Morris. Craftsman bungalows generally have rectangular or irregular plans and are one to one-and-a-half stories. They have wood clapboard or shingle exteriors and a pronounced horizontal emphasis, with broad front porches, often composed with stone, clinker brick, or plastered porch piers. Other character- defining features include low-pitched front-facing gable roofs, and overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails.

As opposed to smaller developer-built or prefabricated bungalows, two-story Craftsman houses were often commissioned for wealthy residents and designed specifically with the homeowner’s needs and the physical site in mind. They generally feature a low-pitched gable roof, wide overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails, and windows grouped in horizontal bands. A high-style Craftsman house is distinguished by the quality of the materials and complexity of design and may feature elaborate, custom-designed woodwork, stained glass, and other fixtures.

By World War I, the Craftsman style declined in popularity and was replaced by Period Revival styles. The Craftsman bungalow continued to be built into the 1920s, but was often painted in lighter colors, stripped of its dark wood interiors, or blended with characteristics of various Revival styles.

Character-defining features include:
• Horizontal massing
• Low-pitched gable roof with rolled or composition shingle roofing • Wide overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails, outriggers, or knee braces • Exterior walls clad in wood shingle, shake, or clapboard siding • Projecting partial- or full-width, or wrap-around front porch • Heavy porch piers, often of river stone or masonry
• Wood sash casement or double-hung windows, often grouped in multiples 206

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

• Wide front doors, often with a beveled light
• Wide, plain window and door surrounds, often with extended lintels • Extensive use of natural materials (wood, brick or river stone) • Detached garage at rear of property

Airplane Bungalow
Airplane Bungalows date from the early 1900s and reached their peak of popularity in the late 1910s. The Airplane Bungalow is a variation of the one-story Craftsman bungalow and shares many of its character-defining features, including a usually asymmetrical composition, low-pitched gable roof, wide overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails, wood shingles or horizontal wood siding, and a wide porch. The distinguishing feature of the Airplane Bungalow is a small second story in the middle of the house, usually of only one or two rooms, that rises above the surrounding roof. The influence of Japanese architecture is common in Airplane bungalows, exhibited in torii-inspired post-and-beam joinery, flaring eaves and ridges, and corresponding curved bargeboards.

Character-defining features include:
• Small, one- or two-room second story in the middle of the roof • Japanese influences including Asian-inspired post-and-beam joinery, flared eaves and ridges, and curved bargeboards

Swiss Chalet Style
The Swiss Chalet style - constructed primarily of stained wood, in which wide overhanging eaves and balconies helped integrate the outdoors as part of the living space - was compatible with the goals of the Arts and Crafts movement. The Chalet style Craftsman house usually consists of a single, rectangular two-story volume covered by a front-facing gable roof. The primary façade is typically symmetrical and frequently features a wide porch topped by a second-story balcony.

Porches and balconies usually have plank railings with decorative cutouts. Brackets and bargeboards are usually more decorative than those found in other variations of Craftsman architecture.

Character-defining features include:
• Rectangular plan and compact, 2-story massing
• Flat, usually symmetrical primary façade
• Moderately pitched front gable roof with wide, overhanging eaves and rake, and exposed rafter tails
• Wood shingle, horizontal wood siding, or cement plaster exterior wall finish, sometimes in combination
207

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

• Wide porch, recessed or projecting
• Second-story balcony with plank railing, usually with decorative cut-outs • Divided light casement or double hung wood windows, sometimes with diamond- patterned lights
• Decorative brackets and bargeboards

English-influenced Craftsman
The English-influenced Craftsman style, as its name implies, is a hybrid that exhibits a stronger resemblance to the late 19th century British roots of the Arts and Crafts movement than does the typical California Craftsman. English-influenced Craftsman houses typically have a more compact plan and a more vertical emphasis than their Craftsman counterparts, moderate- to steeply-pitched gable, hipped, or jerkinhead roofs; dormers; bay windows; and sometimes decorative half- timbering in the gable ends and at second stories with cement plaster or brick veneer at the first story. They also frequently feature exterior walls clad in wood shingles or horizontal siding and wide front porches characteristic of the Craftsman style.

Character-defining features include:
• Irregular or rectangular plan with 1½ or 2-story massing • Typically asymmetrical composition
• Moderately- to steeply-pitched gable, hipped, or jerkinhead roof, usually with overhanging eaves and exposed rafter tails
• Usually one or more dominant front-facing cross gables • Dormers and/or bay windows
• Decorative half-timbering at second stories and gable ends • Wood shingle, horizontal wood siding, brick, or cement plaster exterior wall finish, sometimes in combination
• Divided light casement or double hung wood windows in various groupings, sometimes with leaded glass or diamond-patterned lights • Prominent chimney with decorative brickwork

Japanese-influenced Craftsman
The influence of Japanese architecture in the Craftsman style is usually traced to the works of Pasadena architects Charles and Henry Greene, who had been deeply impressed by the Japanese pavilion at the 1893 Chicago world’s fair. This influence is evident in the complex roof trusses and brackets, lanterns, and especially the beautifully joined wood interiors for which the Greenes were noted. These subtle Japanese-inspired features became staples of many large and small Craftsman- style houses and were sometimes joined with more overt Japanese references, especially multi- 208

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

gabled, pagoda-like roofs with flared ridges and eaves, battered stone piers supporting porch roofs, and torii-style gateways.

Character-defining features include:
• Complex, elaborately joined wood trusses and brackets • Multi-gabled roofs with flared ridges and eaves
• Battered stone piers
• Torii-style gateways
• Decorative hanging and standing lanterns

209

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Prairie Style
The Prairie Style is an indigenous American style developed in the late 19th century in Chicago, one of the centers of the American Arts and Crafts movement, by a group of architects known collectively as the Prairie School. The acknowledged master of the Prairie House was Frank Lloyd Wright, whose designs emphasized the horizontal with eaves extending well beyond the face of the exterior wall, bands of casement windows, and open floor plans accentuating the flow of space on the interior.

A West Coast version of the Prairie Style developed later and was slightly different from its Midwestern counterpart. Almost exclusively applied to domestic architecture, the Southern California Prairie Style house is defined by simple rectangular volumes and strong horizontal lines. It usually features exterior walls finished in cement plaster, flat or low-pitched roofs with wide boxed eaves sometimes punctuated by decorative brackets, and horizontal bands of windows. French doors frequently provide a flowing connection from living and dining room to outdoor patios and terraces. Unlike their Craftsman counterparts where porches play a key role in welcoming visitors, porches on many Prairie Style houses are reserved for the homeowner, surrounded by low walls with squat square piers and only accessible from the interior. Informal, inviting interior spaces with a clear view of, or direct connection to the outdoors coupled with a spare use of ornamentation link these houses to the Craftsman idiom as well as the modern styles that would soon follow. The style is so rare in Southern California that even representative samples may be considered significant.

Character-defining features include:
• One- or two-story rectangular volumes, sometimes with projecting wings • Pronounced horizontal emphasis
• Low-pitched hipped or flat roofs
• Wide boxed eaves, sometimes supported on decorative brackets • Smooth cement plaster wall finish
• Recessed or projecting entry porches with low walls and square piers • Wood tripartite windows or casement windows in horizontal groupings, sometimes with continuous sills; double-hung windows found on vernacular examples

210

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

20TH CENTURY PERIOD REVIVALS
Tudor Revival
The Tudor Revival style is loosely based on a variety of late medieval English building traditions including Perpendicular Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, and Jacobean. It has its origins in the late 19th-century English Arts and Crafts movement, whose leaders drew inspiration in part from English domestic architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries because of its picturesque qualities and sympathetic relationship to the natural landscape. The earliest examples of the style appeared in the United States in large estates of the 1890s. The Tudor Revival style grew in favor after World War I and reached its peak of popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, as architects and developers adapted it to the country’s rapidly growing suburban residential communities and advancements in masonry veneering techniques allowed even the most modest examples to emulate the brick and stone exteriors of English prototypes.

High style Tudor Revival houses are typically two and sometimes three stories in height with steeply-pitched, multi-gable roofs; slate roof shingles are found in the finer examples, but wood shakes and composition shingles are also common. At least one front-facing gable is almost universally present as a dominant façade element. The buildings are usually rambling compositions of multiple volumes in a variety of sizes and shapes. Exterior walls are veneered in brick or stone, or feature decorative half-timbering, sometimes in elaborate patterns, with plaster between, which mimics the appearance of medieval timber construction techniques. Tall, narrow casement windows, sometimes with leaded diamond- shaped lights, are frequently set in horizontal groupings or projecting bays. Main entrances are frequently set in crenellated turrets or under secondary gables with catslides, and feature paneled wood doors framed by four-centered pointed arches. Projecting exterior chimneys with multiple flues and elaborate brickwork are sometimes located on the primary façade.

Sub-types of the Tudor Revival style include the English Revival bungalow and the Storybook cottage. The English Revival bungalow, so called because of its simpler features, is usually veneered in plaster, with brick or stone used only at the chimney or around the primary entrance. Half-timbering, if used at all, is usually limited to the primary front-facing gable. The Storybook cottage is a more whimsical version of the Tudor Revival style, derived from the quaint medieval cottages of the Cotswold region of southwestern England.

Storybook cottages typically feature very steeply-pitched roofs with composition shingles laid in irregular patterns and rolled eaves to suggest thatching, eyebrow dormers, and exterior walls veneered in a rough, irregular plaster finish. The Storybook style was particularly popular in Hollywood where motion picture set designers sometimes moonlighted as architects.
211

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Character-defining features include:
• Asymmetrical façade and irregular massing
• Steeply-pitched multi-gabled roof with a prominent front-facing gable and slate, wood shake, or composition roofing
• Brick or plaster exterior wall cladding, typically with half-timbering and decorative details in stone or brick
• Tall, narrow divided-light windows, usually casement, often grouped horizontally or in bays; may have leaded diamond-shaped lights
• Entrance with pointed arch, set in turret or under secondary gable • Prominent chimney with elaborate brickwork

212

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Spanish Colonial Revival
The Spanish Colonial Revival style attained widespread popularity throughout Southern California following the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, which was housed in a series of buildings designed by chief architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in the late Baroque Churrigueresque style of Spain and Mexico. The Churrigueresque style, with intricate ornamentation juxtaposed against plain stucco wall surfaces and accented with towers and domes, lent itself to monumental public edifices, churches, and exuberant commercial buildings and theaters, but was less suited to residential or smaller scale commercial architecture. For those, architects drew inspiration from provincial Spain, particularly the arid southern region of Andalusia, where many young American architects were diverted while World War I prevented their traditional post-graduate “grand tour” of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany. The resulting style was based on infinitely creative combinations of plaster, tile, wood, and iron, featuring plaster-clad volumes arranged around patios, low-pitched tile roofs, and a sprawling, horizontal orientation. It was a deliberate attempt to develop a “native” California architectural style and romanticize the area’s colonial past, though it drew directly from Spanish and other Mediterranean precedents and bore little resemblance to the missions and rustic adobe ranch houses that comprised the state’s actual colonial-era buildings.

The popularity of the Spanish Colonial Revival style extended across nearly all property types, and coincided with Southern California’s population boom of the 1920s. It shaped the region’s expansion for nearly two decades, reaching a high point in 1929 and tapering off through the 1930s as the Great Depression gradually took hold. Like other revival styles, the Spanish Colonial Revival style was often simplified, reduced to its signature elements, or creatively combined with design features of other Mediterranean regions such as Italy, southern France, and North Africa, resulting in a pan-Mediterranean mélange of eclectic variations (see Mediterranean Revival Style). It was sometimes combined, although much less frequently, with the emerging Art Deco and Moderne styles.

Character-defining fe atures include:
• Asymmetrical composition
• Irregular plan and horizontal massing
• Varied gable or hipped roofs with clay barrel tiles
• Plaster veneered exterior walls forming wide, uninterrupted expanses • Wood-sash casement or double-hung windows, typically with divided lights • Round, pointed, or parabolic arched openings
• Arcades or colonnades
• Decorative grilles of wood, wrought iron, or plaster
• Balconies, patios or towers
• Decorative terra cotta or glazed ceramic tile work
213

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Mediterranean Revival
The Mediterranean Revival style is distinguished by its eclectic mix of architectural elements from several regions around the Mediterranean Sea, including Spain, Italy, southern France, and North Africa. Much of the American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries can be broadly classified as ultimately Mediterranean in origin, including the Beaux Arts, Mission Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, and Italian Renaissance Revival styles. By the 1920s, the lines between these individual styles were frequently blurred and their distinguishing characteristics blended by architects who drew inspiration from throughout the Mediterranean region. These imaginative combinations of details from varied architectural traditions resulted in the emergence of a distinct Mediterranean Revival style.

In contrast to the more academic and more literal interpretations such as the Andalusian- influenced Spanish Colonial Revival style or the restrained, dignified Italian Renaissance Revival style, the broader Mediterranean Revival frequently incorporated elements of Italian and Spanish Renaissance, Provençal, Venetian Gothic, and Moorish architecture into otherwise Spanish Colonial Revival designs. The Mediterranean Revival style is sometimes more formal and usually more elaborately composed and ornamented than the simpler, more rustic Spanish Colonial Revival style, and often more flamboyant than the sober Italian Renaissance Revival style. Typical features of the Mediterranean Revival style include arched entrance doorways with richly detailed surrounds; arcades and loggias; stairways and terraces with cast stone balustrades; and Classical decorative elements in cast stone or plaster, including architraves, stringcourses, cornices, pilasters, columns, and quoins.

Character-defining features include:
• Frequently symmetrical façade
• Rectangular p lan and two-story height
• Hipped roof with clay barrel tiles and wide boxed or bracketed eaves, or eave cornice • Exterior walls veneered in smooth plaster
• Wood-sash casement windows, typically with divided lights; sometimes double-hung windows; Palladian windows or other accent windows
• Arched door or window openings
• Elaborate door surrounds
• Arcades, colonnades, or loggias
• Terraces and stairs with cast stone balustrades
• Cast stone or plaster decorative elements including architraves, stringcourses, cornices, pilasters, columns, and quoins
• Decorative grilles of wood, wrought iron, or plaster
• Balconies, patios or towers
• Decorative terra cotta or glazed ceramic tile work

214

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Monterey Colonial Revival
The Monterey Colonial Revival style is based upon the distinctive style of residential architecture that developed in California beginning in the 1830s, as more and more Yankee merchants and settlers arrived in Alta California and adapted the Anglo building traditions of the East Coast to local Hispanic customs. As its name implies, the style developed in and around Monterey and combined vernacular adobe construction with elements of American Federal and Greek Revival architecture, including multi-light sliding sash windows, louvered shutters, paneled doors, and Classical details executed in wood. The style’s most distinguishing characteristic is a second-floor covered wood balcony, often cantilevered, extending the length of the primary façade and sometimes wrapping one or two sides. The best-known example of the style, and one of the earliest, is the Thomas Larkin adobe, constructed beginning in 1834 and one of the first two-story dwellings in Monterey. 522
The style was revived beginning in the mid- to late 1920s and was favored by architects and homeowners who perhaps found the fantastical Spanish and Mediterranean revivals too exotic and too different from the building traditions familiar to most Americans. It reached the height of its popularity in Southern California in the 1930s, with some examples constructed in the early 1940s. The Monterey Colonial Revival style replaced adobe construction with wood framed walls veneered in smooth plaster and devoid of surface ornament, and featured second-story balconies, low-pitched gable or hipped roofs, and double-hung wood windows.

Character-defining features include:
• Usually asymmetrical façade
• Two-story height
• Rectangular or L-shaped plan
• Low-pitched hipped or side gable roofs with wood shakes or clay tiles • Plaster-veneered exterior walls devoid of surface ornament • Second-floor covered wood balcony, sometimes cantilevered, across primary façade and occasionally wrapping one or more sides, with simple wood posts and wood or metal railing
• Wood-sash double-hung windows, typically with divided lights • Louvered or paneled wood shutters
• Recessed entrances with paneled wood doors

522 Monterey County Historical Society, “Monterey’s Larkin House Adobe and Garden,” http://www.mchsmuseum.com/larkinhouse.html (accessed September 2013). 215

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Italian Renaissance Revival
The Italian Renaissance Revival style was based upon the classically-inspired architecture developed in Italy during the artistic, architectural, and literary movement of the 14th through 16th centuries that was spurred by the rebirth of interest in the ideals and achievements of imperial Rome. Italian Renaissance architecture was familiar to late 19th-century American architects who were trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, and the style was first interpreted for monumental, elaborately decorated public buildings such as the Boston Public Library (McKim, Mead, and White, 1887) and lavish mansions such as the Breakers (Richard Morris Hunt, 1893), the Vanderbilt “summer cottage” in Newport, Rhode Island. By the early 20th century a more restrained, more literal interpretation of the style developed as a larger number of American architects, as well as their clients, visited Italy and thus gained first- hand knowledge of original examples of Italian Renaissance architecture. This knowledge was further disseminated through extensive photographic documentation. Italian Renaissance Revival buildings are often characterized by formal, usually symmetrical façades with recessed entrances, open loggias, and restrained use of classical details including quoins, roofline balustrades, pedimented windows, molded cornices and stringcourses, and rusticated stone work. The style was frequently used for imposing civic buildings.

Character-defining fe atures include:
• Symmetrical façade
• Rectangular plan and formal composition
• Low-pitched hipped roof with clay barrel or Roman tile; sometimes flat roof with balustrade or parapet
• Boxed eaves with decorative brackets or cornice
• Exterior walls veneered in smooth plaster or masonry
• Arched window and door openings, especially at the first floor • Divided-light wood sash casement windows (upper story windows usually smaller and less elaborately detailed than lower)
• Pedimented windows
• Primary entrance framed with classical columns or pilasters • Decorative cast stone classical details including quoins, entablatures, stringcourses, pediments, architraves, cornices
• Open loggias

216

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

French Revival
French Revival style architecture in Ventura often consists of two sub-types, Chateauesque and French Provincial. The Chateauesque style is loosely modeled on the 16th century chateaux of France’s Loire Valley and combines features of French Gothic and Renaissance architecture. The style gained popularity in the United States in the late 19th century and is most closely associated with Richard Morris Hunt, the first American architect to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The style did not gain popularity in Southern California until the 1920s; it was most frequently used there for luxury apartment buildings and only occasionally for large single-family residences. Chateauesque style buildings are typically two or more stories in height and feature multiple, steeply-pitched hipped roofs with towers, turrets, spires, tall chimneys, and highly ornamented dormers. Exterior walls are usually veneered in stone, brick, or scored plaster, and are ornamented with classical pilasters, stringcourses, and cornices. Windows are typically divided light wood casements and are frequently paired or grouped with prominent mullions.

The more modest French Provincial style was popularized after World War I and is based upon country houses of the French provinces, including Normandy. Although it shares several basic features with the more elaborate Chateauesque style, the French Provincial style is much simpler in its composition and detailing. It is characterized by a prominent, steeply pitched hipped roof with flared eaves and a classical eave cornice; simple rectangular plan and massing; exterior walls veneered in smooth plaster; and divided light, wood sash casement or double-hung windows, usually with louvered wood shutters. Second floor windows sometimes break the cornice line with shallow dormers. The Norman variation usually features decorative half-timbering and a circular entrance tower with a conical roof.

Character-defining features of the Chateauesque style include:
• Multiple, steeply pitched hipped roofs
• Complex massing
• Stone, brick, or scored plaster veneer at exterior walls • Towers, turrets, and spires
• Highly ornamented dormers
• Tall chimneys
• Divided light wood casement windows, paired or grouped, with prominent mullions • Classical pilasters, stringcourses, and cornices
Character-defining features of the French Provincial style include:
• Steeply pitched hipped roofs with flared eaves and eave cornice • Rectangular plan and simple massing
• Smooth plaster veneer at exterior walls
217

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

• Divided light, wood sash casement or double hung windows that sometimes break the cornice line
• Louvered wood shutters
• Decorative half-timbering and circular entrance tower with conical roof (Norman variation)

218

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

American Colonial Revival
American Colonial Revival describes a varied style that combines a number of architectural features found throughout the American Colonies, particularly in New England. The style has neither the strict formality of the Georgian Revival nor the decorative embellishments of the Neoclassical, although it sometimes incorporates elements of both. It also adapts elements of Dutch colonial architecture, such as the gambrel roof. American Colonial Revival buildings are typically one or two stories in height, and are sometimes symmetrical but frequently asymmetrical, with rectangular, L-shaped, or irregular plans. They typically feature side gable or cross gable roofs, sometimes with gabled dormers; exterior walls clad in horizontal wood siding and occasionally brick; prominent brick chimneys; double hung, divided light wood sash windows, usually with louvered wood shutters; paneled wood doors, sometimes with sidelights, transom lights, or fanlights; and restrained use of Classical details.

Some American Colonial Revival houses have small, pedimented porches, while others have shed-roofed porches supported on wood posts extending the length of the primary façade.

The U.S. Centennial Exposition of 1876 inspired in Americans a sense of patriotism and fostered an interest in the styles of the Colonial era. Early examples of a revival style in the late 19
th century were rarely accurate reproductions, but were instead free interpretations with details inspired by colonial precedents, while later examples shifted to more historically correct proportions and details. The American Colonial Revival style was popular for grand homes in the early 20th century, and by the 1920s was being applied to more modest homes.

The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1930s refueled interest in the style, and it remained popular into the post-World War II era.

Character-defining features include:
• Side gable or cross gable roof, sometimes with dormers • Asymmetrical composition (occasionally symmetrical)
• Horizontal wood siding at exterior walls
• Paneled wood entry door, sometimes with sidelights, transom light, or fanlight • Double hung, divided light wood sash windows, usually with louvered wood shutters • Projecting front porch
• Prominent brick chimney
219

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Georgian Revival
The Georgian style was the predominant architectural style in Great Britain and her North American colonies throughout the 18th century. It takes its name from the three kings – George I, George II, and George III - whose successive reigns (1714-1820) encompassed the period, but its stylistic elements were probably fixed by the end of the 17th century. The Georgian style combined traditional elements of late medieval English architecture, such as steeply-pitched roofs, towering chimneys, and dormers, with the strict proportions, symmetrical composition and Classical detailing of the Italian Renaissance as well as a recent invention, the vertical sliding sash (double hung) window. Inspired by pattern books and constructed by prosperous merchants and planters, the Georgian houses of the American Colonies were smaller and less ornate, but no less stately, than their British counterparts and projected the same aura of dignity and gentility. In the late 18 th century the sober, restrained
Georgian style gave way to the lighter, more ornate Adam style.

The U.S. Centennial Exposition of 1876 inspired in Americans a sense of patriotism and fostered an interest in the styles of the Colonial era. Early examples of a revival style in the late 19th century were rarely accurate reproductions, but rather took elements of Georgian architecture and applied them to Victorian buildings. In the early 20th century architects began to produce more accurate interpretations that featured historically correct proportions and details. The Georgian Revival style is characterized by a rectangular plan and a formal, symmetrical, typically 5-bay composition; restrained use of Classical ornament; hipped or side gable roof with eave cornice, sometimes with dormers; tall chimneys; and double hung, divided light wood sash windows. Georgian Revival buildings of the 1920s and 1930s sometimes also feature Adam (Federal), Palladian, or other Neo-Classical elements such as columned, pedimented porticos or Venetian (Palladian) windows.

Character-defining features include:
• Hipped or side gable roofs with eave cornice; sometimes dormers • Rectangular plan and regular massing
• Symmetrical façade, typically 5 bays wide
• Exterior walls veneered in brick; occasionally wood siding • Main entrance centered on front façade, with paneled wood door flanked by Classical pilasters or columns supporting a pediment
• Double hung, divided light wood sash windows, sometimes with louvered or paneled shutters
• Prominent brick chimney(s)

220

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Neoclassical
Neoclassical styles include elements of the late-18th century Classical Revival and Adam (Federal) styles as well as the early19th-century Greek Revival style, sometimes combining them in the same building. The Classical Revival style was influenced by the work of the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, who adapted Roman temple forms to residential design. The style is characterized by a dominant entrance portico, usually full height, with classical columns supporting a pediment, and the frequent use of the tripartite Venetian (Palladian) window as a focal point. The Classical Revival style was championed in the United States by Thomas Jefferson, whose designs for the Virginia state capitol, the University of Virginia, and his own home, Monticello, are among the finest American examples of the style.

The related Adam style, a contemporary of the Classical Revival, is based on the work of the Scottish architects and designers Robert, John, and James Adam, who lightened the sober, rectilinear Georgian style by adding round arches, semicircular niches, domes, semicircular or elliptical fanlights, and delicate classical Roman decorative details such as swags, garlands, urns, and grotesques in cast plaster or brightly-colored paint. Both the Classical Revival and the Adam styles were popular in the post-Revolutionary War United States (where the Adam style is known as the Federal style on patriotic principle) from the 1780s until the 1830s, by which time both were supplanted by the Greek Revival style.

The Greek Revival was based on classical Greek, rather than Roman, precedents and was popular in the United States from about 1830 until the outbreak of the Civil War. It is usually characterized by simple forms and bold classical details, including Etruscan or Greek Doric columns and heavy entablatures at the eave and porch.

The Neoclassical styles did not achieve the broader popularity of their related American Colonial Revival contemporary in the 1920s and 1930s. The style is best identified by its symmetrical façade typically dominated by a full-height porch with the roof supported by classical columns. Like the Renaissance Revival, this style was widely used for imposing civic buildings, institutional buildings, and banks.

Character-defining features include:
• Symmetrical façade
• Rectangular plan, sometimes with side wings
• Low-pitched hipped or side gable roof
• Exterior walls clad in masonry veneer or horizontal wood siding • Paneled wood entrance door with sidelights, transom light, and classical surround • Double-hung, divided light wood sash windows, sometimes with louvered wood shutters
221

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

• Venetian (Palladian) window or round or elliptical accent windows (Classical Revival and Adam/Federal)
• Semicircular or elliptical fanlights over entrance doors (Classical Revival and Adam/Federal)
• Pedimented entrance portico, usually full height, supported on classical columns (Classical Revival and Greek Revival)
• Wide classical entablatures (Greek Revival)
• Roof balustrade (Classical Revival and Adam/Federal)
• Decorative details including swags, garlands, urns, and grotesques (Adam/Federal)

222

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

EARLY MODERNISM
International Style
The International Style − an architectural aesthetic that stressed rationality, logic, and a break with the past − emerged in Europe in the 1920s with the work of Le Corbusier in France, and Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Germany. The United States became a stronghold of Modern architecture after the emigration of Gropius, Mies, and Marcel Breuer. Two Austrian emigrants, Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, helped introduce modern architecture to Southern California in the 1920s. Their buildings were minimalist in concept, stressed functionalism, and were devoid of regional characteristics and nonessential decorative elements. In 1932, the Museum of Modern Art hosted an exhibition, titled simply "Modern Architecture," that featured the work of fifteen architects from around the world whose buildings shared a stark simplicity and vigorous functionalism. The term “International Style” was coined by Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson in the accompanying catalog.

The early impact of the International Style in the United States was primarily in the fields of residential and small-scale commercial design. The economic downturn of the Depression, followed by World War II, resulted in little architectural development during this period. It was not until the postwar period that Americans embraced Modernism, and its full impact on the architectural landscape is observed. Within the International Style, two trends emerged after World War II. The first emphasized the expression of the building’s function, following the early work of Walter Gropius, who created innovative designs that borrowed materials and methods of construction from modern technology. He advocated for industrialized building and an acceptance of standardization and prefabrication. Gropius introduced a screen wall system that utilized a structural steel frame to support the floors and which allowed the external glass walls to continue without interruption.

The second po stwar trend in the International Style is represented by Mies van der Rohe and his followers. Within the Miesian tradition there are three subtypes: the glass and steel pavilion, modeled on Mies’ design for the Barcelona Pavilion (1929); the skyscraper with an all-glass curtain wall like his Seagram Building (1954) in New York; and the modular office building like his design for Crown Hall (1955) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

While “form follows function” was the mantra of Gropius, “less is more” was the aphorism of Mies. He focused his efforts on the idea of enclosing open and adaptable “universal” spaces with clearly arranged structural frameworks, featuring pre-manufactured steel frames spanned with large sheets of glass.

Pure examples of the International Style are rare.

Character-defining features include:
• Rectangular massing
• Balance and regularity, but not symmetry
223

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

• Clear expression of form and function
• Steel frame structure used as an organizing device
• Elevation of buildings on tall piers (piloti)
• Flat roofs
• Frequent use of glass, steel, concrete, and smooth plaster • Horizontal bands of flush windows, often meeting at corners • Absence of ornamentation
• Column-free interior spaces
224

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Art Deco
Art Deco originated in France in the 1910s as an experimental movement in architecture and the decorative arts. It developed into a major style when it was first exhibited in Paris at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, from which it takes its name. The Exposition’s organizers had insisted on the creation of a new, modern aesthetic.

The architecture of the Art Deco movement rejected the rigid organizational methods and classical ornamentation of the Beaux Arts style. It emphasized a soaring verticality through the use of stepped towers, spires, and fluted or reeded piers, and embraced highly stylized geometric, floral and figurative motifs as decorative elements on both the exterior and interior. Ornate metalwork, especially aluminum, glazed terra cotta tiles, and bright colors were hallmarks of the style.

Art Deco was the first popular style in the United States that consciously rejected historical precedents. It was instead a product of the Machine Age and took its inspiration from industry and transportation. Art Deco was employed primarily in commercial and institutional buildings, and occasionally in multi-family residential buildings. It was rarely used for single-family residences. By the mid-1930s, in the depths of the Great Depression, the highly decorated style was already viewed as garish and overwrought, and it was soon abandoned in favor of the cleaner, simpler Streamline Moderne style.

Character-defining features include:
• Vertical emphasis
• Smooth wall surfaces, usually of plaster
• Flat roofs with decorative parapets or towers
• Stylized decorative floral and figurative elements in cast stone, glazed terra cotta tiles, or aluminum
• Geometric decorative motifs such as zigzags and chevrons • Stepped towers, piers, and other vertical elements
• Metal windows, usually fixed or casement
225

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Streamline Moderne
The constraints of the Great Depression cut short the development of Art Deco architecture, but replaced it with a purer expression of modernity, the Streamline Moderne.

Characterized by smooth surfaces, curved corners, and sweeping horizontal lines, Streamline Moderne is considered to be the first thoroughly Modern architectural style to achieve wide acceptance among the American public. Inspired by the industrial designs of the period, the style was popular throughout the United States in the late 1930s, particularly with the Federally funded projects of the Works Progress Administration; buildings executed under those programs are often referred to as PWA Moderne. Unlike the equally modern but highly ornamental Art Deco style of the late 1920s, Streamline Moderne was perceived as expressing an austerity more appropriate for Depression-era architecture, although Art Deco and Streamline Moderne were not necessarily opposites. A Streamline Moderne building with a few Deco elements was not uncommon, but the prime movers behind the Streamline Moderne style such as Raymond Loewy, Walter Dorwin Teague, Gilbert Rohde, and Norman Bel Geddes all disliked Art Deco, seeing it as falsely modern.

The origins of the Streamline Moderne are rooted in transportation design, which took the curved form of the teardrop, because it was the most efficient shape in lowering the wind resistance of an object. Product designers and architects who wanted to express efficiency borrowed the streamlined shape of cars, planes, trains, and ocean liners. Streamline Moderne architecture looked efficient in its clean lines. It was in fact relatively inexpensive to build because there was little labor-intensive ornament like terra cotta; exteriors tended to be concrete or plaster. The Streamline Moderne’s finest hour was the New York World’s Fair of 1939-40. Here, the “World of Tomorrow” showcased the cars and cities of the future, a robot, a microwave oven, and a television, all in streamlined pavilions. While the style was popular throughout Southern California during the 1930s, there are relatively few examples simply because there was so little construction activity during the Depression.

Character-defining fe atures include:
• Horizontal emphasis
• Asymmetrical façade
• Flat roof with coping
• Smooth plaster wall surfaces
• Curved end walls and corners
• Glass block and porthole windows
• Flat canopy over entrances
• Fluted or reeded moldings or stringcourses
• Pipe railings along exterior staircases and balconies • Steel sash windows

226

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Regency Revival
The Regency Revival style, also known as Hollywood Regency, is indigenous to Los Angeles.

It is seen almost exclusively in the design of both single-family and multi-family residential architecture from about the mid-1930s until about 1970, but was also occasionally utilized for smaller commercial buildings. The style references in part the architecture and design that developed in Britain in the early 19
th century in the years (1811-1820) when the Prince
of Wales, later King George IV, served as Prince Regent during the long, final illness of his incapacitated father King George III. Like that original Regency style, the Regency Revival includes elements of Neo-Classical and French Empire design while its attenuated classical ornament and simple surfaces reflect the influence of the modern movement.

The style first appeared in the mid-1930s as a stripped-down version of the Neo-Classical revival that exhibited both the influence of the Moderne style and the simplified yet exaggerated qualities of Hollywood film sets. Its early development was interrupted by World War II and the resulting halt of construction. It resumed after the war with the work of architects such as John Woolf, whose designs emphasized symmetry, privacy, exaggerated entrances and prominent mansard roofs. Post-war Regency Revival buildings are characterized by theatrical arched entrances with an exaggerated vertical emphasis, usually positioned in projecting pavilions with high, steep roofs; symmetrical, largely blank primary façades; and eccentrically detailed, unconventionally proportioned Classical columns and ornamentation juxtaposed against large expanses of blank wall.

Character-defining features include:
• Symmetrical façade
• Tall, steeply pitched mansard, hipped or gable roofs, especially over entrance; frequently a flat roof over remainder
• Blank wall surfaces veneered in smooth plaster; some examples may have brick veneer or wood
• Vertically exaggerated arched entrance doors, sometimes set in projecting pavilions • Tall, narrow windows, often with arched tops
• Eccentrically detailed and unconventionally proportioned Neo-Classical features including double-height porticoes, thin columns, pediments, fluted pilasters, niches, and balconettes with iron railings
• Exaggerated applied ornament, such as large lanterns or sconces

227

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Minimal Traditional
The Minimal Traditional style is defined by a single-story configuration, simple exterior forms, and a restrained use of traditional architectural detailing. The Minimal Traditional house was immensely popular in large suburban residential developments throughout the United States during the 1940s and early 1950s. The style had its origins in the principles of the Modern movement and the requirements of the FHA and other Federal programs of the 1930s. Its open plan reflected the developer’s desire for greater efficiency. Modern construction methods addressed the builder’s need to reduce costs and keep homes affordable to the middle class. Conventional detailing appealed to conservative home buyers and mortgage companies. In Southern California, the style is closely associated with large- scale residential developments of the World War II and postwar periods. Primarily associated with the detached single family house, Minimal Traditional detailing may also be applied to apartment buildings of the same period.

Character-defining features include:
• One-story configuration
• Rectangular plan
• Medium or low-pitched hip or side-gable roof with shallow eaves • Smooth stucco wall cladding, often with wood lap or stone veneer accents • Wood multi-light windows (picture, double-hung sash, casement) • Projecting three-sided oriel
• Shallow entry porch with slender wood supports
• Wood shutters
• Lack of decorative exterior detailing

228

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Quonset Hut
A Quonset hut is a semi-cylindrical structure constructed of corrugated steel sheeting placed atop arched wood or metal rib framing. Typical features include oversized door and steel- frame industrial windows. Due to the portability and versatility of this building type, these structures can be found throughout the city and adapted to a variety of uses, though they are most commonly found in industrial areas. A Quonset hut is significant as an important World War II-era building type and method of construction, notable for its simple construction, distinctive shape, use of prefabricated materials, and flexible interior plan.

Intact examples represent the design and development of a low-cost and highly-versatile structure by the U.S. Navy for military use during World War II, and its adaptive reuse for housing and other uses during the postwar years.

Character-defining features include:
• Half-cylinder shape, with wood or metal rib framing
• Rectangular plan
• Clad in corrugated metal sheeting
• Oversized doors
• Steel-frame industrial windows, typically with divided-lights

229

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

POST-WORLD WAR II MODERNISM
Mid-century Modern
Mid-century Modern is a term used to describe the post-World War II iteration of the International Style in both residential and commercial design. The International Style was characterized by geometric forms, smooth wall surfaces, and an absence of exterior decoration. Mid-century Modern represents the adaptation of these elements to the local climate and topography, as well as to the postwar need for efficiently-built, moderately- priced homes. In Southern California, this often meant the use of wood post-and-beam construction. Mid-century Modernism is often characterized by a clear expression of structure and materials, large expanses of glass, and open interior plans.

The roots of the style can be traced to early Modernists like Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, whose local work inspired “second generation” Modern architects like Gregory Ain, Craig Ellwood, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Pierre Koenig, Raphael Soriano, and many more. These postwar architects developed an indigenous Modernism that was born from the International Style but matured into a fundamentally regional style, fostered in part by Art and Architecture magazine’s pivotal Case Study Program (1945-1966). The style gained popularity because its use of standardized, prefabricated materials permitted quick and economical construction. It became the predominant architectural style in the postwar years and is represented in almost every property type, from single-family residences to commercial buildings to gas stations.

Character-defining features include:
• One or two-story configuration
• Horizontal massing (for smal
l-scale buildings)
• Simple geometric forms
• Expressed post-and-beam construction, in wood or steel • Flat roof or low-pitched gable roof with wide overhanging eaves and cantilevered canopies
• Unadorned wall surfaces
• Wood, plaster, brick or stone used as exterior wall panels or accent materials • Flush-mounted metal frame fixed windows and sliding doors, and clerestory windows
• Exterior staircases, decks, patios and balconies
• Little or no exterior decorative detailing
• Attached carport or garage
• Expressionistic/Organic subtype: sculptural forms and geometric shapes, including butterfly, A-frame, folded plate or barrel vault roofs
230

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Ranch
The Ranch style emerged from the 1930s designs of Southern California architect Cliff May, who merged modernist ideas with traditional notions of the working ranches of the American West and in particular, the rustic adobe houses of California’s Spanish- and Mexican-era ranchos. The resulting architectural style – characterized by its low horizontal massing, sprawling interior plan, and wood exterior detailing – embodied the mid-20th century ideal of “California living.” The Ranch style enjoyed enormous popularity throughout the United States from the 1940s to the 1970s. It epitomized unpretentious architecture and dominated the suburbs of the post-World War II period. It was more conservative than other modern residential architecture of the period, often using decorative elements based on historical forms and capitalizing on the national fascination with the “Old West.” The underlying philosophy of the Ranch house was informality, outdoor living, gracious entertaining, and natural materials.

The most common style of Ranch house is the California Ranch. It is characterized by its one-story height; asymmetrical massing in L- or U-shaped plans; low-pitched hipped or gabled roofs with wide overhanging eaves; a variety of materials for exterior cladding, including plaster and board-and-batten siding; divided light wood sash windows, sometimes with diamond-shaped panes; and large picture windows. Decorative details commonly seen in California Ranch houses include scalloped bargeboards, false cupolas and dovecotes, shutters, and iron or wood porch supports. The California Ranch house accommodated America’s adoption of the automobile as the primary means of transportation with a two-car garage that was a prominent architectural feature on the front of the house, and a sprawling layout on a large lot. Floor plans for the tracts of Ranch houses were usually designed to meet the FHA standards so that the developer could receive guaranteed loans.

Another variation on the Ranch house is the Modern Ranch, which was influenced by Mid- century Modernism. Modern Ranches emphasized horizontal planes more than the California Ranch, and included modern instead of traditional stylistic details. Character- defining features included low-pitched hipped or flat roofs, prominent rectangular chimneys, recessed entryways, and wood or concrete block privacy screens. Other stylistic elements resulted in Asian variations.

Character-defining features include:
• One-story
• Sprawling plan
• L- or U-shaped plan, often with radiating wings
• Low, horizontal massing with wide street façade
• Low-pitched hipped or gable roof with open overhanging eaves and wood shakes • Plaster, wood lap, or board-and-batten siding, often with brick or stone accents • Divided light wood sash windows (picture, double-hung sash, diamond-pane) 231

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

• Wide, covered front porch with wood posts
• Attached garage, sometimes linked with open-sided breezeway • Details such as wood shutters, attic vents in gable ends, dovecotes, extended gables, or scalloped barge boards
• Modern Ranch sub-type may feature flat or low-pitched hipped roof with composition shingle or gravel roofing; metal framed windows; wood or concrete block privacy screens

232

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Googie
Googie has been described as Modernism for the masses. With its swooping lines and organic shapes, the style attempted to capture the playful exuberance of postwar America.

Named for the John Lautner-designed Googie’s Restaurant in Los Angeles, the style was widely employed in roadside commercial architecture of the 1950s, including coffee shops, bowling alleys, and car washes, to catch the eye of passing motorists with its prominent signage, sweeping rooflines, and expanses of plate glass that revealed the interior.

Character-defining features include:
• Expressive rooflines, including butterfly, folded-plate, and cantilevers • Organic, abstract, and parabolic shapes
• Clear expression of materials, including concrete, steel, asbestos, cement, glass block, plastic, and plywood
• Large expanses of plate glass
• Thematic ornamentation, including tiki and space age motifs • Primacy of signage, including the pervasive use of neon

233

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Programmatic/Mimetic
Programmatic/Mimetic buildings are a commercial architectural type which evolved between 1918 and 1950 as a device to call the attention of passing motorists to a commercial building by having the building itself take the form of non-architectural objects at an altered scale.

The term “programmatic” refers to a structure which takes its form directly from the product sold, while the term “mimetic” refers to a structure that mimics a form which is not directly related to the product provided, but may reflect the name or spirit of the business or housed within.

Programmatic/Mimetic buildings are, above all, objects intended to be viewed in three dimensions via the passenger car. The speed of vehicular traffic gave the large-scale advertising innate in the Programmatic/Mimetic form an advantage over the more discreet signage employed prior to the automobile era. Programmatic/Mimetic roadside buildings were constructed throughout the country but were particularly well-suited to Southern California. The local tradition of inexpensive stucco-on-wood-frame construction made them easy and cheap to build and allowed for a greater freedom of form than could be achieved with the masonry or clapboard exteriors typical elsewhere in the nation. During the late 1920s and early 1930s the demand for Programmatic/Mimetic forms became so strong that a number of patents were issued to designers for particular types of structures. The popularity of Programmatic/Mimetic architecture continued into the early 1930s.

Character-defining features include:
• Low-scale commercial building
• Building form adapted to convey advertising message
• Original use was as a restaurant, food stand, or retail store • Layouts allows for viewing from an automobile
• May be linked to particular companies and/or designers

234

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

New Formalism
New Formalism is a sub-type of Late Modern architecture that developed in the mid-1950s as a reaction to the International Style’s strict vocabulary and total rejection of historical precedent. New Formalist buildings are monumental in appearance, and reference and abstract classical forms such as full-height columns, projecting cornices, and arcades.

Traditional materials such as travertine, marble, or granite were used, but in a panelized, non-traditional form. In Southern California, the style was applied mainly to public and institutional buildings. On a larger urban design scale, grand axes and symmetry were used to achieve a modern monumentality. Primary in developing New Formalism were three architects: Edward Durrell Stone, who melded his Beaux Arts training with the stark Modernism of his early work; Philip Johnson; and Minoru Yamasaki. All three had earlier achieved prominence working within the International Style and other Modernist idioms.

Character-defining features of New Formalism include:
• Symmetrical plan
• Flat rooflines with heavy overhanging cornices
• Colonnades, plazas and elevated podiums used as compositional devices • Repeating arches and rounded openings
• Large screens of perforated concrete block, concrete, or metal

235

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Brutalism
Brutalism was another architectural movement that developed in the 1950s in response to the International Style. In contrast to the International Style’s often light and skeletal appearance, Brutalism created massive, monolithic structures that stretched the limits of concrete construction. More properly known as “New Brutalism,” the name was derived from béton brut, the concrete casting technique that left a roughly finished surface bearing the imprint of the formwork, used by Le Corbusier in the Unité d’Habitation, Marseille, France (1952). One of the style’s most significant American promoters was John Portman, who designed several enormous atrium hotels and office clusters known for their spectacular spatial effects, including the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. The style was particularly popular in the construction of government, educational, and financial buildings. Other well- known examples of the style in Southern California include the Salk Institute in La Jolla (1959) by Louis Kahn and the Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego (1969) by William Pereira.

Character-defining features of Brutalism include:
• Bold geometric shapes
• Sculptural façade articulation
• Exposed, roughly finished cast-in-place or pre-cast concrete construction • Window and door openings as voids in otherwise solid volumes • Raised plazas and base articulation

236

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

Late Modernism
Late Modernism describes the evolution of Modern architecture from the mid-1950s through the 1970s. Unlike the straightforward, functionalist simplicity of International Style and Mid-century Modernism, Late Modern buildings exhibit a more deliberate sculptural quality with bold geometric volumes, uniform surfaces such as glass skin or concrete, and a sometimes exaggerated expression of structure and systems. Significant architects who produced works in the style include Marcel Breuer, Philip Johnson, Cesar Pelli, Piano and Rogers, and John Portman.

Residential examples of Late Modernism typically feature an absence of traditional ornamentation, geometric volumes, complex massing, and exteriors displaying a variety of textures and finishes (including diagonal or vertical wood siding, or stucco with a heavily textured or raked finish).

Character-defining features of Late Modern style include:
• Bold geometric volumes, often with triangular and cylindrical forms as well as rectangular
• Large expanses of unrelieved wall surfaces
• Uniform use of cladding materials including glass, concrete, or masonry veneer • Wood siding, at times diagonal or vertical, in residential examples • Stucco, often with a heavily textured or raked finish, in residential examples • Exaggerated expression of structure and systems
• Hooded or deeply set windows
• Aluminum sliding windows in residential examples
• Little or no applied ornament
237
City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
Part III

REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT &

ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS
Ventura County Courthouse, circa 1920. Source: Museum of Ventura County.

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

HISTORIC DESIGNATIONS
A property may be designated as historic by National, State, and local authorities. In order for a building to qualify for historic designation, it must meet one or more identified criteria of significance. The property must also retain sufficient architectural integrity to continue to evoke the sense of place and time with which it is historically associated. This historic context statement provides guidance for listing at the federal, state, and local levels, according to the established criteria and integrity thresholds. A list of previously designated resources in the City of Ventura is included in Appendix B.

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
The National Register of Historic Places is an authoritative guide to be used by Federal, State, and local governments, private groups, and citizens to identify the Nation's cultural resources and to indicate what properties should be considered for protection from destruction or impairment.523 The National Park Service administers the National Register program. Listing in the National Register assists in preservation of historic properties in several ways, including: recognition that a property is of significance to the nation, the state, or the community; consideration in the planning for federal or federally assisted projects; eligibility for federal tax benefits; and qualification for Federal assistance for historic preservation, when funds are available.

To be eligible for listing and/or listed in the National Register, a resource must possess significance in American history and culture, architecture, or archaeology. Listing in the National Register is primarily honorary and does not in and of itself provide protection of a historic resource. The primary effect of listing in the National Register on private owners of historic buildings is the availability of financial and tax incentives. In addition, for projects that receive Federal funding, a clearance process must be completed in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. State and local regulations may also apply to properties listed in the National Register.

The criteria for listing in the National Register follow established guidelines for determining the significance of properties. The quality of significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects:

A. That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or
B. That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or C. That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or

523 36CFR60, Section 60.2.
239

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
D. That have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.524
Criteria Considerations
Certain kinds of properties are not usually considered eligible for listing in the National Register.

These include religious properties, moved properties, birthplaces or graves, cemeteries, reconstructed properties, commemorative properties, and properties achieving significance within the past 50 years. These properties can be eligible for listing, however, if they meet special requirements, called Criteria Considerations, in addition to being eligible under one or more of the four criteria and possessing integrity. The National Park Service has defined seven Criteria Considerations; those that are the most relevant to this study include:

Criteria Consideration A: Religious Properties
A religious property is eligible if it derives its primary significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical importance.

A religious property requires justification on architectural, artistic, or historic grounds to avoid any appearance of judgment by government about the validity of any religion or belief. Historic significance for a religious property cannot be established on the merits of a religious doctrine, but rather, for architectural or artistic values or for important historic or cultural forces that the property represents. A religious property's significance under Criterion A, B, C, or D must be judged in purely secular terms. A religious group may, in some cases, be considered a cultural group whose activities are significant in areas broader than religious history.

Criteria Consideration B: Moved Properties
A property removed from its original or historically significant location can be eligible if it is significant primarily for architectural value or it is the surviving property most importantly associated with a historic person or event.

The National Register criteria limit the consideration of moved properties because significance is embodied in locations and settings as well as in the properties themselves. Moving a property destroys the relationships between the property and its surroundings and destroys associations with historic events and persons. A move may also cause the loss of historic features such as landscaping, foundations, and chimneys, as well as loss of the potential for associated archeological deposits.

Properties that were moved before their period of significance do not need to meet the special requirements of Criteria Consideration B.

Criteria Consideration G: Properties that have Achieved Significance within the Past 50 Years A property achieving significance within the past fifty years is eligible if it is of exceptional importance.

524 36CFR60, Section 60.3.
240

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
The National Register Criteria for Evaluation exclude properties that achieved significance within the past 50 years unless they are of exceptional importance. 50 years is a general estimate of the time needed to develop historical perspective and to evaluate significance. This consideration guards against the listing of properties of passing contemporary interest and ensures that the National Register is a list of truly historic places. The phrase "exceptional importance” does not require that the property be of national significance. It is a measure of a property's importance within the appropriate historic context, whether the scale of that context is local, State, or national.

Integrity
In addition to meeting any or all of the designation criteria listed above, the National Park Service requires properties to possess historic integrity. Historic integrity is the ability of a property to convey its significance and is defined as “the authenticity of a property’s historic identity, evidenced by the survival of physical characteristics that existed during the property’s historic period.”525 The National Register recognizes seven aspects or qualities that comprise integrity: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. These qualities are defined as follows:

Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where the historic event took place.

Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property.

Setting is the physical environment of a historic property.

Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property.

Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory.

Feeling is a property's expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time.

Association is the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic property. 526
In assessing a property's integrity, the National Park Service recognizes that properties change over time. National Register Bulletin 15 provides:

To retain historic integrity a property will always possess several, and usually most, of the aspects. It is not necessary for a property to retain all its historic physical features or characteristics. The property must retain, however, the essential physical features that enable it to convey its historic identity.

525 National Register Bulletin 16A.
526 U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 1995). 241

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
A property that has lost some historic materials or details can be eligible if it retains the majority of the features that illustrate its style in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. The property is not eligible, however, if it retains some basic features conveying massing but has lost the majority of the features that once characterized its style.527 A property that has sufficient integrity for listing at the national, state, or local level will typically retain a majority of the identified character-defining features and will retain sufficient integrity to convey its significance. The required aspects of integrity are dependent on the reason for a property’s significance. Increased age and rarity of the property type are also considerations when assessing integrity thresholds. For properties that are significant for their architectural merit (Criterion C), a higher priority is placed on integrity of design, materials, and workmanship. For properties that are significant for their association with important events or people, integrity of feeling and/or association may be more important.

For properties which are considered significant under National Register Criteria A and B, National Register Bulletin 15 states:

A property that is significant for its historic association is eligible if it retains the essential physical features that made up its character or appearance during the period of its association with the important event, historical pattern, or person(s).

A property important for illustrating a particular architectural style or construction technique must retain most of the physical features that constitute that style or technique. 528

527 National Register Bulletin 15.
528 National Register Bulletin 15.
242

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

EVALUATING POST-WORLD WAR II TRACT DEVELOPMENTS
Due to the number of postwar developments in California and their characteristics – particularly the proliferation of large tracts by merchant-builders using tract designs and prefabricated components that were meant to be repeated – specific guidelines were developed by the California Department of Transportation for their evaluation.529 It is recommended that these guidelines be considered in the evaluation of post-World War II residential subdivisions in Ventura, which share characteristics with statewide trends. The key components are excerpted for reference:

The fundamental unit for postwar housing is not the individual house, but the tract, or a single construction phase within a larger tract or new community. A single residence would generally not meet Criterion A for association with the postwar housing boom or suburban growth. While a subdivision or tract might be significant in that context, an individual residence would not be adequate to convey that association.

To meet National Register Criterion C, an individual residence must possess the distinctive characteristics of a type, style, period, or method of construction, or be the work of a master designer or craftsman, or exhibit high artistic value. Only in rare cases will a tract house by a merchant builder meet Criterion C as an individual property. Postwar tract houses by merchant builders generally will possess the distinctive characteristics of their type, style, and period. However, since these houses were built in multiples, it will not be possible to identify a single residence within a tract as being an important example relative to its neighbors. The tract as a whole, evaluated as a district, may be an important example of postwar housing within its context. When establishing significance at the local level, the context must be a city, town, or rural political division rather than merely a single tract, neighborhood, or district within a city.

The work of a recognized master architect or architectural firm can be eligible for National Register listing under Criterion C. Several prominent California architects designed tract housing for merchant builders. Most of these architects also designed one-of-a-kind houses for property owners as individual commissions. These unique, high-style designs will need to be considered for National Register listing when they are present in historic property surveys. The tract house designs by these architects, on the other hand, were intended to be built in multiples. Variations within a tract are usually minor, and it will not be possible to single out one house as distinctive relative to others in the same tract. Tracts of houses designed by master architects should therefore be evaluated as districts rather than as individual properties.

529 California Department of Transportation, Tract Housing in California, 1945-1973: A Context for National Register Evaluation, Sacramento, CA, 2011.
243

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
While an individual residence of unique design may possess high artistic value, a tract house by a merchant builder will inevitably be similar to others within the same tract.

A tract house will usually be similar to houses built in other tracts by the same builder, and may even closely resemble those by different builders. It is unlikely that any individual house within a tract will be distinguishable from its neighbors with respect to artistic value. An individual house may be an important example within its context, and therefore meet Criterion C, if it is distinctive relative to other houses of the same period. In many cases, these will be unique, architect-designed houses built for individual clients.

Assessing Integrity: Integrity of design, setting, and feeling are particularly relevant when evaluating a postwar housing tract or a portion of a tract as an historic district. In addition to considering alterations to the individual houses, a tract possesses integrity of design if it retains its original planning features and characteristics. These include the street layout, the pattern curb, sidewalk, and planting strip, and the type of curbing. There is no established rule concerning the proportion of contributing versus non-contributing properties that a district must possess to be eligible for National Register listing. However, a good rule of thumb is that an eligible district should have at least twice as many contributors as non-contributors. A district in which less than two-thirds of the properties are contributors is unlikely to adequately convey a sense of its time or historic significance. The integrity threshold for contributor status within a district is generally lower than the threshold for an individual property. Therefore, a residence may contribute to a district even if it does not possess sufficient integrity to be individually eligible for National Register listing. A house exhibiting some alterations may contribute to the historic character of a district if it retains its original form and enough integrity of design and materials to be seen as an integral part of the district.
530

CALIFORNIA REGISTER OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES
The California Register is an authoritative guide in California used by State and local agencies, private groups, and citizens to identify the State's historical resources and to indicate what properties are to be protected, to the extent prudent and feasible, from substantial adverse change.531 The criteria for eligibility for listing in the California Register are based upon National Register criteria. These criteria are:

1. Associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local or regional history or the cultural heritage of California or the United States.

2. Associated with the lives of persons important to local, California or national history.

3. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region or method of construction or represents the work of a master or possesses high artistic values.

530 Excerpted from California Department of Transportation, Chapter 11: Survey and Evaluation, 121-135. 531 California PRC, Section 5023.1(a).
244

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

4. Has yielded, or has the potential to yield, information important to the prehistory or history of the local area, California or the nation.

The California Register consists of resources that are listed automatically and those that must be nominated through an application and public hearing process. The California Register includes the following:
• California properties formally determined eligible for (Category 2 in the State Inventory of Historical Resources) or listed in (Category 1 in the State Inventory), the National Register of Historic Places.
• State Historical Landmarks No. 770 and all consecutively numbered state historical landmarks following No. 770. For state historical landmarks preceding No. 770, the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) shall review their eligibility for the California Register in accordance with procedures to be adopted by the State Historical Resources Commission (commission).
• Points of historical interest which have been reviewed by the OHP and recommended for listing by the commission for inclusion in the California Register in accordance with criteria adopted by the commission.
532
Other resources which may be nominated for listing in the California Register include:
• Individual historical resources.
• Historical resources contributing to the significance of an historic district. • Historical resources identified as significant in historical resources surveys, if the survey meets the criteria listed in subdivision (g) of Section 5023.1” of the Public Resources Code. • Historical resources and historic districts designated or listed as city or county landmarks or historic properties or districts pursuant to any city or county ordinance, if the criteria for designation or listing under the ordinance have been determined by the office to be consistent with California Register criteria.
• Local landmarks or historic properties designated under any municipal or county ordinance.
533
Resources eligible for listing in the California Register must retain enough of their historic character or appearance to be recognizable as historical resources and to convey the reasons for their significance. It is possible that resources lacking sufficient integrity for listing in the National Register may still be eligible for the California Register.

532 California PRC, Section 5023.1(d).
533 California PRC, Section 5023.1(e).
245

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CITY OF VENTURA LOCAL DESIGNATION
In 1973, the City of Ventura established the Historic Preservation Committee under Ordinance No. 1801, most recently updated in 2008.534 This ordinance established the formation of a committee of members whose responsibility is to advise and make recommendations to the city concerning the designation of “historic districts, landmarks, sites, natural configurations, buildings, structures and points of interest significant to the heritage and development of this community.”535 Historic preservation regulations for the purpose of identifying, designating, and preservation historic landmarks or points of interest in the city were also included in a 2005 city ordinance. 536 The city
defines a landmark as “the site of an historic event, that [is] connected with the life of an important person, or that contain[s] a building, structure, or other object that is architecturally significant, representative of a type, period or particular method of construction, or is associated with a significant builder, architect, designer or artist.”
537
The Historic Preservation Committee may approve the landmark designation of a building, structure, or other object if it finds that it is associated with one or more of the following criteria, outlined in Section Sec. 24.455.120:

1. Events that have made a meaningful contribution to the nation, state or community;

2. Lives of persons who made a meaningful contribution to national, state or local history;

3. Reflecting or exemplifying a particular period of the national, state or local history;

4. Embodying the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction;

5. The work of one or more master builders, designers, artists or architects whose talents influenced their historical period, or work that otherwise possesses high artistic value;

6. Representing a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or

7. Yielding, or likely to yield, information important to national, state or local history or prehistory.

The Historic Preservation Committee may approve the designation of a Point of Interest if it has one of the following characteristics, outlined in Section 24.455.120:

1. That is the site of a building, structure or object that no longer exists but was associated with historic events, important persons, or embodied a distinctive character of architectural style;

534 Judy Triem, “Cultural Heritage Survey Phase I, Downtown and Ventura Avenue for the City of Ventura,” July 1983. 535 City of San Buenaventura, “Chapter 2.430 - Historic Preservation Committee, Ord. No. 2008-011, § 1, 7-28-08,” July 28, 2008.
536 City of San Buenaventura, “Chapter 24.455 - Historic Preservation Regulations, Ord. No. 2005-004, § 3, 5-2-05,” May 2, 2005.
537 City of San Buenaventura, “Chapter 24.455 - Historic Preservation Regulations, Ord. No. 2005-004, § 3, 5-2-05,” May 2, 2005.
246

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

2. That has historic significance, but was altered to the extent that the integrity of the original workmanship, materials or style is substantially compromised;

3. That is the site of a historic event which has no distinguishable characteristics other than that a historic event occurred there and the historic significance is sufficient to justify the establishment of a historic landmark.

A historic district is defined by the City of Ventura as: “A geographically definable area possessing a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of site, buildings, structures and/or objects united by past events, or aesthetically by plan or physical development, regardless of whether such a district may include some buildings, structures, sites, objects, or open spaces that do not contribute to the significance of the district.”
538
A historic district can generally be distinguished from surrounding areas:

1. by visual change such as building density, scale, type, age, or style; or

2. by historic documentation of different associations or patterns of development. The number of nonsignificant properties a historic district can contain yet still convey its sense of time and place and historical development depends on how these properties impact the historic district's integrity.

Significant Architects and Builders
The City of Ventura maintains a list of Significant Architects and Builders known to have practiced in the city. Properties associated with these or any important architects or builders may have historic or cultural significance based upon this association. However, association with one of the identified individuals or firms does not automatically establish the historic significance of the property. A determination of any property's eligibility for historic designation requires a more comprehensive evaluation. The list of Significant Architects and Builders is included below; suggestions for revisions or additions to the list will be provided when fieldwork is complete.

ARCHITECTS
William W. Ache
John C. Austin & J.M. Ashley
Thomas Barber
Welton Becket and Associates
William R. Bell & Clarence L. Jay
J.H. Bradbee
Harold E. Burket
Clyde Devel
Arthur Froehlich
Oliver Gales
Greene & Greene

538 City of San Buenaventura, “Chapter 24.455 - Historic Preservation Regulations, Ord. No. 2005-004, § 3, 5-2-05,” May 2, 2005.

Randolf Chalfant Head
Kenneth Hess
Albert Hogsett
Sumner P. Hunt
Bernard Joseph
Krempel & Erkes
E. Keith Lockard
J.J. Mahoney
Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury
Albert C. Martin
Carl L. Maston
247

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
Cliff May
J.W. Mitchell
Morgan, Walls and Clements
Wallace Neff
Palmer & Krisel
William Pereira & Associates
Alfred F. Priest
Sanford Rudolph
C.H. Russell
Roland F. Sauter
L.A. Smith
Soule, Murphy & Hastings
Robert Stacy-Judd
T.B. Steepleton
H.L. Stennett
W.H. Stephens
Rodney Walker
Webber, Staunton & Spaulding
Roy C. Wilson
H.H. Winner
Carleton Monroe Winslow

BUILDERS
William Anderson A.W. Barnes
Bergseid & Barr
J.A. Bullis
C.H.K.; Swift & Co.

Gilpin W. Chrisman
J.B. Cook
Charles L. Cooper
A.B. Eels
Eugene Preston Foster
H.A. Giddings
Emil A. Gratzky
Hall & Bailey
Abram Lincoln Hobson
W.D. Hobson
Likens & Cavnah
Lowdermilk & Carrico
Macleod Construction Co.

Frank Meline Co.

L.E. Mercer
W.E. Mercer
Ed Miller
J.W. Mitchell
Mitchell Brothers
John C. Morrison
Harvey A. Nichols
Pacesetter Homes
Pacific Steel Building
Arthur Pefley
Charles Wesley Petit
George Randall
Rodney & Putnam
Louis C. Rudolph
Rudolph & Barr
Jesse A Shaw
Bert Shaw
Selwyn Shaw
Herbert Sly
248

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS
The following eligibility standards have been developed to provide guidance for the ongoing efforts to identify historic resources and describe the built environment in the City of Ventura. For each type of development (residential, commercial, institutional, industrial), property types are identified, and specific eligibility standards for evaluating properties for potential eligibility are established. Eligibility criteria are based on the established criteria for designation at the federal, state, or local levels that are outlined. The eligibility standards for the identification of eligible properties in the City of Ventura include:
• Identification of why a property may be significant under each designation criterion (e.g. as an early or rare example of a type of development, for an association with an early pioneer, as an excellent example of a particular architectural style or type, etc.). • Identification of the integrity considerations for potential eligibility under each designation criterion. In order to determine if a property retains sufficient historic integrity to convey its significance, it is necessary first to establish when it was constructed and why it is significant. The required aspects of integrity reflect the significance of the property and the essential physical features required to convey that significance. The rarity of type is also considered. Because properties are significant for different reasons, separate integrity thresholds have been established for different types of resources. For example, a property type that is ubiquitous may have a higher integrity threshold – allowing for fewer alterations to original fabric – than for examples of very early or rare property types. • Identification of the registration requirements for potential eligibility under each criterion. For a property to be eligible for designation, it must meet the established requirements in order to convey its significance.

249

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT: ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS

PROPERTY TYPES
• Single-family Residence
• Multi-family Residence, including the following types:
• Apartment House
• Duplex/Fourplex
• Bungalow Court/One-story Court
• Courtyard Apartment/Garden Apartment
• Historic District/Conservation Overlay Zone
Single-family and multi-family residential properties and historic districts are evaluated for potential historic significance based on the associated residential development themes within each period of development as identified in the historic context statement:
• Establishment and Growth of the City of Ventura (1848-1868)539 • Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905)/Theme: First Land Boom (1869-1886) • Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905)/Theme: Second Land Boom (1887-1905) • City Expansion and Civic Improvement (1906-1919)/Theme: Early 20th Century Residential Development • Between the Wars (1920-1940)/Theme: Residential Development • Post-World War II Prosperity (1946-1960)/Theme: Postwar Residential Development • Expansion and Redevelopment (1961-1979)/Theme: Residential Development • Residential properties may also be eligible for an association with one of the ethnic/cultural communities in Ventura Residential development reflects the growth of the city from Ventura’s early history; to the post-World War II prosperity brought about by the success of the local oil industry and the influx of new residents drawn by available jobs and the affordability of housing in the area.

539 There may be remnant properties that predate this period; however, these properties are mostly known and/or designated. 250

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Single- or Multi -Fam ily Residence
A/1/1, 3540

(Association
with events or
patterns of
development)
Individual residential properties that are
eligible under this criterion may be
significant for one of the reasons listed
below. Note that in order to be
individually eligible for designation for
representing a pattern of development, the
property must be the first of its type, a
rare remnant example of a very early
period of development, or a catalyst for
development in the city or neighborhood.

Merely dating from a specific period is
typically not enough to qualify for
designation.

Single-family or multi-family properties
may be eligible:
• As the site of an important event in
history.
• For exemplifying an important trend
or pattern of development. In general,
properties significant under this
criterion will primarily be eligible as
contributors to historic districts.
• As a rare or remnant example of early
residential development. This includes
rare, remaining examples of some of
the city’s earliest residential
development and remnant farm
houses.

An individual property that is significant
for its historic association is eligible if it
retains the essential physical features that
made up its character or appearance during
the period of its association with an event
or historical pattern.
541 A residential
property eligible under this criterion should
retain integrity of location, design, feeling,
and association, at a minimum, in order to
reflect its important association. A property
that has lost some historic materials or
details can be eligible if it retains the
majority of the features that illustrate its
style in terms of the massing, spatial
relationships, proportion, pattern of
windows and doors, texture of materials,
and ornamentation. Individually eligible
examples identified in the survey typically
retain all or most of their original windows,
particularly on the primary façade, original
wall cladding, and do not have additions
that are visible from the public right-of-way
or obscure important historic features.

A greater degree of alteration may be
acceptable for properties from early periods
of development.

To be eligible under this criterion, an
individual property must:
• date from the period of significance
of the applicable theme; and
• have a proven association with an
event important in history; or
• be a rare remaining example of
residential development from an
early period in history, or represent
an important catalyst for a pattern
or trend in residential development
from a specific period or facet of
Ventura’s residential development;
and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the property
type or style; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

540 Eligibility criteria are listed in the standard format National Register/California Register/Local. 541 National Register Bulletin 15.
251

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS • As an excellent or rare remnant
example of residential development
with a specific association with early
20th century growth, including
continued importance of agriculture
and the growing presence of the oil
industry.
• As an excellent example of post-World
War II residential development,
representing a specific association with
postwar growth in the city. According
to established guidance for evaluation
post-World War II subdivisions,
properties eligible for this reason will
primarily be located within a historic
district, as discussed below. Tract
homes are typically not eligible for
individual designation.

252

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Residential Historic District
A/1/1, 3, 6

(Association with
events or patterns
of development)
A collection of residences that are linked
geographically may be eligible as a historic
district. Eligible districts may span several
periods of development and may also be
significant for architectural merit under
Criterion C/3/4, 5. District boundaries
may represent original tract boundaries,
or they may comprise several adjacent
tracts, or a portion of a tract or
neighborhood. The district must be
unified aesthetically by plan, physical
development, and architectural quality.

Tract features, including street lights,
landscaping, parkland, and other
amenities may contribute to the
significance of the district.

In order for a historic district to be eligible
for designation, the majority of the
components that add to the district’s
historic character must possess integrity, as
must the district as a whole. A contributing
property must retain integrity of location,
design, setting, feeling, and association to
adequately convey the significance of the
historic district. The district must retain a
strong sense of time and place from the
period of significance. Some alterations to
individual buildings, such as replacement
roof materials, replacement garage
doors(particularly for pre-WWII districts),
and replacement of windows within original
openings may be acceptable. However,
major alterations to individual residences,
such as substantial additions that are visible
from the public right-of-way or alter the
original roofline, and loss of significant
historic fabric (e.g. replacement of
windows, doors, and wall cladding in a
single residence) would not be acceptable
and the building would be considered a
non-contributor to the district. Original
tract features may also be contributing
features to the historic district.

To be eligible under this criterion, a
historic district must:
• retain a significant concentration of
contributors dating from the period
of significance;
• reflect planning and design
principles from the period;
• display most of the character-
defining features of a residential
subdivision, including the original
layout, street plan, and other
planning features; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

Geographically contiguous groups of
properties that do not retain sufficient
integrity for designation as historic
districts, but which retain important
planning features or other characteristics,
may be designated as conservation
overlay zones so that their unifying
characteristics can be considered in the
planning process for future
development.

253

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Single- or Multi -Family Residence
B/2/2

(Association
with significant
persons)
Individual residential properties may be
significant for an association with a
significant person. Properties eligible
under this criterion are typically those
associated with a person’s productive life,
reflecting the time period when they
achieved significance. According to
National Park Service guidance, a property
is not eligible if its only justification is that
it was owned or used by a person who is a
member of an identifiable profession,
class, or social or ethnic group. It must be
shown that the person gained importance
within a profession or group. Properties
eligible under this criterion may be
associated with:
• Pioneers or people who played a
significant role in the early
development of the area.
• People who made significant
contributions to a demonstrably
important profession, including the
agriculture, aerospace, or oil industries;
or to the arts and culture.
• Members of a particular social,
cultural, or ethnic group who made a
demonstrably significant contribution
to history.

A residential property significant under
Criterion B/2/2 should retain integrity of
location, design, feeling, and association, at
a minimum, in order to convey the historic
association with a significant person. A
general rule is that the property must be
recognizable to contemporaries of the
person with which it is associated.

To be eligible under this criterion, a
property must:
• have a proven association with the
productive period of a person
important to local, state, or national
history; and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the property
type or style from the period of
significance (i.e. the period when it
was associated with the important
person); and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

254

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Single- or Multi -Fam ily Residence
C/3/4, 5

(Embodies
distinctive
characteristics of
a style or type; or
Work of a
notable architect
or builder)
Individual residential properties that are
eligible under this criterion may be
significant as:
• A good/excellent or rare example of
an architectural style, property type, or
method of construction. Eligible
examples typically exhibit high quality
of design and distinctive features.
• An early, rare, or good/excellent
example of an important multi-family
residential property type.
• A distinctive work by a noted architect,
landscape architect, builder, or
designer.
• Note that tract homes from the post-
World War II era are typically not
individually eligible for their
architectural merit, and are more
appropriately evaluated as part of a
potential historic district.

A property that is eligible for designation as
a good/excellent or rare example of its
style or type retains most - though not
necessarily all - of the character-defining
features of the style. A property that is
significant for its architectural/design merit
should retain integrity of design, materials,
workmanship, and feeling, at a minimum.

Eligible bungalow courts and courtyard
apartments must retain their original plan
and layout. Landscape and hardscape
features may also be contributing features
to eligible multi-family residential
properties. A property important for
illustrating a particular architectural style or
construction technique must retain most of
the physical features that constitute that
style or technique. A property can be
eligible if it has lost some historic materials
or details but retains the majority of the
essential features from the period of
significance. These features illustrate the
style in terms of the massing, spatial
relationships, proportion, pattern of
windows and doors, texture of materials,
and ornamentation. A property is not
eligible if it retains some basic features
conveying massing but has lost the majority
of the features that once characterized its
style.

To be eligible for its style, type, or
method of construction, a property
must:
• date from the period of
significance; and
• represent a rare or good/excellent
example of a style or type with high
quality of design and distinctive
details; and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the style or
type; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

255

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Residential Historic District
C/3/4, 5, 6

(Embodies
distinctive
characteristics of
a style or type; or
Work of a
notable architect
or builder)
A collection of residences that are linked
geographically and are unified by a single
architectural style or multiple styles that
collectively convey similar characteristics
(e.g. examples of multiple Period Revival
styles from the 1920s and 1930s), may be
eligible as a historic district. Eligible
districts may span several periods of
development and may also be significant
for representing a pattern of development
under Criterion A/1/1, 3. District
boundaries may represent original tract
boundaries, or they may comprise several
adjacent tracts, or a portion of a tract or
neighborhood. The district must be
unified aesthetically by plan, physical
development, and architectural quality.

Tract features, including street lights,
landscaping, parkland, and other amenities
may contribute to the significance of the
district.

In order for a historic district to be eligible
for designation, the majority of the
components that add to the district’s
historic character must possess integrity, as
must the district as a whole. A contributing
property must retain integrity of location,
design, setting, feeling, and association to
adequately convey the significance of the
historic district. The district must retain a
strong sense of time and place from the
period of significance. Some alterations to
individual buildings, such as replacement
roof materials, replacement garage doors,
and replacement of windows within
original openings may be acceptable.

However, major alterations to individual
residences, such as substantial additions
that are visible from the public right-of-way
or alter the original roofline, and loss of
significant historic fabric (e.g. replacement
of windows, and doors, and wall cladding
in a single residence) would not be
acceptable and the building would be
considered a non-contributor to the
district. Original tract features may also be
contributing features to the historic district.

To be eligible under this criterion, a
historic district must:
• retain a significant concentration
of contributors from the period of
significance; and
• represent a collection of
residences designed in a singular
architectural style or multiple
styles that convey similar
architectural quality and cohesive
physical characteristics; and
• reflect planning and design
principles from the period; and
• display most of the character-
defining features of a residential
subdivision, including the original
layout, street plan, and other
planning features; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

Geographically contiguous groups of
properties that do not retain sufficient
integrity for designation as historic
districts, but which retain important
planning features or other
characteristics, may be designated as
conservation overlay zones.
256

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT: ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS

PROPERTY TYPES
• Mixed-use Commercial Building
• Commercial Office
• Retail Store
• Bank
• Restaurant
• Auto-related property types, including gas and service stations • Hotel/Motel
• Historic District/Conservation Overlay Zone
Commercial properties and historic districts are evaluated for potential historic significance based on the associated commercial development themes within each period of development as identified in this historic context statement:
• Establishment and Growth of the City of Ventura (1848-1868)542 • Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905)/Theme: First Land Boom (1869-1886) • Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905)/Theme: Second Land Boom (1887-1905) • City Expansion and Civic Improvement (1906-1919)/Theme: Early 20th Century Commercial Development • Between the Wars (1920-1940)/Theme: Commercial Development • Post-World War II Prosperity (1946-1960)/Theme: Postwar Commercial Development • Expansion and Redevelopment (1961-1979)/Theme: Commercial Development • Commercial properties may also be eligible for an association with one of the ethnic/cultural groups in Ventura Commercial development patterns reflect the growth of the city over time, from the establishment of the first businesses in the original downtown core, to the growth of downtown during the 1920s, through the postwar expansion of retail services and commercial office buildings driven by the population boom, along with the rise of consumer and automobile culture.

542 There may be remnant properties that predate this period; however, these properties are mostly known and/or designated. 257

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Commercial Building
A/1/1, 3543

(Association
with events or
patterns of
development)
Individual commercial properties that
are eligible under this criterion may be
significant for one of the reasons listed
below. Note that in order to be
individually eligible for designation for
representing a pattern of development,
the property must be the first of its
type, a rare remnant example of a very
early period of development, or a
catalyst for development. Merely
dating from a specific period is
typically not enough to qualify for
designation.

Individual commercial properties that
are eligible under this criterion may be
significant:
• As the site of an important event in
history.
• As a rare or remnant example of
early commercial development.

This includes rare, remaining
examples of commercial
development from the late 19
th and
early 20th centuries, reflecting an
important association with the
original development of downtown
Ventura. Eligible properties from
An individual commercial property that is
significant for its historic association is eligible
if it retains the essential physical features that
made up its character or appearance during the
period of its association with the important
event, historical pattern, or person(s).
544 A
commercial property eligible under this
criterion should retain integrity of location,
design, feeling, and association, at a minimum,
in order to reflect the important association
with an event or pattern. A property that has
lost some historic materials or details can be
eligible if it retains the majority of the features
that illustrate its style in terms of the massing,
spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of
windows and doors, texture of materials, and
ornamentation. For early commercial
buildings, a greater degree of alteration may be
acceptable due to the rarity of resources from
the late 19
th and early 20th centuries.

Replacement of storefronts is a common and
acceptable alteration to a commercial building.

To be eligible under this criterion, an
individual property must:
• date from the period of significance
of the applicable theme; and
• have a proven association with an
event important in history; or
• represent important patterns and
trends in commercial development
from a specific period or facet of
Ventura’s commercial development;
and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the property
type or style; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

543 Eligibility criteria are listed in the standard format National Register/California Register/Local. 544 National Register Bulletin 15.
258

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS this period represent some of the
earliest extant commercial activity.
• As an excellent example of a
particular type of commercial
enterprise, including tourism.
• As the long-term home of a
significant local business.
• As a catalyst for growth and
development of commercial centers
outside of the original downtown
core.
• As an excellent example of post-
World War II commercial
development, representing a
specific association with postwar
growth in the city. This includes the
establishment of the earliest
postwar commercial businesses to
serve the newly established
neighborhoods in the eastern
portion of the city.

259

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Com m ercial Historic District
A/1/1, 3, 6

(Association
with events or
patterns of
development)
A collection of commercial buildings
that are linked geographically may be
eligible as a historic district. Eligible
districts may span several periods of
development and may be significant
under additional criteria. The district
must be unified aesthetically by plan,
and physical development. Historic
districts may also include multiple
property types; for example, a historic
district may include both commercial
and institutional properties that date
from the period of significance and
reflect the character and reason for
significance for the district.

In order for a historic district to be eligible for
designation, the majority of the components
that add to the district’s historic character must
possess integrity, as must the district as a
whole. A contributing property must retain
integrity of location, design, setting, feeling,
and association to adequately convey the
significance of the historic district. The district
must retain a strong sense of time and place
from the period of significance. Some
alterations to individual buildings, including
the replacement of original storefronts, are
acceptable, as long as the district as a whole
continues to convey its significance.

To be eligible under this criterion, a
historic district must:
• retain a significant concentration of
contributors from the period of
significance; and
• collectively convey an important
aspect of commercial development;
and
• display original planning features of
the commercial enclave or
corridor; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

Geographically contiguous groups of
properties that do not retain sufficient
integrity to qualify as historic districts,
but which retain important planning
features or other characteristics, may be
designated as conservation overlay
zones.

260

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Commercial Building
C/3/4, 5

(Embodies
distinctive
characteristics of
a style or type; or
Work of a
notable architect
or builder)
Individual commercial buildings that
are eligible under this criterion may be
significant as:
• A good/excellent or rare example
of an architectural style, property
type, or method of construction.

Eligible examples exhibit high
quality of design and distinctive
features.
• A distinctive work by a noted
architect, landscape architect,
builder, or designer.

A property that is eligible for designation as a
good/excellent or rare example of its style or
type retains most - though not necessarily all -
of the character-defining features of the style
and continues to exhibit its historic
appearance. A property that is significant for
its architectural/design merit should retain
integrity of design, materials, workmanship,
and feeling, at a minimum. A property that is a
good/excellent example of a style or type can
be eligible if it has lost some historic materials
or details but retains the majority of the
essential features from the period of
significance. These features illustrate the style
in terms of the massing, spatial relationships,
proportion, pattern of windows and doors,
texture of materials, and ornamentation. The
property is not eligible, however, if it retains
some basic features conveying massing but has
lost the majority of the features that once
characterized its style. A property important
for illustrating a particular architectural style or
construction technique must retain most of the
physical features that constitute that style or
technique.

To be eligible for its style, type, or
method of construction, a property
must:
• date from the period of significance;
and
• represent a rare or good/excellent
example of a style or type with high
quality of design and distinctive
details; and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the style or type;
and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

261

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
INDUSTRIAL & AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT: ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS

PROPERTY TYPES
• Agricultural Property Types; including farmhouses, barns, packing houses, other remnant agricultural features • Transportation and Infrastructure improvements
• Oil-related structures and features
• Manufacturing Facility; includes Daylight or Controlled-Condition Factory, Warehouse • Light Industrial Buildings, including Quonset Huts
• Historic District/Conservation Overlay Zone
Agricultural and industrial properties are evaluated for potential historic significance based on the associated agricultural and industrial development themes within each period of development as identified in this historic context statement:
• Establishment and Growth of the City of Ventura (1848-1868)545 • Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905)/Theme: First Land Boom (1869-1886) • Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905)/Theme: Second Land Boom (1887-1905) • City Expansion and Civic Improvement (1906-1919)/Theme: Oil Industry • Between the Wars (1920-1940)/Theme: 1920s Oil Boom
• Ventura During World War II (1941-1945)
• Post-World War II Prosperity (1946-1960)/Theme: Postwar Industrial Development • Expansion and Redevelopment (1961-1979)/Theme: Industrial Development • Industrial and agricultural properties may also be eligible for an association with one of the ethnic/cultural communities in Ventura
Agricultural and industrial development played a significant role in the establishment and growth of Ventura. In the late 19th century until the oil boom of the 1920s, farming and ranching attracted more settlers to Ventura County than any other industry. Oil was first discovered in Ventura in the 1860s, though agriculture remained the area’s dominant industry until the 1920s, when oil produc tion dramatically increased. Oil production in Ventura hit its peak in the 1950s, and a number of supportive businesses for the oil industry

545 There may be remnant properties that predate this period; however, these properties are mostly known and/or designated. 262

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
were established, including machinists and oil well -supply stores,. Additionally, a number of industrial parks were established in Ventura after World War II.

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property type: Industrial Building
A/1/1, 3546

(Association
with events or
patterns of
development)

Individual agricultural or industrial
properties that are eligible under this
criterion may be significant for one of
the reasons listed below. Note that in
order to be individually eligible for
designation for representing a pattern
of development, the property must be
the first of its type, a rare remnant
example of a very early period of
development, or a catalyst for
development in the city or
neighborhood. Merely dating from a
specific period is typically not enough
to qualify for designation.

Individual agricultural or industrial
properties may be significant:
• As the site of an important event in
history.
• As a rare or remnant example of
early agricultural or industrial
development.
• For an important association with
significant infrastructure
improvements, including
advancements in railroad
An individual property that is significant for its
historic association is eligible if it retains the
essential physical features that made up its
character or appearance during the period of
its association with the important event or
historical pattern.
547 An agricultural or
industrial property eligible under this criterion
should retain integrity of location, design,
feeling, and association, at a minimum, in
order to reflect the important association with
an event or pattern. A property that has lost
some historic materials or details can be
eligible if it retains the majority of the features
that illustrate its style in terms of the massing,
spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of
windows and doors, texture of materials, and
ornamentation. For early agricultural or
industrial buildings, a greater degree of
alteration may be acceptable due to the rarity
of resources from the late 19
th and early 20th
centuries.

To be eligible under this criterion, an
individual property must:
• date from the period of significance
of the applicable theme; and
• have a proven association with an
event important in history; or
• represent important patterns and
trends in agricultural or industrial
development from a specific period
or facet of Ventura’s development;
and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the property
type or style; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

546 Eligibility criteria are listed in the standard format National Register/California Register/Local. 547 National Register Bulletin 15.
263

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS transportation, and remnant
features associated with the oil
industry.
• As an excellent example of
industrial development from the
post-World War II era. In order to
be eligible for this reason, the
property must have a significant
association with an important
industry. Merely representing
industrial development after World
War II is not sufficient to be
eligible under this criterion.

264

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property type: Industrial Historic District
A/1/1, 3, 6

(Association
with events or
patterns of
development)
A collection of agricultural or
industrial buildings that are linked
geographically may be eligible as a
historic district. Eligible districts may
represent multiple related agricultural
or industrial properties, or they may
span several periods of development
and may be significant under
additional criteria. The district must be
unified aesthetically by plan and
physical development.

In order for a historic district to be eligible for
designation, the majority of the components
that add to the district’s historic character must
possess integrity, as must the district as a
whole. A contributing property must retain
integrity of location, design, setting, feeling,
and association to adequately convey the
significance of the historic district. Some
alterations to individual buildings are
acceptable, as long as the district as a whole
continues to convey its significance.

To be eligible under this criterion, a
historic district must:
• retain a significant concentration of
contributors from the period of
significance; and
• represent an important aspect of
industrial development; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

Geographically contiguous groups of
properties that do not retain sufficient
integrity to qualify as historic districts,
but which retain important planning
features or other characteristics, may be
designated as conservation overlay
zones.

265

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property type: Industrial Building
B/2/2

(Association
with significant
persons)
Individual agricultural or industrial
properties may be significant for an
association with an important person.

In this case, an industrial property may
be significant as the office or primary
workplace of a significant person in
industry, or someone who made a
significant discovery or scientific
advancement. According to National
Park Service guidance, a property is
not eligible if its only justification is
that it was owned or used by a person
who is a member of an identifiable
profession, class, or social or ethnic
group. It must be shown that the
person gained importance within a
profession or group, and there must be
a strong association between the
person and the property.

An industrial property significant under
Criterion B/2/2 should retain integrity of
location, design, feeling, and association, at a
minimum, in order to convey the historic
association with a significant person. A general
rule is that the property must be recognizable
to the contemporaries of the person with
which it is associated.

To be eligible under this criterion, a
property must:
• have a proven association with the
productive period of a person
important to local, state, or national
history; and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the property
type or style from the period of
significance; and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

266

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property type: Industrial Building
C/3/4, 5

(Embodies
distinctive
characteristics of
a style or type; or
Work of a
notable architect
or builder)
Agricultural or industrial properties
that are eligible under this criterion
may be significant as:
• A good/excellent or rare example
of an architectural style, property
type, or method of construction.

Eligible examples exhibit high
quality of design and distinctive
features.
• A distinctive work by a noted
architect, landscape architect,
builder, or designer.

A property that is eligible for designation as a
good/excellent or rare example of its style or
type retains most - though not necessarily all -
of the character-defining features of the style
and continues to exhibit its historic
appearance. A property that is significant for
its architectural/design merit should retain
integrity of design, materials, workmanship,
and feeling, at a minimum. A property that is a
good/excellent example of a style or type can
be eligible if it has lost some historic materials
or details but retains the majority of the
essential features from the period of
significance. These features illustrate the style
in terms of the massing, spatial relationships,
proportion, pattern of windows and doors,
texture of materials, and ornamentation. The
property is not eligible, however, if it retains
some basic features conveying massing but has
lost the majority of the features that once
characterized its style. A property important
for illustrating a particular architectural style or
construction technique must retain most of the
physical features that constitute that style or
technique.

To be eligible for its style, type, or
method of construction, a property
must:
• date from the period of significance;
and
• represent a rare or good/excellent
example of a style or type with high
quality of design and distinctive
details; and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the style or type;
and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

267

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
CIVIC & INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS

PROPERTY TYPES
• Offices for Public Agencies
• Postal Facilities
• Fire and Police Stations
• Schools
• Libraries
• Religious Buildings
• Hospitals and Medical Facilities
• Social Clubs and Cultural Institutions
• Parks
• Infrastructure Improvements and other Civic Amenities, including roadways and bridges Civic and institutional properties are evaluated for potential historic significance based on the associated themes within each period of development as identified in the historic context statement:
• Establishment and Growth of the City of Ventura (1848-1868)548 • Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905)/Theme: First Land Boom (1869-1886) • Late 19th Century Growth (1869-1905)/Theme: Second Land Boom (1887-1905) • City Expansion and Civic Improvement (1906-1919)/Theme: Early 20th Century Civic and Institutional Development • Between the Wars (1920-1940)/Theme: Civic & Institutional Development • Post-World War II Prosperity (1946-1960)/Theme: Postwar Civic and Institutional Development • Expansion and Redevelopment (1961-1979)/Theme: Civic and Institutional Development • Civic and institutional properties may also be eligible for an association with one of the ethnic/cultural communities in Ventura

548 There may be remnant properties that predate this period; however, these properties are mostly known and/or designated. 268

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
Civic and institutional development reflects the growth of Ventura over time, from the establishment of early amenities and the construction of the first institutional buildings to serve the growing population, through the development of important social, religious, and cultural institutions.

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Civic/ Institutional Building
A/1/1, 3549

(Association
with events or
patterns of
development)
Individual civic or institutional
properties that are eligible under this
criterion may be significant:
• As the site of an important event in
history.
• As an early or rare example of civic
or institutional development
representing the growth of Ventura
in the late 19th or early 20th
centuries. Institutional
development during this period
played a central role in the city’s
growth.
• As an important example of the
continued civic and institutional
growth during the 1920s and the
Great Depression. May represent
important social or cultural
movements of the period, or
represent a significant New Deal
era program.
• As an important example of post-
World War II civic or institutional
development to serve the growing
An individual property that is significant for its
historic association is eligible if it retains the
essential physical features that made up its
character or appearance during the period of
its association with the important event or
historical pattern.
550 A civic or institutional
property eligible under this criterion should
retain integrity of location, design, materials,
feeling, and association, at a minimum, in
order to reflect the important association with
an event or pattern. A property that has lost
some historic materials or details can be
eligible if it retains the majority of the features
that illustrate its style or type in terms of the
massing, spatial relationships, proportion,
pattern of windows and doors, texture of
materials, and ornamentation. For early or rare
civic or institutional buildings, a greater degree
of alteration may be acceptable.

To be eligible under this criterion, an
individual property must:
• date from the period of significance
of the applicable theme; and
• have a proven association with an
event important in history; or
• represent important patterns of civic
and institutional development from a
specific period or facet of Ventura’s
development; and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the property type
or style; and
• retain the essential aspects of historic
integrity.

549 Eligibility criteria are listed in the standard format National Register/California Register/Local. 550 National Register Bulletin 15.
269

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS population in the postwar era. May
represent the establishment of
services in an area of the city that
was developed after the war.

270

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Civic/ Institutional Historic District
A/1/1, 3, 6

(Association
with events or
patterns of
development)
A collection of civic or institutional
buildings that are linked geographically
may be eligible as a historic district.

Eligible districts may span several
periods of development and may be
significant under additional criteria.

The district must be unified
aesthetically by plan and physical
development. Historic districts may
also include multiple property types;
for example, a historic district may
include both commercial and
institutional properties that date from
the period of significance and reflect
the character and reason for
significance for the district.

In order for a historic district to be eligible for
designation, the majority of the components
that add to the district’s historic character must
possess integrity, as must the district as a
whole. A contributing property must retain
integrity of location, design, setting, feeling,
and association to adequately convey the
significance of the historic district. Some
alterations to individual buildings are
acceptable, as long as the district as a whole
continues to convey its significance.

To be eligible under this criterion, a
historic district must:
• retain a significant concentration of
contributors (minimum of 60%)
from the period of significance; and
• retain the essential aspects of historic
integrity.

Geographically contiguous groups of
properties that do not retain sufficient
integrity to qualify as historic districts, but
which retain important planning features
or other characteristics, may be
designated as conservation overlay zones.

271

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE INTEGRITY CONSIDERATIONS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS Property Type: Civic/ Institutional Building
C/3/4, 5

(Embodies
distinctive
characteristics of
a style or type; or
Work of a
notable architect
or builder)
Properties that are eligible under this
criterion may be significant as:
• A good/excellent or rare example
of an architectural style, property
type, or method of construction.

Eligible examples exhibit high
quality of design and distinctive
features.
• A distinctive work by a noted
architect, landscape architect,
builder, or designer.

A property that is eligible for designation as a
good/excellent or rare example of its style or
type retains most - though not necessarily all -
of the character-defining features of the style
and continues to exhibit its historic
appearance. A property that is significant for
its architectural/design merit should retain
integrity of design, materials, workmanship,
and feeling, at a minimum. Eligible bungalow
courts and courtyard apartments must retain
their original plan and layout. Landscape and
hardscape features may also be contributing
features to eligible multi-family residential
properties. A property that is a good/excellent
example of a style or type can be eligible if it
has lost some historic materials or details but
retains the majority of the essential features
from the period of significance. These features
illustrate the style in terms of the massing,
spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of
windows and doors, texture of materials, and
ornamentation. The property is not eligible,
however, if it retains some basic features
conveying massing but has lost the majority of
the features that once characterized its style. A
property important for illustrating a particular
architectural style or construction technique
must retain most of the physical features that
constitute that style or technique.

To be eligible for its style, type, or
method of construction, a property
must:
• date from the period of significance;
and
• represent a rare or good/excellent
example of a style or type with high
quality of design and distinctive
details; and
• display most of the character-
defining features of the style or type;
and
• retain the essential aspects of
historic integrity.

272
City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP
Par
t IV

SOURCES
E.P. Foster Library, after 1959 Remodel. Source: Ventura County Star Archives.

E.P. Foster Library, after 1959 Remodel. Source: Ventura County Star Archives.

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

BIBLIOGRAPHY
“A Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Gosnell Bend to Casitas) 1859-1916.” Compiled by Miss Marjorie Fraser. Volume 1. Fraser Publishing Company. 1965.

Almaguer, Tomas. Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California.

Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 1994.

American Institute of Architects. American Architects Directory. First Edition. New York: R.R.

Bowker LLC. 1955.

American Institute of Architects. American Architects Directory. Second Edition. New York:

R.R. Bowker LLC. 1962.

Architectural Resources Group. SurveyLA Historic Context Statement: Thai Americans in Los Angeles, 1950-1980. Prepared for City of Los Angeles, Office of Historic Preservation.

August 2018.

Arenson, Adam. Banking on Beauty. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. 2018.

Bellezza, Robert A. Images of America: Missions of Central California. Arcadia Publishing. 2013.

Blanke, David. “Rise of the Automobile.” Teachinghistory.org. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

Brovarney, Dorothy E. “Cañada Larga: History and Preservation of the Mission San Buenaventura Aqueduct.” The Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly. Volume 32, No. 3. Spring 1987.

California State Library.

California State Publishing Office. Bulletin No. 84, Third Annual Report of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor of California for the Fiscal Year, 1917-1918. Sacramento, CA: State Publishing Office, 1918.
https://ia802606.us.archive.org/33/items/thirdannualrepor00mclarich/thirdannualrepo r00mclarich.pdf (accessed July 14, 2021).

Calvin Coolidge papers. “Transportation—General 1923-28: Automobiles and the Highways.” Library of Congress. American Memory Collection.

Chattel, Inc. SurveyLA Historic Context Statement: Chinese Americans in Los Angeles, 1850-1980.

Prepared for City of Los Angeles, Office of Historic Preservation. October 2018.

City of Ventura. https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov.

-----. The First 100 Years in Ventura, 1866-1966.
274

City of Ventura Historic Context Statement – Draft for Historic Preservation Committee Review

HISTORIC RESOURCES GROUP

-----. Historic San Buenaventura City Hall, 2013.

-----. The Ventura Story, no date.

“Command History.” Naval Construction Training Center Port Hueneme. https://www.public.navy.mil/netc/centers/csfe/hueneme/CommandInfo.aspx (accessed July 2020).

Denison, Richard. The First 100 Years in Ventura. Ventura, CA: Denison & Teichman. 1966.

Echeverria, Jeronima. “California-Ko ostatuak: A History of California’s Basque Hotels.” PhD Dissertation. North Texas State University. 1998.

Engelhardt, Fr. Zephyrin. San Buenaventura, The Mission by the Sea. Santa Barbara: The Schauer Printing Studio Inc. 1930.

Erlandson, John M., Torben C. Rick, Terry L. Jones, and Judith F. Porcasi. “One If by Land, Two If by Sea: Who Were the First Californians?” In California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity. Ed. Terry J. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar. Plymoth, UK: AltaMira Press 2007.
“First Automobile in Southern California.” Los Angeles Almanac. http://www.laalmanac.com/transport/tr10.php.