During the 1890s, South Orange Grove Boulevard became known as Pasadena’s “Millionaires Row” due to the construction of many grand homes on the former agricultural home sites of the “San Gabriel Orange Grove Association” founders. Although the 1914 Wrigley mansion at the end of this tour was built too late for the Victorian period of significance of this tour, “Tournament House” is included here because it still conveys the scale and setting of the Victorian mansions that formerly graced South Orange Grove.
Mobile Tours
On this walking tour, the rich variety of forms and detailing of houses from the turn of the 20th century express the changing tastes and trends, as designers learned to adapt Eastern and Midwest styles to California’s climate, while responding to advances in technology and the greater availability of a range of building materials. You will see examples of rusticated Richardsonian Romanesque, detailed Queen Anne, Prairie and American Foursquare, expansive Shingle style and Craftsman homes, as well as more modest examples of Folk Victorian and vernacular cottages. The Ross Grove Landmark District at the tour’s beginning includes the largest remaining grouping of original South Orange Grove homes still in existence.
You can click on any house in the list below to jump to information about that property in the California Historical Resources Inventory Database. Known as the CHRID, this program promotes and protects cultural heritage through documenting and sharing information on historical resources.
At the end of this tour, another nearby walking tour can show you even more Victorian Grandeur: the Governor Markham Landmark District (named for Henry Harrison Markham, California governor’s 1891-1895, “the dashing colonel from Pasadena”). With its quiet streets bordered by sidewalks, period streetlights, and mature street trees , it’s considered one of the best and most intact examples of this period in Pasadena.
1. 250 S. Orange Grove Boulevard ( Link)
Part of the Ross Grove Landmark District, this 1911 home is one of the few examples of the Prairie Style in Pasadena.
2. 260 S. Orange Grove Boulevard (Link)
Part of the Ross Grove Landmark District, this 1906 Craftsman home was designed by Joseph J. Blick.
3. 268 S. Orange Grove Boulevard (Link)
Built in 1892, this Colonial Revival style home designed by Joseph J. Blick and Edward C. Kent is part of the Ross Grove Landmark District.
4. 280 S. Orange Grove Boulevard (Link)
This 1910 Prairie Style home designed by Frederick Roehrig, one of the few of this style in Pasadena, is part of the Ross Grove Landmark District.
5. Mary E. Denham House, 297 S. Orange Grove Boulevard (Link)
With its American Foursquare form and Richardsonian Romanesque detailing, this 1890 house designed by Frederick Roehrig is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
6. 490 Ellis Street (Link)
This 1887 Queen Anne home is eligible to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
7. Mrs. J.H. Hood House, 494 Ellis Street (Link)
Built in 1886 at Orange Grove and Colorado Court, this Folk Victorian house was moved to its present location in 1901. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
8. 500 Ellis Street (Link)
Also built in 1886, this modest Victorian home is an example of a Vernacular Hipped Cottage.
9. 510 Ellis Street (Link)
This 1886 Queen Anne style home is eligible to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
10.242 S. Grand Avenue (Link)
With its prominent, steeply-pitched roof and vernacular design elements, this 1893 home is described as Folk Victorian style.
11. 280 S. Grand Avenue (Link)
Built in 1904, the expansive form of this Craftsman style home designed by Joseph J. Blick shows elements of the Shingle style, as these newer influences began to overtake earlier Victorian styles.
12. 325 S. Grand Avenue (Link)
This 1893 Shingle style home with Dutch Colonial Revival elements was designed by Locke & Preston. It is eligible to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
13. George B. Post House, 360 S. Grand Avenue (Link)
Designed by Joseph J. Blick, this 1903 Shingle style home features curved walls flanking the row of third floor windows in its front gable, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
14. Cobble Oak, 395 S. Grand Avenue (Link)
This graciously sited 1893 Shingle style home, featuring lozenge-shaped gable end details and Arroyo stone foundation and landscape elements, was designed by Locke & Preston for Frank C. Bolt, the “dean of Pasadena bankers” in this period. It is eligible to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
15. 440 S. Grand Avenue (Link)
Although built after the period of significance of this tour, this 1910 house includes some Victorian-era as well as Swiss Chalet style detailing.
16. James Fielding Cosby House, 510 Lockehaven Street (Link)
Originally built south of downtown Los Angeles near the West Adams area, this elaborately detailed 1893 Queen Anne house designed by William O. Merithew was moved in 1902 to a nearby site, and again in 1982 to its current location. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
17. 505 Lockehaven Street (Link)
Built in 1904, this Vernacular Hipped Cottage features an eyebrow dormer.
18. 488 Lockehaven Street (Link)
This American Foursquare house was built in 1892.
19. 474 Lockehaven Street (Link)
Built in 1887, this house is described as an example of Folk Victorian composition.
20. Amos Throop House, 468 Lockehaven Street (Link)
A conservative expression of the asymmetrical elements of the Queen Anne style, this house was built on a site two blocks away in 1887, when the civic leader “Father Throop” and his family moved to Pasadena . It is eligible to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
21. Wrigley Estate, 391 S. Orange Grove Boulevard (Link)
The Wrigley family’s Italian Renaissance style home in Pasadena was designed by G. Lawrence Stimson and built in 1914, and the family enjoyed watching the annual New Year’s Day parade from their front lawn. In 1958 the “Wrigley Estate” was presented to the City of Pasadena as the headquarters of the Tournament of Roses Association. Although built too late for the Victorian period of significance of this tour, Tournament House is included as an example of the scale and setting of the Victorian mansions that formerly graced South Orange Grove. Tours of the interior of the mansion are available on Thursday afternoons between February and August.
