In these three Victorian-era neighborhoods you will see a variety of homes built in Pasadena’s early years. The Bristol-Cypress historic district is the earliest subdivision of the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association (1886), and its name remembers pioneer A.O. Bristol, whose home was located nearby. The homes in the slightly-later New Fair Oaks historic district, one block to the east along Lincoln Avenue, are similar, with some showing the introduction of new themes in Pasadena such as the Arts and Crafts movement. The Raymond-Summit district, nearby on the east side of Fair Oaks Avenue is characteristic of a more middle-class neighborhood and includes examples of high-style Queen Anne, American Foursquare, and Colonial Revival houses as well as vernacular buildings, with designs by noted architects such as Charles Buchanan and three early designs by architects Charles & Henry Greene.
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Rapid development in Southern California in the mid-1880s – fueled by competition and low fares by two competing railroads – expanded Pasadena’s population from 1,200 to as much 12,000 at the height of the “boom”, before settling at 5,000 in 1890. Many of these newcomers were families of modest means in search of new opportunities, and there was a strong demand for affordable housing for the workers who supported Pasadena’s growth.
The Bristol Cypress historic district is the earliest subdivision of the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association’s land (1886), and its name remembers pioneer A.O. Bristol, whose home was located nearby. The houses on Cypress Street include examples of Folk Victorian, Vernacular Hipped Cottage and Vernacular Gabled Cottage styles built in the 1890s and early 1900s. The district’s current scale, rhythm, layout and organization is consistent with its original configuration of lots, houses, yards, accessory buildings, and architectural styles, and expresses the feeling of a late 19th-century working class residential neighborhood.
The homes in the slightly-later New Fair Oaks historic district are similar, with some showing the introduction of new themes in Pasadena such as the Arts and Crafts movement and development of the Arroyo culture forms of Craftsman design.
The Raymond-Summit district includes four subdivisions created in the height of Pasadena’s real estate boom of 1886-1888. With characteristics of a more middle-class neighborhood, it also retains a high concentration of the homes built in the 1890s and 1910s and includes examples of high-style Queen Anne, American Foursquare, and Colonial Revival houses as well as vernacular buildings, with designs by noted architects such as Charles Buchanan and three early designs by architects Charles & Henry Greene (all designs by Greene & Greene are designated as historic monuments in Pasadena).
You can click on property 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.
1. 396 Summit Avenue (Link)
Built in 1898 by I.N. Stevenson, this Vernacular Hipped Cottage has a hipped roof with flared boxed eaves, a central dormer, and a full-width porch with Tuscan columns. It is part of the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
2. 406 Summit Avenue (Link)
Originally there were front porches on either side of the first floor projecting polygonal bay of this one and a half story 1892 Folk Victorian, but soon after its construction the wraparound porch on the south side was enclosed. It is a contributor to the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
3. 416 Summit Avenue (Link)
This 1895 Vernacular Hipped Cottage was built by J.W. Morrison, and features Colonial Revival details including decorative brackets at its extended eaves, Tuscan columns with ornamented plaster bases at the full-width front porch, and diamond-shaped panes in the upper sash of its wood double-hung windows. It is located in the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
4. 422 Summit Avenue (Link)
Built in 1893, the façade of this Queen Anne house with Colonial Revival details features a gable roof above a projecting polygonal bay, and a half-width wraparound front porch with a pedimented entryway and Tuscan columns with panelized pedestals. The gable ends are clad with hexagonal fish-scale shingles, and a sunburst detail at the house’s principal gable. It contributes to the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
5. 430 Summit Avenue (Link)
This one and a half story 1897 Vernacular Hipped Cottage has a central dormer with decorative brackets. Crossheaders connect the windows and in the recessed half-width front porch, the piano window has pointed arch muntins. It is located in the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
6. 442 Summit Avenue (Link)
The 1896 Willis M. Eason House – a Vernacular Gabled Cottage with Colonial Revival details – is an early design by Greene & Greene; Willis Eason was the son of Robert Eason whose house was built next door. Ionic capitals atop fluted pilasters and porch columns frame the house’s façade, with flared roof eaves and paired exposed rafter tails, and a projecting gabled front porch. There are decorative transom windows and sidelights at the entry and the slightly-projecting bay adjacent to it. It is a contributor to the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
7. 448 Summit Avenue (Link)
The 1896 Robert Eason House is another Vernacular Gabled Cottage design, also with Colonial Revival details; Robert Eason was the president of the Union Savings Bank. With the neighboring cottage, they were the sixth project of the new Greene & Greene firm. The placement of the elements of this cottage’s façade are the reverse of its neighbor’s porch and front window, using similar Classical details but with three porch columns and a more extensive door surround at the main entry, and modillions instead of rafter tails at the eaves. It contributes to the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
8. 456 Summit Avenue (Link)
Built by M.H. Hamilton, this 1904 Craftsman bungalow with Shingle style elements has an enveloping front gable with extended eaves, barge board and knee brace details. Its full-width porch has square wood columns with Classical capitals and bracket supports, an Arroyo stone foundation, and cross-gables and a two story projecting bay on the south side. Although slightly later than the district’s period of significance, it contributes to the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
9. 464 Summit Avenue (Link)
Built in 1890 in Los Angeles, this Folk Victorian house was moved to Pasadena in 1915. With strong vertical elements characteristic of the Victorian era, it has a full-width projecting front porch and second floor balcony, and two story projecting gable bays. Especially at the porch and front gable end, this is the most extensively ornamented house in the district, although some of its elements may have been reconstructed or added later. It is a contributor to the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
10. 491 Summit Avenue (Link)
Designed in 1901 by William B. Edwards, this American Foursquare house shows Arts and Crafts style influences. A balcony with substantial low posts and a simple railing is located above its full-width front porch, supported by square wood posts with Classical capitals. A complicated hipped roof with flared eaves and curved rafter tails ties together the house’s expansive form, with some diamond-paned windows, wood shingles at the second floor and wood siding at the first floor. In the rear, a rare surviving carriage house from the period is visible from Villa Street. These buildings are contributors to the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
11. 469 Summit Avenue (Link)
This cross-gabled 1887 Folk Victorian house has a half-width front porch with simple wood posts, perforated scroll-sawn ornaments at the gable peaks, and an ornamental hood over the window of its projecting front section. It is part of the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
12. 465 Summit Avenue (Link)
This Vernacular Hipped Cottage was built in 1902 by J.E. McCutcheon. Its hipped roof with flared ends and exposed rafter tails has a central roof dormer. The half-width projecting front porch is supported by one square post with curved brackets, and the house retains its original wood front door with a glass panel. It is located in the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
13. 455 Summit Avenue (Link)
This 1892 house has the form of a Vernacular Hipped Cottage with Queen Anne details such as the wraparound porch’s turned wood posts, delicate brackets and spindlework, and the turned wood balustrade at the open balcony. There are fish-scale shingles at the gable ends, with tall wood windows and wood siding at the first floor. It is located in the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
14. 451 Summit Avenue (Link)
This 1894 Folk Victorian has a recessed front porch with square wood posts, and a cross-gabled roof with a dormer. The house is clad with wood siding, with wood shingles and ornamented barge boards at the gable ends. It is part of the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
15. 437 Summit Avenue (Link)
Built by H.O. Clark in 1912, this classic Craftsman house is outside the period of significance of this tour. Previously divided into apartments, it was returned to single family use in 2000. It is located in the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
16. 431 Summit Avenue (Link)
The hipped roof of this 1901 American Foursquare has flared eaves and a central dormer with an attic vent. The second floor is clad in wood shingles and the first floor in wood siding, and there is a grouping of second floor casement windows above the half-width recessed front porch, anchored by a single turned-wood column. It is part of the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
17. 406 N. Raymond Avenue (Link)
A contributor to the Raymond-Summit Historic District, this 1896 American Foursquare with Colonia Revival elements was designed by Charles W. Buchanan. It features a second floor projecting bay with a plaster-relief frieze and an octagonal roof rising to a prominent finial, above the full-width front porch with fluted columns, and an Arroyo stone foundation.
18. 436 N. Raymond Avenue (Link)
Designed by C.R. Bradshaw, this 1899 American Foursquare augmented with Colonial Revival influences features a full-width front porch with Tuscan columns and a pediment with plaster-relief ornamentation above groupings of curved brackets. At the second floor, a slightly projecting gable surmounts a bay window with diamond panes in the transom and upper sashes. It is part of the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
19. 450 N. Raymond Avenue (Link)
The 1897 Elizabeth McLean House – a Shingle style house with Queen Anne and Colonial Revival elements – is an early design by Greene & Greene. Above a full-width front porch with heavy wood-clad columns, its façade includes a projecting wing with a gambrel roof and oval attic window, and a turret-like polygonal bay, framing a second floor balcony. It is located in the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
20. 460 N. Raymond Avenue (Link)
The façade of this 1894 Queen Anne design by Cross, Pierce & Bishop features a projecting polygonal bay with a second story gable, an attic-level polygonal turret, and a roof dormer whose window has a bordered sash. It is clad with shingles at the upper floors and the solid wall of its half-width front porch, and has an Arroyo stone foundation. It is a contributor to the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
21. 464 N. Raymond Avenue (Link)
Built by R.J. Perry in 1903, this two story American Foursquare house and its almost full-width one story front porch have hipped roofs with exposed curving rafter tails. The front porch has square wood columns and is enclosed with solid walls instead of railings. It is part of the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
22. 472 N. Raymond Avenue (Link)
This early example of the Arts and Crafts style was designed by Charles W. Buchanan in 1905. The symmetrical 2-1/2 story cross-gable house, with deep eaves, exposed rafter tails and knee braces, has a full-width front porch with bracketed wood columns and a pediment-like central gable with three vents. The upper floors are clad with shingles, while the first floor has wood siding, and it has a brick foundation and porch walls. Slightly later than the district’s period of significance, it is located in the Raymond-Summit Historic District.
23. 57 W. Villa Street (Link)
Although built slightly later than the district’s period of significance, and showing the transition to the Arts and Crafts period styles, this 1906 Vernacular Hipped Cottage is considered a contributor to the New Fair Oaks Historic District. It includes a gently curved bell-shaped roof, curved shingle-clad walls framing its front-facing gable’s transom window, a subtractive porch with Tuscan posts, and an Arroyo stone foundation.
24. 73 W. Villa Street (Link)
Built in 1902 by Lester Bemis, the exposed rafter tails and extended eaves of this Vernacular Hipped Cottage’s hipped roof shows the developing influence of Craftsman design. Both the transom above the large, fixed front window and the central dormer window feature diamond-paned divided lights. It is a contributor to the New Fair Oaks Historic District.
25. 79 W. Villa Street (Link)
This 1888 Vernacular Gabled Cottage has a cross-gable form, with alternating fish-scale and diamond-shaped shingles in its front-facing gable end. With tall, narrow double-hung wood windows and an Arroyo stone foundation, it is located in the New Fair Oaks Historic District.
26. 91 W. Villa Street (Link)
Designed by Charles W. Buchanan, this 1904 Vernacular Hipped Cottage has a gently curved bell-shaped roof with a central dormer, above a recessed front porch whose low walls are integral with the house’s façade and siding. Although built slightly later than the New Fair Oaks Historic District’s period of significance, it is considered a contributor.
27. 99 W. Villa Street (Link)
Both this 1896 Queen Anne house and the carriage house behind it are contributors to the New Fair Oaks Historic District. The corners of the house’s front gable project beyond its polygonal bay, whose tall, double-hung wood window has a colored glass surround. The windows have header and apron details with lugs on the lower sashes, and the gable end features fish-scale shingles. The carriage house retains its hayloft door.
28. 101 W. Villa Street (Link)
Built in 1890 by Wilson and Cruickshank, this Vernacular Hipped Cottage’s façade is composed of a polygonal front bay and a recessed front porch with lace-like brackets, simple header and apron details above and below the windows, and characteristic lug details at the lower corners of the upper window sashes. It is located in the New Fair Oaks Historic District.
29. 103 W. Villa Street (Link)
Built in 1900, this Vernacular Hipped Cottage has a recessed front porch with chamfer-edged posts, and wood siding with mitered corners. It is a contributor to the New Fair Oaks Historic District.
30. 480 Lincoln Avenue (Link)
The projecting bay of this 1899 Vernacular Hipped Cottage has a decorated plaster-relief cartouche, medallion ornaments on the frieze that surrounds the house, and an eyebrow dormer above its recessed half-width front porch. It is located in the New Fair Oaks Historic District.
31. 488 Lincoln Avenue (Link)
Designed in 1900 by William B. Edwards, this Vernacular Hipped Cottage has a projecting half-width front porch with square posts and a separate hipped roof, and pointed arch and diamond panes in its front window. It is part of the New Fair Oaks Historic District.
32. 506 Lincoln Avenue (Link)
Originally built in 1896, this house was remodeled in 1909 to the shingled Swiss Chalet-style of Craftsman design. Although located in the New Fair Oaks Historic District, it is not a contributor.
33. 512 Lincoln Avenue (Link)
This 1896 Queen Anne house’s cross-gable form include a projecting, polygonal front bay with fish-scale shingles in the gable end and decorative brackets below the eaves, and a half-width wraparound front porch with Tuscan-style posts. It is part of the New Fair Oaks Historic District.
34. 460 Cypress Avenue (Link)
The recessed half-width front porch of this 1900 Vernacular Hipped Cottage has turned posts topped with curved brackets with a cutout design, and fish-scale shingles in its gable ends. Originally located further north on the opposite side of Cypress, it was relocated in 1997. Due to its integrity, it is part of the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
35. 480 Cypress Avenue (Link)
Featuring a full-width front porch with turned posts and curvilinear brackets, and gable end details including fish-scale shingles, sunbursts, and a dentil-carved collarbeam above the central vent, this 1897 Folk Victorian shows the influence of the Eastlake style, and contributes to the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
36. 490 Cypress Avenue (Link)
This Vernacular Hipped Cottage was built in 1902, and features a full-width front porch and a central roof dormer. It is located in the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
37. 494 Cypress Avenue (Link)
This 1918 Craftsman style house – by the same builder as the house at 517 Cypress Avenue – was constructed too late for the period of this tour, but it is also located in the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
38. 503 Cypress Avenue (Link)
This 1894 Vernacular Hipped Cottage has alternating rows of fish-scale and diamond shaped shingles in its front gable. Originally sited further back on its lot, it was moved closer to the street in 1992 when another building was constructed behind it. It is located in the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
39. 514 Cypress Avenue (Link)
This 1889 Folk Victorian home features turned porch posts, and its front gable has fish-scale shingles and bargeboard detailing at the roof edge. It contributes to the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
40. 517 Cypress Avenue (web link: Link)
Built in 1905, this is an example of a Vernacular Hipped Cottage – one story with a hipped roof – and is one of the most common house types in Pasadena in this period. This home has Tuscan columns at the front porch and an Arroyo stone foundation, and is part of the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
41. 495 Cypress Avenue (Link)
Built in 1893, this Vernacular Hipped Cottage has a full-width front porch with turned posts. With its gable end and the sides of its central dormer clad with fish-scale shingles, it contributes to the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
42. 487 Cypress Avenue (Link)
Although it was built in 1903, this house was apparently updated to the Craftsman style early in its history and does not contribute to the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
43. 479 Cypress Avenue (Link)
This 1896 Folk Victorian includes Colonial Revival elements in the gable returns and the porch posts’ Classical capitals, with a shingled second floor exterior above wood lap siding with corner boards at the first floor, and an Arroyo stone foundation. It is located in the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
44. 455 Cypress Avenue (Link)
This 1903 Vernacular Hipped Cottage with a half-width front porch, bell-shaped roof and boxed eaves was constructed by the same builder as its neighbor to the south, Charles Dixs. It is located in the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
45. 453 Cypress Avenue (Link)
Similar in form to its neighbor to the north, this 1903 Vernacular Hipped Cottage has Classical capitals topping the square posts of its additive half-width front porch, and polygonal bays on its south side as well as facing the street. It is part of the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.
46. 438 Cypress Avenue (Link)
This 1900 Vernacular Gabled Cottage was built at 239 S. Catalina Avenue (2 miles away) and moved to this location in 1993; it had incorrectly been identified as the Charlotte Perkins Gilman House. It has a cross-gabled form with an unusual arched exterior balcony opening above the full-width front porch, and contributes to the Bristol-Cypress Historic District.