M E M O R A N D U M

Memorandum
DISCUSSION ITEM #5
TO:
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
FROM:
Heather Waldstein, Assistant Planner
MEETING DATE: March 13, 2014
SUBJECT:
Historic Sites of Merit Outreach Workshop
At the meeting of January 10, 2013, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) recommended
adoption of the attached Historic Sites of Merit list, which includes 37 properties. These 37
properties are proposed for a Historic Site of Merit designation. Being recognized as a Historic
Site of Merit means that the property is deserving of special recognition and encourages the
property owner to protect and enhance such property. The next step in creating this list is to hold
a public outreach meeting for those property owners whose properties are listed and answer any
questions they may have. Following the public outreach meeting, the City Council will review
the HPC’s recommended adoption of the list. Staff will be scheduling the public outreach
meeting for April 2014.
In addition, the HPC has discussed ways of providing review of non-landmarked properties from
demolition or alteration that may be deserving of landmark status or other historic designation.
Staff has researched several cities Historic Preservation Ordinances and would like to meet with
the HPC’s subcommittee on ways to incorporate some aspects of these above mentioned
ordinances.
Page 1 of 1
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Ojai Historic Sites of Merit (Priority Sites)
No Historic Site/Building
Current Name/Business
Address
Date
Built
Historic Source
Other notable characteristics
One of town's first houses; home of pioneer John
Montgomery; 1886 additions * including clapboard façade
by Edwin Baker Family (Helen Baker Reynolds); Ojai's
funeral parlor; Original entrance on Main Street
1 Montgomery-Baker House
The Main Gallery
310 E. Matilija Street
1874
Ed Wenig; Patty Fry; David Mason;
Bristol; Thompson/West; O:PH;
James
2 Presbyterian Manse
L'Auberge Restaurant
314 El Paseo Road, aka:102 Rincon
1919
Patty Fry; David Mason
Mead & Requa-architects/Presbyterian Manse; home of
Ojai's Presbyterian ministers
1919
Gebhard-Winter; Patty Fry; David
Mason; Bristol; O:PH; Woolman;
James; O:IA
Mead & Requa-architects; part of Libbey's Ojai
transformation
3 El Roblar Hotel
The Oaks at Ojai
122 E. Ojai Avenue
4 Smith Hobson House
Ojai City Hall
401 S. Ventura Street
1907
Ed Wenig; Patty Fry; David Mason;
Bristol; James
Originally Craftsman; remodel in 1925 of exterior in Mission
Style by Mead & Requa-architects; Smith Hobson Family
home; second-wave Spanish makeover; A.D. Mason pr
Pat C-D for proofing
5 Ojai Grammar School
Chaparral High School/OUSD offices
414 E. Ojai Avenue
1927
Patty Fry; David Mason; Bristol
Roy C. Wilson-architect/auditorium 1933; second-wave
Spanish makeover
6 Roy Wilson Buildings
Matilija Junior High School
703 El Paseo Road
1929
Patty Fry; David Mason; Bristol;
O:PH; Woolman
Roy C. Wilson-architect/former site of Nordhoff HS; secondwave Spanish makeover
7 James Moore House
SFR-owners: Joyce Syme
512 Foothill Road
1951
Gebhard-Winter; Patty Fry; David
Mason
Richard Neutra-architect; international icon of modern
architecture
O:PH; Modern Maturity; NRTA
Journal; LA Times; OV News
Substantial remodel of original SFR NRTA-AARP
Headquarters done in 1940's by Sanford; first national
home for retired teachers; founded by, and in 1954 home
of, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus
1959
Modern Maturity; NRTA Journal; LA
Times; OV News
Carleton M. Winslow-architect; first national nursing home
based on gerontology; first assisted-living facility; founded
by Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus for AARP
Carleton Winslow architect; second-wave Spanish
makeover
Second-wave Spanish makeover
8 Grey Gables
9 The Acacias
The Gables
Los Robles Care Center
701 N. Montgomery Street
601 N. Montgomery Street
1947
10 Presbyterian Church
Presbyterian Church
304 N. Foothill Road
1930
Gebhard-Winter; Patty Fry; David
Mason; Bristol; O:PH; Woolman
11 Ojai City Garage
Ojai Cleaners
345 E. Ojai Avenue
1924
Patty Fry; David Mason; O:IA
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Ojai Historic Sites of Merit (Priority Sites)
12 Isis Theater
Ojai Playhouse
145 E. Ojai Avenue
1914
Patty Fry; David Mason; Bristol;
Depuydt, Elise
Downtown Ojai's first Mission-Revival building
13 Ojai Art Center
same
113 S. Montgomery Street
1939
Patty Fry; David Mason; Bristol;
O:PH; Woolman; O:IA
Austen Pierpont-architect; founded by Charles Butler;
center of Ojai's arts community; including community
chorus, folk dancers, theater, orchestra; financed and built
by citizen volunteers
14 Thacher Memorial Library
vacant building
303 Lion Street
1893
Ed Wenig; Patty Fry; David Mason;
Bristol; Woolman; James
Early California public library; spearheaded by Sherman D.
Thacher
1875
Ed Wenig; Patty Fry; David Mason;
Bristol; Thompson/West; O:PH;
Woolman; O:IA
Originally the McKee Cottages; Known as Gally Cottages
for many years; founded by Ojai pioneer, James McKee
Robert Stacy-Judd-architect; second-wave Spanish
makeover
15 Oak Glen Cottages
private
240 Gridley Road
16 Krotona Institute of Theosophy
same
12401 Ventura Avenue
1924
Gebhard-Winter; Patty Fry; David
Mason; Bristol; O:PH; Woolman;
James
17 Ojai Pergola
Lions head fountain
205 E. Ojai A
Avenue
venue
1917
Gebhard-Winter; Patty Fry; David
Mason; O:PH; O:IA
Mead & Requa-architects; part of Libbey's Ojai
transformation; reconstructed in 1999
Carleton M. Winslow-architect
18 Ojai Library
Ojai Library
111 E. Ojai Avenue
1928
Gebhard-Winter; Patty Fry; David
Mason; Bristol; O:PH; Woolman;
James; O:IA
19 Maraville Improvement Company
Twice Told Tales Book Store
121 E. Ojai Avenue
1920
Patty Fry; O:PH; Woolman
Sales office for Mr. Libbey's Arbolada development
20 Masonic Lodge
SFR-owners:Allen & Dawn Shook
309 Mallory Way
1930
Patty Fry; Bristol; Woolman
Berkeley Brandt-architect
Patty Fry; Bristol
John Roine-architect; originally built in Meiners Oaks 1929;
later moved on E. Ojai Avenue; associated with Theosophy
movement & krishnamurti
21 Old Liberal Catholic Church
Our Lady and All Angels
1502 E. Ojai Avenue
1929
22 Ojai Valley School's Frost Hall
Ojai Valley School
723 El Paseo Road
1923
Ed Wenig; Patty Fry; David Mason;
Bristol; O:PH; Woolman
Wallace Neff-architect; property donated by Edward
Libbey; school based on philosophy of Edward Yeomans;
associated with Walter Bristol, Frank Frost
23 Boyd Club
Boyd Center (moved in 1957)
510 Park Road
1903
Ed Wenig; Patty Fry; David Mason;
Bristol; O:PH; James
Samuel Ilsley-architect;
y
; founded by
y Boyd
y Family,
y,
ShermanThacher; Ojai Men's Club; USO during WWII
24 Ayers House
SFR
922 Grand Avenue
1874
Patty Fry
Franks Ayers house (ayers moved in around 1906)
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Ojai Historic Sites of Merit (Priority Sites)
25 Ojai Bakery
Azu
457 E. Ojai Avenue
1926
David Mason; Patty Fry; Bristol;
Woolman; James; O:IA
26 Bart's Books
same
302 W. Matilija Street
1935
Patty Fry
Makeover in 1926 by Roy C. Wilson; second-wave Spanish
makeover
Established as a bookstore in 1964; one of Ojai's biggest
attractions; written up in may magazines & travel books;
symbol of the honesty and community spirit of Ojai
Lorenzo Dow Roberts home; Second Empire architecture;
moved to present location
27 Fox House
Weil Tennis Academy Girls Dorm
601 Pope Lane
1880
Patty Fry; SBRA; Reference to L.D.
Roberts-1st owner in the summer
1974, Ventura County Historical
Society Quarterly, p. 12 & 14
28 Sarzotti House
Dr. Graham's office - optometrist
635 E. Ojai Avenue
1906
Patty Fry
Home of pioneer Antone Sarzotti
29 Willard Hall Francis House
SFR
1104 N. Signal Street
1940
Gebhard-Winter; SAH/SCC Tour
Willard Hall Francis-architect
202 W. Ojai Avenue
1929
Bristol; Woolman
311 N. Ventura Street
1936
David Mason
310 S. Fox Street
1920
Bristol
Housed Ojai's first direct dial system with 445 subscribers
in 1929
Originally
g
y built for Daniel Webster, founder of Ojai
j Electric
in the 1930s; Built by Rober Winfield; current owner 6467689
Walter Houk started the business in the Theater Building in
1911; George Harris bought the business and built this Ice
Plant in 1920
601 Pearl Street (straight on Bald)
1901
Patty Fry; David Mason; Bristol
George Bald ran it; associated with early olive industry in
Ojai
30 Pacific Bell Building
Daniel Webster House
31 Tippett's Dental Office
SFR - Thornhill
32 Ojai Ice Plant
33 Olive Mill
SFR
34 Mallory House
504 W. Eucalyptus Street
1950
Ed Wenig; David Mason; Patty Fry;
OV Museum Exhibit; Bristol
Austen Pierpont-architect; George Mallory's son, William
Mallory, who was the Western Union operatior in town, ran
several businesses and organizations in Ojai; He served as
a city councilman and postmaster
35 Humane Society
402 Bryant Street
1981
OV Museum Exhibit
Eric Lloyd Wright-architect
36 Fairburn Estate
700 San Antonio Street
1927
Bristol
37 Michael Hugh Clark House
SFR
1884 E. Ojai Avenue
1880
Patty Fry; Patricia Clark-Doerner
Family home of the pioneer Clark Family; Built by Thomas
Thompsenl The front porch has been enclosed to create a
room, but the house is in excellent shape
Page 3 of 8
Ojai Historic Sites of Merit (Priority Sites)
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Historic Source List
Bristol, Walter W. The Story of the Ojai Valley. The Ojai Publishing Co. Ojai: 1947
Depuydt, Elise, History of the Ojai Theater.
Fry, Patty, The Ojai Valley: An Illustrated History, 1983.
Gebhard & Winter, A Guide to Architecture in Los Angeles and Southern California, 1977.
James, Ellen Malino. Portrait of a Community: Ojai - Yesterdays and Todays. Ojai Valley News. Ojai: 1984
Mason, David, Historical columns in Ojai Valley News.
McClenehan, Hoye, Moore, Ojai: Images of America, Arcadia Press, 2007.
O:PH = Ojai: A Postcard History, Hoye, Walker, Moore. Arcadia Press.
O:IA = Ojai: Images of America, Hoye, McClenehan, Moore. Arcadia Press.
Thompson/West's. History of Santa Barbara & Ventura Counties, California of 1883. (reprint) Howell-North Books. Berkeley: 1961.
Walker, Hoye, Moore, Ojai: A Postcard History, Arcadia Press, 2010.
Wenig, Edward. "The Intangible Spirit of the Ojai," Ojai Valley News.
Woolman, Arthur Erwin. The Ojai Valley: Gateway to Health and Happiness. Kuehl Press. Ojai: 1956.
#8 & 9 Modern Maturity, NRTA Journal, Los Angeles Times, Ojai Valley News
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