1447 PARKVIEW AVENUE

PASADENA

Former Address: 2288 Parkview Avenue (1926-1930) Style: English Tudor Revival (with some French Norman influences). For a discussion of this style and how it applies to this house, please see page 15. Year of Completion: 1926 Original Building Permit: #2575D, issued by the City of Pasadena on June 21, 1926 for a two-story, nine-room dwelling. The house, to measure approximately 45 by 75 feet with a maximum height of 25 feet, would have a concrete foundation, wood-frame walls, a shingled roof, one brick chimney, and oak and Oregon pine (Douglas fir) floors. A total of 45 light fixtures from the ABC Electric Company were to be installed. A copy of this permit is attached on page 7. Cost to Build: $7,500—a typical cost for a house of this size at the time. Builder and First Owner: Ross K. Boore, a securities salesman, who shared the house with his wife Mary A. Boore. Mr. Boore purchased the vacant parcel from W. J. Filley. Ross Keyser Boore was born in Bedford, Pennsylvania on December 31, 1880. His father William was a farmer. By 1905, Ross had found work as an electrician in New York City. Sometime before 1909, he changed careers to become a bond salesman in Troy, New York, and by 1913 he was in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania employed by Harris, Forbes & Company, a bonds firm. Following military service in World War I, Mr. Boore returned to Harris, Forbes, working in their Syracuse, New York branch. In 1920, he again moved to Wilkes-Barre where he

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established his own office. He relocated to Southern California in 1923 where he worked for Citizens National Bank. In 1925, he became the manager of the bond department of Pacific Properties Corporation in Pasadena. Around 1926, just before moving into his new Pasadena house, Mr. Boore married Mary Anderson, born in Buffalo, New York in 1891. She was identified in directories as a social worker. In 1932, Mr. Boore joined the sales staff of Bowes Brothers & Company of Los Angeles—a job change perhaps dictated by the Great Depression. In 1943, he accepted the job of account executive with the newly-formed investment and securities firm of Harbison & Gregory. Mary Boore died at the age of 53 in 1945. Later that year, Mr. Boore married Beatrice Broughton (1901-1991), an Illinois native and a graduate of the University of Illinois. By that time, Mr. Boore was in the real estate business at 385 East Green Street, Room 309, in Pasadena. Beatrice Boore was a long-term librarian with the Pasadena Public Library. She was also active in the California Arboretum Foundation. Mr. and Mrs. Boore later moved to Altadena. Ross Boore died at the age of 88 on August 11, 1969. Brief obituaries for him and his first wife were published in the Pasadena Star-News and are attached on page 6. Architect: Unfortunately, the designer of this house remains unknown. The building permit, which is usually the source of this information, does not identify him. In some cases, the builder or owner would purchase or “borrow” the plans and specifications from a publication. A number of residences appear to have been influenced by designs published in house pattern-books and in popular magazines including Good Housekeeping, The Ladies Home Journal, and House and Garden. Once the plans were purchased, the builder might then embellish them according to his own or his clients’ tastes. Some owners would even ask their builder to replicate a house they had seen somewhere else, perhaps while traveling abroad or in another state. Some builders were known to consult with established architects who, for a set fee, might quickly sketch out a few ideas for the builder to enlarge upon, without taking credit for the actual design. In other instances, the builder might engage the services of a non-professional designer or perhaps an un-licensed architect who, for one reason or another, wished to remain anonymous. (By the mid-1920s, state licensing laws prevented un-certificated designers from putting their names on building permits.) Another source of design talent were the Hollywood movie studios, especially during the 1920s, when set designers would sometimes “moonlight” as non-professional architects, creating romantic and very often highly decorative period revival houses. However, it must be emphasized that many experienced and talented builders did not engage architects but did their own design work. A builder who had worked with a number of well-known architects might “borrow” stylistic elements that he fancied or felt were marketable and incorporate them into his own buildings.

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Other Building Permits: A new 105,000-BTU furnace was installed in February 1937. A permit was issued in January 1967 to remodel the kitchen, install new cabinets, re-plaster ceilings, and repair fire damage. The owner was to serve as his own contractor. The cost was estimated at $4,500. Electrical service was moved in June 1970. In September 1970, the garage was to be demolished for $250. Also that month, a six-foot solid board fence was to be installed for $317. Another remodeling of the kitchen, including a laundry area, was permitted in October 1982. Metz & Metz of Temple City was the contractor for this project valued at $8,000. A new 415-square-foot, two-car garage was to be constructed for $25,000 according to a permit issued in September 1990. Mark Evans of South Pasadena was the contractor. The house and garage were to be re-roofed with Class A fiberglass material in May 1997 for $9,900. In December 1998, the furnace was replaced and air-conditioning added. Copies of some of these permits are attached on pages 8 through 12. (Note: Permits for very minor alterations, such as water heater replacement, are not included. Also not included are permits missing from the file or whose microfilmed or digital copies are indecipherable and not otherwise recorded or described in Assessor’s records.) Assessor’s Records: The Pasadena City Assessor first visited the property on October 22, 1926 and recorded a newly-completed single residence with a concrete foundation, plaster walls, a gabled shingled roof, and plain wood trim. Heat was provided by a fireplace and a gas furnace. There were twelve plumbing fixtures. Interior finishes were described as “special.” The house had a total of seven hardwood floors. The Assessor estimated the square footage at 2,581. On the first floor were three living rooms (one was probably a dining room), two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen. The second floor contained two bedrooms and one tiled bathroom. There was also a basement that measured approximately eight by ten feet and was five feet deep. The detached garage, measuring approximately sixteen by eighteen feet, had a concrete floor, a plaster exterior, and a shingled roof. The Assessor later noted that this improvement had disappeared by December 1970. The Los Angeles County Assessor currently estimates the square footage of the house at 2,606 with five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Copies of the City Assessor’s building records are attached on pages 13 and 14.

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(Note: The Pasadena City Assessor’s Office ceased operations in 1974. Their square footage totals often differed from those of the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office, since they frequently included garages, terraces, patios, etc. in their computation. It is advisable to rely on the County Assessor’s square footage figures since they are more up-to-date and consistent.) Other Owners and Residents: By 1949, Major E. Gates, a ceramics engineer, and his wife Rosalind M. Gates had become the residents. Living with them was their son Major E. Gates, Jr. Around 1955, Eric D. and Barbara F. Wilson gained title. Mr. Wilson was employed as electronics manager for the Angle Computer Company. He later worked as a department manager for the Invar Corporation and as a salesman for Dressen Barnes Electronics. Dirk J. Feenstra, an Altadena-based Realtor, became the owner in 1966. He appears to have owned the property only a short while, fixing it up for resale. Mr. Feenstra sold the house in May 1967 to Edmund P. and Marilyn N. Jensen. Mr. Jensen was employed as a department manager at Technicolor. In May 1969, ownership was recorded in the name of Palmer Wheaton, trustee for the Polly Wheaton Lewis Trust. Living in the house was Dale H. Lewis, the proprietor of the Mail Pouch Mailing Service, a letter shop located at 854 East Washington Blvd. Jacob F. Schoellkopf III, an artist, and his wife Eileen R. Schoellkopf became the owners in June 1972. The Schoellkopf family have owned the property for over forty years. Significance: The Boore house is potentially eligible for listing on a local inventory of significant properties due to its good design, good state of preservation, prominent siting with panoramic views, and its contribution to the Parkview Avenue neighborhood.

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Sources: Los Angeles County Assessor Los Angeles Public Library

City of Pasadena, Planning and Development Department (Design & Historic Preservation Section)

Pasadena Public Library Pasadena Museum of History (Research Library and Archives) Gebhard, David and Robert Winter. An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles. Salt Lake City, Gibbs-Smith, 2003. McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses. 2nd ed. New York, Knopf, 2013. City Directories: 1926- Los Angeles Times: September 24, 1925; September 4, 1932 Pasadena Star-News: March 1, 1945; August 13, 1969; October 15, 1991 Internet Resources, including California Index, California Death Index,

Gale Biography Master Index, Ancestry.com, and Historic Los Angeles Times Database.

Tim Gregory The Building Biographer 400 East California Blvd., #3 Pasadena, CA 91106-3763 626-792-7465 timgregory@sbcglobal.net www.buildingbiographer.com Copyright March 2016 by Tim Gregory

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Pasadena Star-News March 1, 1945; p. 22

Pasadena Star-News August 13, 1969; p. B-6

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THE TUDOR REVIVAL STYLE Tudor Revival was a dominant style of domestic building used for a large proportion of early 20th-century suburban houses throughout the United States. It was particularly fashionable during the 1920s and early '30s when only the Colonial Revival rivaled it in popularity as a vernacular style. The popular name "tudor" is historically imprecise, since relatively few examples closely mimic the architectural characteristics of Tudor (early 16th-century) England. Instead, the style is loosely based on a variety of late Medieval English prototypes, ranging from the thatch-roof folk cottages to grand manor houses. These traditions are freely mixed in their American eclectic expressions but are united by an emphasis on steeply pitched, front-facing gables which, although absent on many English prototypes, are almost universally present as a dominant facade element in Tudor Revival houses. About half have ornamental false half-timbering, a characteristic they share with some examples of the earlier Stick and Queen Anne styles, which also drew heavily on Medieval English precedent. Unlike these styles, which were usually executed with wooden (board or shingle) wall cladding, most Tudor Revival houses have stucco, masonry, or masonry-veneered walls. The earliest American houses in the style date from the late 19th century. These tended to be architect-designed landmarks which, like the first American Queen Anne houses built twenty years earlier, rather closely copied English models. Many were patterned after late Medieval buildings with Renaissance detailing that were popular during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras of English history. In the United States, the uncommon landmarks of the early Tudor Revival style were joined in the decades from 1900 to 1920 by less pretentious houses which superimposed steep gables, half-timbering, or other typical detailing upon otherwise symmetrical facades (most commonly with full front gables). These modest early examples, unlike most Tudor Revival houses, tend to have walls clad with weatherboard, shingles or stucco (applied over wooden lath), thus avoiding the expense of solid masonry construction. Still relatively uncommon before World War I, the style expanded explosively in popularity during the 1920s and '30s as masonry veneering techniques allowed even the most modest examples to mimic closely the brick and stone exteriors seen on English prototypes. They show endless variations in overall shape and roof form and are most conveniently subdivided on the basis of their dominant facade materials (brick, stone, stucco, or wood). Tudor Revival quickly faded from fashion in the late 1930s, but became popular in somewhat modified form during the new period revivalism that began in the 1970s and '80s. The Boore house is a good example of Tudor Revival with its high-pitched composition roof; half-timbering; paneled front door recessed within an arch; wood casement and fixed windows, grouped singly or in bays, most with small panes and wood muntins; and tall chimney (which was probably all plaster originally). The extreme pitch of the roof and the use of clapboarding to fill in the gable–ends is also characteristic of the French Norman style.