| State of California - The Resource Agency |
| DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION |
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| *Resource Name or #: |
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Survey Title: |
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| B1. |
| Historic Name: |
The Old House or The Little House
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| B2. |
| Common Name: |
The Old House
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| B3. |
| Original Use: |
Laundry facility
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| B4. |
Present Use: |
Single Family Residence
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| *B5a. |
| Primary Architectural Style: |
Folk Victorian
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| B5b. |
| Secondary Architectural Style: |
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| *B6. |
| Construction History: |
Date Built: |
1877
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The house has undergone several alterations and additions, most of which are non-contributing to the property. The landscaping, fencing, and stonework in the front yard were not part of the original design for the site, and the pool and auxiliary structure on the northwest portion of the property were built decades after the original house – none of these site features are considered contributing to the historic character of the property. There are additions to the side (northwest and southeast elevations), as well as a large addition to the rear (north elevation) of the house. These additions, as well as the dormers, are also non-contributing features because they were built well after the original construction and were not part of the plan for the house.
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| *B7. |
| Moved?: |
 Yes
 No
Unknown
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Date: |
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Original Location: |
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| *B8. |
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| *B9a. |
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| *B10. |
| Significance: |
Theme: |
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Area: |
City
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| Period of Significance: |
1877-1927
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Property Type: |
Single Family Residence
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| Applicable Criteria: |
| National Register Criteria: |
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California Register: |
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Local Register: |
La, Lc
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The house is the only structure that remains from the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel. The Hotel was the first of its kind in Southern California. In 1874, William Rhoades and William Cogswell purchased 473 acres of the old Rancho Santa Anita, eventually planting the hillsides with flowers and orange groves. In 1877, they built a 70-room hotel, with a glass veranda, on the property.
Newspaper articles, interviews, and photographs document the use of the house as a laundry and employee housing for the hotel. Around 1900, other hotels had been built nearer the center of the city, and the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel became obsolete in its remote location. The property was divided and sold off in the 1920’s. The “Old House” has been the only remaining structure from the hotel since the late 1940’s.
The property at 1577 Old House Road is eligible for designation under Criterion A, (§17.62.040 PMC): “[The property] is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of the history of the City, region, or State.”
Under this criterion, it is significant as the only remaining structure associated with the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel. Mentioned in a historic context report of the city, the hotel is recognized as the first of such structures built in Pasadena, and it contributed to the City’s development as a tourist destination for Easterners.
The property is also eligible for designation under Criterion C, (§17.62.040 PMC):
(The property) embodies the distinctive characteristics of a historic resource property type, period, architectural style or method of construction, or is an exceptional representation of the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose work is significant to the city, or that possesses high artistic values that are significant to the city.
Under this criterion, the house at 1577 Old House Road is significant as an intact example of the early settlement farmhouse style. It has architectural integrity (its ability to demonstrate why it is significant) through its location, design, setting, materials, and workmanship. “Through the whole of the [19th] century, the California farmhouse embodied the colonial tradition of a plain, clapboard frame structure with a piazza along the front or at the side.” The original house is characteristic of this description with its prominent front porch, frame structure, and plain wood siding.
The house is a largely intact example of the early settlement farmhouse style. The rest of the site has been redeveloped over time from the orange groves of the original Hotel, to the grounds of a sanitarium, and finally subdivided for lots for individual residences. Although the house and its setting have been heavily altered, the property is still eligible for designation as one of few surviving structures of its age and style in the city.
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| B11. |
| Additional Resource Attributes: |
HP02, HP04, HP05
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| *B12. |
| References: |
Anne Scheid. Pasadena: Crown of the Valley (Northridge: Windsor, 1986)
“The End of an Era.” The View From Sierra Madre Sep. 1973.
“Architectural/Historic Development of the City of Pasadena.” Historic Context/Property Type Report, 1993
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| B13. |
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| *B14. |
| Date of Evaluation: |
12/03/2007
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