Heritage Square Museum is a living history and open-air architecture museum located beside the

Arroyo Seco Parkway The Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the Pasadena Freeway, is one of the oldest freeways built in the United States. It connects Los Angeles with Pasadena alongside the Arroyo Seco seasonal river. It is notable not only for being an early f ...

in the

Montecito Heights Montecito Heights is a neighborhood in the Northeast Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California. The population in 2000 was estimated at 16,768. Geography and transportation Montecito Heights' boundaries are roughly the Pasadena Freeway ( SR ...

neighborhood of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, in the southern Arroyo Seco area. The

living history museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recrea ...

shows the story of development in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

through historical architectural examples. The museum focuses on interpreting the years 1850 to 1950, a century of unprecedented growth in Los Angeles. Volunteer interpreters give thorough tours that incorporate the history, architecture, and culture of the region. Other specialized living history events, lectures, and items of historical interest are given on a periodic basis.

History

During the rapid urban expansion of the 1960s, Victorian buildings in Los Angeles were being demolished at an alarming rate. The

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cult ...

program, established in 1961, could evaluate properties and list-register them, but not protect them. In 1969, at the request of the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission, a group of concerned citizens established the Cultural Heritage Foundation to counteract this destruction. The Foundation organized Heritage Square as a last-chance haven for architecturally and historically significant buildings to be moved to, which otherwise would have been demolished at their original locations. Mount Pleasant House, Los Angeles

Buildings collection

Eight historic buildings, and a vintage train car and a trolley car, were stopped from demolition and moved to the Heritage Square location between 1969 and 2005. They include:

Mt. Pleasant House

The Mount Pleasant House was built in 1876 by prominent businessman and lumber baron William Hayes Perry. Designed by renowned architect E. F. Kysor, the home contains detailing to convey the wealth and social status of the family. These elements include

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

, fine hardwood floors, a sweeping main staircase, and marble fireplace mantles. It was built in the fashionable neighborhood (in the 19th century) of

Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

. The Perry's Mount Pleasant House was considered the finest and most expensive residence to arrive in mid-1870s Los Angeles. The outward sweep of the entrance stairway, the sculpted brackets under the eaves, the slanted bay windows, and the narrow Corinthian columns are characteristic of its Victorian

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

. In 1975, the house was moved from 1315 Mount Pleasant Street to the museum grounds, and restoration was begun by the Colonial Dames Society of America.

The Palms Depot

The Palms Depot was built c. 1875 for the

Los Angeles and Independence Railroad The Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, opened on October 17, 1875, was a steam-powered rail line which ran between the Santa Monica Long Wharf (north of the current Santa Monica Pier) and 5th and San Pedro streets in downtown Los Angeles. ...

, and was later absorbed into the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

in 1911. It continued to provide service until 1953. The Palms Depot was declared a

in 1963, and to avoid demolition was moved to the museum grounds.

Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House

One of only about 500 octagonal buildings remaining in the United States, the

octagon house Octagon houses were a unique house style briefly popular in the 1850s in the United States and Canada. They are characterised by an octagonal (eight-sided) plan, and often feature a flat roof and a veranda all round. Their unusual shape and app ...

has a unique story. The type is based on the mid-19th century ideas of

Orson Squire Fowler Orson Squire Fowler (October 11, 1809 – August 18, 1887) was an American phrenologist and lecturer. He also popularized the octagon house in the middle of the nineteenth century. Early life The son of Horace and Martha (Howe) Fowler, he w ...

, that eight-sided homes were preferable to the standard four-sided type. The builders of octagonal structures believed that: windows on eight sides gave more light and better air circulation (lowering heating expense in winter and cooler in summer); and that they were easier and less expensive to construct. Fowler's architectural ideas were popular in the East through the 1850s, where most octagonal structures and homes were built. After the Civil War interest waned in the octagonal style. This octagon house is unusual being built later, in 1893. It was built by Gilbert Longfellow at 3800 Homer Street, L.A. It was declared a

(# 413), and was moved to the museum grounds.

The John J. Ford House

The Ford House was built in 1887 as part of a large tract of simple middle-class homes in downtown Los Angeles built by the Beaudry Brothers. The home is particularly interesting because of its inhabitant – John J. Ford, a well-known wood carver. Ford's works include carvings for the

California State Capitol The California State Capitol is the seat of the California state government, located in Sacramento, the state capital of California. The building houses the chambers of the California State Legislature, made up of the Assembly and the Senate, a ...

, the

Iolani Palace Iolani is a masculine Hawaiian name meaning "royal ''hawk''." It comes from the Hawaiian words ''ʻio'', meaning "Hawaiian hawk," and ''lani'', meaning "royal." It may refer to: *ʻIolani School, a private school located in Hawaii *ʻIolani Palac ...

in Hawaii, and Leland Stanford's private railroad car. Because of his occupation, the exterior and interior carvings were all done by hand in ornate, one-of-a-kind patterns.

Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church

The Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church was built in 1897, located at 732 North Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena. Designed in the

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...

and Queen Anne styles, the floor plan also follows the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

tradition of non-axial plans. This plan, with the entrance in one corner and the pulpit in the opposite, is known as the Akron style, having originated in Akron, Ohio.

Carriage Barn

The carriage barn was built in 1899 on the grounds of what is now Pasadena's

Huntington Memorial Hospital Huntington may refer to: Places Canada * Huntington, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Huntington, New Zealand a suburb in Hamilton, New Zealand United Kingdom * Huntington, Cheshire, England * Huntington, East Lothian, Scotland * Huntingto ...

for Dr. Osborne, a member of the hospital's staff. Its architectural style is Queen Anne Cottage with Gothic Revival influences. It has three gables and a distinctive pitched roof. The barn was saved from demolition and moved to the Heritage Square Museum in 1981.

Valley Knudsen Garden Residence — Shaw House

A unique style for the West Coast, the Shaw House is a

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

home with a French

mansard A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

roof. It is of a smaller scale than the Hale and Perry Houses.

Hale House

The Hale House was built in 1887 by George W. Morgan, a land speculator and real estate developer, at the foot of

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...

just a few blocks from the museum in Highland Park in Los Angeles. The building is an outstanding example of the Queen Anne and

Eastlake style The Eastlake movement was a nineteenth-century architectural and household design reform movement started by British architect and writer Charles Eastlake (1836–1906). The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in t ...

s. The house was sold many times and was moved from 4501 to 4425 North Pasadena Avenue (now Figueroa Street) before being purchased by James G. Hale in 1906. It remained in the Hale Family until it was acquired by the museum in 1970, as a

(No. 40). The exterior colors of Hale House were reproduced from chips of the original colors found on the house during restoration. The interior has been restored to represent the rooms as they may have appeared in 1899.

The Salt Box

The Salt Box The Salt Box was a house built in the early 1880s in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles, California. Designed in the saltbox style that was popularized in New England, it was originally located at 339 South Bunker Hill Avenue (231 South Bun ...

was one of the last homes on Bunker Hill, and one of the first moved to the Heritage Square Museum grounds. It was of the

Saltbox A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...

style. Shortly after its arrival, an arson fire destroyed it. It has a place of remembrance as a

References

External links

official Heritage Square Museum websiteHeritage Square Museum Blog
{{Los Angeles Eastside Museums in Los Angeles Architecture museums in the United States Historic house museums in California Open-air museums in California Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) Montecito Heights, Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Protected areas established in 1969 1969 establishments in California History museums in California Houses in Los Angeles Gardens in California Living museums in California Victorian architecture in California