historic angelino heights offers a glimpse of yesteryear
Nestled atop Angelino Heights overlooking the northwest edge of Downtown, exists one of the city’s most stunning enclaves of preserved history. Clustered along the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue (and sprinkled throughout surrounding streets) is the finest collection of Victorian domestic architecture remaining in Los Angeles.
Rows of beautiful old Queen-Anne and Eastlake-style homes — most standing in full glory, while some sit shamefully neglected –give us a glimpse of life in late nineteenth-century Los Angeles, where horse hitching posts and stately stone retaining walls dominated the streets.
Some of the these structures are recognized on the National Registry of Historic Places, and most are considered Cultural Historical Monuments by the City of Los Angeles. Period-specific street lamps and several designation plaques mark the neighborhood’s significance, which is also popular in the film production world.
One of the most elegant residences is 1330 Carroll Avenue (pictured, right), a circa-1880 12-room mansion designed by Joseph Cather Newsom for a local dairyman. The house features some distinguishing architecture details such as feline-head staircases, circular-faced porticos and low-pitched turrets.
At the end of the block is another favorite, 1300 Carroll Avenue. The ornate residence was built circa 1880 by Aaron P. Phillips and is a well-maintained example of the Queen Anne-Eastlake style of Victorian architecture.
These are just a couple examples of the area’s unique charm and notability, which unfortunately is little known among the Downtown population. If you want to experience some true architectural beauty outside of the Historic Core, I highly recommend Carroll Avenue for a weekend afternoon excursion.
While there earlier today, a couple of cars were slowly driving through admiring the scene. One driver stopped, rolled down his window and said smiling, “We’re just passing through… this is amazing!”
You have to see it for yourself.
-Carroll Avenue (and adjacent) Photo Tour Set
9 comments
I don’t have specifics, but I was told that many of these houses were moved here years ago when other areas were bullldozed.
From my research, not many of the homes in this area were moved. Only one on Carroll Avenue, and a couple on nearby streets. Many of the Victorian residences that were relocated for preservation are now in Heritage Square, which is northeast of the 5/110 interchange.
“Amazing” is the operative word! Wonderful pictures Stephen…
WOW!! Thank you sooooo much for this tip!! I can’t wait to hike over there and check the scene out for myself!
I believe most of the buildings at Heritage Square were moved from Bunker Hill. There’s also the Palms PE Depot.
Only two buildings were ever moved from Bunker Hill – the ‘Castle’ and the ‘Salt Box’ – and they were burned by vandals while waiting relocation. The Rochester was moved from Sunset Boulevard near Bunker Hill – and it fell apart while spending years sitting up on blocks. I worked very hard to help get them moved, but then the city did … nothing… to help them after they were taken to storage lots.
But there are at least a dozen surviving houses that have been moved from greater Downtown area that I can think of off hand – and some of them have been moved at least twice such as the Foy house at 1325 Carroll Avenue. Other homes moved to Carroll are the Bates home at 1415 – moved three times – and the home at 1321. 824 and 892 Kensington have also been moved to the area and I am certain that are others I can’t recall.
Acck – soon as I hit print I saw that I typed the wrong info by the Foy House. The Foy house was moved FOUR times… and is now at 1335 Carroll Avenue. It is the cream and white trimmd house with the single bay windows in the photos. More info and a GREAT old photo at:
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/03/no-8-foy-house.html
1325 Carroll was moved also, but it is not the Foy house.
And the Rochester was on Temple when it was moved not Sunset.
Wow! This pictures are great, these homes are amazing.