Heritage Square Museum

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Heritage Square is a living history museum that tells the story of the development of Southern California through architecture. Eight historic structures, a train car, and a trolly car were all saved from demolition and moved to the site between 1969 - 2005. The museum focuses its efforts on interpreting the years 1850 to 1950, a period 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.

[edit] Background

During the rapid urban expansion of the 1960s, Victorian buildings in Los Angeles were being demolished at an alarming rate. 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, which otherwise would have been destroyed.

[edit] Structures at the museum

Mt. Pleasent Home
Built in 1876 by prominent businessman and lumber baron William Hayes Perry. Designed by renowned architect E. F. Kysor, the home contains elements meant to display the wealth and status of the family. These elements include corinthian columns, fine hardwood floors, a sweeping staircase, and marble fireplace mantles. When built in then-fashionable neighborhood of Boyle Heights, the Perry Residence was arguably the finest and most expensive residence yet seen in Los Angeles. The outward sweep of the entrance stairway, the brackets under the eaves, the slanted bay windows and the narrow columns are characteristic of its Greek Revival and Italianate style.

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

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 just a few blocks from the museum in Highland Park in Los Angeles.

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. The building is an outstanding example of Queen Anne and Eastlake styles. 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 Valley Knudsen Garden Residence (Shaw House)
A unique style for the West Coast, the Shaw House is a Second Empire home with a French Mansard styled roof. It is more humble than the Hale and Perry Houses.

The Carriage barn
The barn was built in 1899 on the grounds of what is now Pasadena's Huntington Memorial Hospital 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.

Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House One of only about 500 Octagonal buildings]remaining in the United States, this building has a story all its own. Based on a philosophy of eight-sided homes being preferable to the standard four-sided variety, the builders of Octagonal structures believe that having windows on all sides offered more light and better air circulation which, in turn, lowers heating and cooling expenses and were easier and cheaper to construct. Fowler's architectural ideas were popular in the East, where most octagonal structures and homes were built. After the Civil War, however, few people were interested in the Octagonal style.

The Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church
The Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church dates to 1897. Designed in the Carpenter Gothic and Queen Anne styles, the floor plan follows the Methodist 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.

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 Iolani Palace 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.

The Palms Depot
Built circa 1887, the Palms Depot became part of the Pacific Electric Railway in 1911 and continued to provide service until 1953. The Palms Depot was declared a historical monument in 1963.

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