A Needle in a Haystack
By Hunter Fuentes and Jon Stordahl
The book Don Quixote is considered one of the greatest novels ever written. Its author, Miguel de Cervantes, created a new way of storytelling, hence the origin of the word “novel.” Among the author’s many inventions in his masterwork is the expression “look for a needle in a haystack.” We mentioned in an earlier article that we have been working on creating an accessible catalog of projects completed by important architects in our city’s history. Sometimes, the task is pretty straightforward; other times, it requires more determination and an occasional helping hand.
Aubrey St. Clair is one of the architects whose work we have been most focused on. The most productive years of his career were here in Laguna Beach, but his earliest projects were in the Pasadena area. In 1928, he was commissioned by Adrian C. Stanton to design a home in San Marino. The June 18, 1928 edition of the Pasadena Evening Post noted that the Stanton residence was to be built at 2235 Ridgeway Road. We did a search of the address and saw that the house was a handsome Spanish-style structure. We even took a field trip up to San Marino to see the home.
There was a method to this madness. An old friend owns a beautiful home on High Drive. He is convinced the Spanish Revival house, built around 1930 for Sam and Mary Sherer, is a St. Clair. Unfortunately, the city’s building files do not include an original permit for the home. Many permits were lost over the years, and many do not name an architect. We hoped that since the Stanton home in San Marino and the Sherer home in Laguna are contemporaneous, we might observe some obvious similarities in design elements to build a circumstantial case that both structures were the work of the same architect. Unfortunately, we could not see enough commonalities to support such a conclusion.
We also reached out to the San Marino Historical Society. Christa Lakon, one of their volunteers, offered her assistance. She personally searched the building records in San Marino and made an interesting discovery. The Stanton residence was NOT at 2235 but rather at 2335 Ridgeway. It is a beautiful English Tudor, a residential style St. Clair particularly liked. The home has been lovingly maintained. She also helped us locate three Pasadena properties he designed.
Sometimes, it’s all in the name. There was a short mention of a St. Clair “Cape Cod” style home being built for Miss Sophia Beery in a South Coast News article on March 20, 1936. A Santa Ana Register piece from May 2, 1935 placed the Beery home on “Cypress.” An exhaustive search of the building files of every property on Cypress in North Laguna turned up no matches. But a 1945 Laguna Beach phone directory listing street name changes solved the mystery. Several repetitious street names contributed to obvious confusion as the city’s borders expanded to include the Arch Beach community and areas north of Broadway. New names were assigned to solve the problem. The street called Cypress in Arch Beach was rechristened Mountain. A search of city records for properties on that street finally located the Beery home, still standing after nine decades.
More often than not, it’s just dumb luck. A South Coast News story on April 6, 1934, noted that Aubrey St. Clair had designed a home for Mrs. Fred Turner on Woods Point. We could not find an address in any city records or old phone books. On a whim, we began a search for her name in the old newspaper archives. We got lucky. We found a police report of a burglary at the Turner home in the November 8, 1935, edition of the South Coast News. The story included an address on Ocean Way. From there, we were able to unearth the city building records to confirm the Turner house location and add another piece to our puzzle.
Over the last couple years we have compiled fairly comprehensive catalogs of the work of Aubrey St. Clair, Manfred DeAhna and Charles A. Hunter. We’ve also made a good start on the designs of Thomas J. Harper. There’s still a lot of sleuthing to do, but unlike Quixote tilting at windmills in his quest for giants, we’ve actually located a needle or two in that haystack.
Hunter Fuentes is a Laguna Beach resident and founder of Historic Laguna. The website is coming soon at www.historiclaguna.com. Jon Stordahl has lived in Laguna for over 20 years. He is a retired history teacher and was recently appointed to the Laguna Beach Heritage Committee. You can reach Hunter and Jon at [email protected] and [email protected].
