Albert and Nellie Taylor Home

2003 HERITAGE AWARD RECIPIENT

Redlands Area Historical Society

Albert and Nellie Taylor Home

 18 South Buena Vista Street

1903

This beautiful Queen Anne style home was built in 1903 at 64 Angelica Street in Redlands. The street name and the number changed around 1923, to the present 18 South Buena Street address. The property is with the Stewart Addition Tract which was established in 1903 by Seth Stewart, a landowner and orange grower. Stewart sold the property to A.G. Dickson in June 1903. A building permit was issued in July 1903 to R. C. Dickson and Son. After owning the property for some seven months, Dickson sold the property to J.J. Prendergast in February 1904.

Prendergast was a very influential person in Redlands, being a city councilman from 198 to 1912 and a State assemblyman from 1921 to 1925. He was General Manager of the Bear Valley Mutual Water Company in Redlands from 1929 until 1945 and President from 1929 until his death in 1962.

While Prendergast owned the property from 1903 until 1907, the occupants during that period were Albert E. Taylor and his wife, Nellie. Albert was one of the brothers that owned the Taylor Bros. Brick Company on Olive Avenue. Albert and Nellie moved from the Angelica Street home in 1907 to a new brick home they had built at 1240 W. Olive Avenue.

The Buena Vista Street property actually consists of two lots, with the home sitting on the southern lot. For many years it was the only home in that block of Buena Vista Street. The two-story structure is considered a Queen Anne. It has a wonderful wrap-around porch which is topped with mid-level shingle roof with a fishscale pattern. Six round columns support the porch roof. A bay window looks out onto the front porch and another bay window sits directly above it on the second floor.

The siding on the house is peach-colored clapboard and thge original double hung windows still exist, many with their old wavy glass. In 1976, there was a fire in the house, which the current owners repaired with loving care. The original home had 2,600 square feet. In 1980, a 500 square foot addition was built for a music room at the rear of the house.

The Johansens have created a beautiful Victorian garden on the north side of the house. Along the front of the property is a wonderful old wrought iron fence supported by brick pillars. The wrought iron fencing came from a cemetery in Hanford, CA. A medallion on the gate shows it was manufactured by the Stewart Iron Works in Cincinnati, Ohio interesting, since the home is within the Stewart Addition Tract.

J. J. Pendergast sold the home in 1907 to W. H. Wyckoff, who was an orange grower. Wycokoff sold to Nina E. Smith in 1923.  Mr. Smith was a rancher. Smith sold in 1931 to Benjamin Martin, who was also a rancher. When the Martin’s passed away, the home went to their town sons and daughter, Irene Young in 1960. Mrs. Young lived in the home until it was sold to the current owners, Larry and Judy Johansen in October 1974. The Johansens are both music teachers and both are members of the Redlands Symphony. Larry plays the trumpet and Judy is a keyboardist. The furnishings in their lovely home reflect their music background.

Written and Researched by Ernie Dierking.