Ferdinand Montigel Home

1993 HERITAGE AWARD RECIPIENT

The Redlands Area Historical Society, Inc.
Heritage Award 1993

Ferdinand Montigel Home
305 Myrtle Street
1901

The house at 305 Myrtle Street was built by Ferdinand Montigel, a cement contractor, in 1901. It has six rooms, one and one half stories and was built at a cost of $2,300. Its primary building material was smooth and sculptured concrete blocks. Although basically Craftsman in styling, it is the use of cement that sets it apart from other similar houses in town.

The use of this material begins with a cement foundation and is found all the way to the cement ridge caps and finials on the gabled roof. A sculptured block chimney is on the north side. Facing the street, there is a large gabled dormer with a semi-circular, screened opening. The upper story of the house is covered with wooden shingles. The first story walls are flat cement blocks with beaded mortar and sculptured block comer quoins. The full-width front porch has comer posts of sculptured cement blocks. Massive chains coming out of decorative lions mouths are used to replace railings.
There are many interesting windows in the house, most of which have a diamond pattern at the top. The front door is flanked by a pair of sidelights that repeats the diamond pattern found in the windows. The brackets under the eaves have an unusual oval cutout at their ends. There is a twenty-six foot square cement block carriage house at the rear of the property.

The builder lived in the home until 1939 when Viella C. Hesser and her husband bought it. Viella lived there until 1967, after having retired as executive director of Redlands Family Services. The house was then bought by Curtis Allen. The home was registered on December 20, 1990 as a Historical Resource of Redlands.

Curtis Allen is to be highly commended for his efforts to maintain and restore the home so faithfully.