1981 HERITAGE AWARD RECIPIENT
The Redlands Area Historical Society, Inc.
Heritage Award 1981
William N. Moore House “The Peppers”
926 East Highland Avenue
c.1903
Overlooking the valley high atop a hill on East Highland Avenue stands the William N.Moore house. This fine-old home was built by Moore, an orange grower from Jolien, Illinois. He operated the Elephant Orchards Packinghouse, an important packing house in the East San Bernardino citrus industry. His home was a classic example of the residence of a successful easterner turned citrus grower. Because of the many pepper trees on the grounds, the location became known as “The Peppers.”
This house, an adaptation of an Italian villa which Moore had seen in Northern Italy, is a two-story structure with stucco exterior and shingled roof. The entrance to the home is through a large cement stoop or porch with cement benches on both sides. The porch is enclosed by open stickwork around the top and the pillars. The front doors of plain glass are flanked by two smaller lead-glass windows. The left side of the house has a tower-like structure with a stepped triangular roofline. On the second floor are three windows with semi¬circular tops. Below on the first floor is a large bay window consisting of four rectangular windows with leaded glass top panels.
Above the front entrance is a second floor patio or deck with four arched windows in the background. This deck is enclosed by an open stickwork railing. The right side of the house has a rounded tower extending to the roofline with three long rectangular windows. On the extreme right side is a one-story wing built on an angle that extends well past the front of the house. This structure houses the kitchen and pantry area. To the left of the house .is a large open veranda on a cut-stone foundation. This veranda gives an outstanding view of the valley below. The front of the house is surrounded by large trees and enclosed by a cement railing with posts and foundation of cutstone.
The house remained in the Moore family until 1952 when the house and twelve acres were purchased by the Carmelite Fathers as a religious retreat center.
