1986 HERITAGE AWARD RECIPIENT
The Redlands Area Historical Society, Inc.
Heritage Award 1986
Munhall Home
911 North Church Street
1910
Forrest Munhall, a native of Pennsylvania, first came to Redlands in 1900. He was a guest at the Casa Loma Hotel spending his time exploring the area. In 1909 he married and, with his bride from Pennsylvania, came to Redlands to make his permanent home and to establish himself as a rancher. His father bought him ten acres of oranges on Church Street together with the house that was to become the present three-story home at 911 North Church.
The ten acres were purchased from Clarence and Elizabeth Hoadley, developers. Records show that Elizabeth Hoadley had title to these acres, thirty in all, as early as 1904. In buying the middle ten of these thirty acres, Mr. Munhall had acquired the properties’ ranch house as well. It was a small, one-story clapboard house adequate for the newlyweds but a growing family made it imperative that Mr. Munhall increase the size of his home. In 1915 he moved his rapidly expanding family to a rental on College Street and, using the original house as the foundation, constructed the home we see today. The blueprints of the remodeling show the design of the original and how it was expanded.
The house is of wood with Corbel stone on the pillars and porch. It is plain in design, with gables and handsome plate glass windows giving it style. The original windows of the old house were used on the second floor of the new. In fact, the present dining room reflects in its division the end of the original house and the addition toward Church Street. The play¬house Mr. Munhall built for his family is still on the property.
The Munhall family lived on this property, later adding the third story, until 1977 when the ten acres, still in oranges, was sold to the Brattian Company, developers. They converted most of the acres into small homes but retained the Munhall home and its adjacent land. There it remained, vacant and forlorn until John and Linda Nimmo, ardent preservationlists, saw its possibilities and, with great love and hard work restored the house to its proud beauty. They not only brought back the home they also landscaped the grounds. Their work and dedication cannot be minimized as an example of what can be done with a sturdy, well-designed property, despite Its age. They in turn sold the house to James and Marjorie Castello in 1982 who have continued to maintain the dignity and beauty of this heritage property.
