2000 HERITAGE AWARD RECIPIENT

Redlands Area Historical Society

1130 Washington Street

Circa 1920

The original home on this site was built in 1902 as a rental. The property was owned by A. N. Dike and W. T. Bill as part of the Olive Grove Addition. According to several ex neighbors, it was a very small house. City building records show that the structure was demolished in 1957. The city directories do not list anyone living in the house after 1952.

In 1972 the empty lot (24) was sold along with lot 23, next door to the north. Lot 23 had a house. However, in 1977 lot 24 was sold separately. Sometime after the 1957 demolition, someone moved this one story house onto the property.

The existing home on the property is best described as an eclectic neoclassic design with craftsman features. Whoever built it selected what he thought was the best of various styles of architecture and combined them. The neoclassical features include the centered dormer on the roof and a recessed porch under the main roofline. The craftsman features include the hipped roof and exposed rafter tails from the opened eaves. The porch supports are classical style with three columns on the South end of the porch and two columns in the middle of the porch.

Richard Diaz purchased the home from his sister Peggy Cortez in 1989. Richard fell in love with the house even though at that time it required a lot of work. Cynthia, his wife, was not as enthusiastic about the project.

After the Diaz’s acquired the house they re-roofed with a composition shingle, painted the entire home, landscaped and added a chain link fence. Later they added a garage.

The house has a block foundation with narrow clapboard siding. The gabled dormer has shingle siding instead of clapboard. The two windows in the dormer have an ornamental “X” across them.

The home has two bay windows, one in front and one on the north side. The front bay window has “X” patterned transoms above the center window with two double hung windows on either side. A divided rectangular transom exists over the porch window with the “X” pattern in each. To the left of the front door are two small windows with ornamental X’s across them.

On the north side of the home a kitchen nook juts out with two double-hung windows facing north and one on each of the sides of the addition. The original cut stone curb runs in front of the home.

Now, Cynthia says she loves her home too. Redlands Area Historical Society thanks the Diaz family for their continuing stewardship of their charming home.

Researched and written by Liz Beguelin