Historic Significance and Designation As Historic Site
Though the City of San Fernando is the oldest town in the San Fernando Valley, the Lopez Adobe is all that remains of its early years. The authors of An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles observed: "The one remaining shred of the Victorian period is the Geronimo Lopez Adobe (1878) at the northwest corner of Pico Street and Maclay Avenue. It is two-story Monterey style with some pretty Queen Anne sawed gingerbread across the gallery. Otherwise, all signs of the old town have disappeared, except for the railroad." In the book, Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County, the author also makes note of the woodwork along the balconies: "One of the striking features of the house is that the upper and lower stories have verandas with hand cut wooden railings and a jigsaw pattern balustrade, which is painted in a turquoise blue. This beautiful house is furnished to reflect the period between 1883 to 1910."
The J. Paul Getty Trust gave a "Preserve L.A." grant to the adobe in 2002, and described the structure's importance as follows: "Built in 1882 for Mexican army officer Don Geronimo Lopez, the Lopez Adobe is an important example of California architecture during the transitional period following the decline of the missions and the extensive development of the Gold Rush era. Over the years, the Lopez Adobe has become a cultural icon for the city, and is one of the few historic structures to survive the earthquakes of 1971 (Sylmar) and 1994 (Northridge)."
The Lopez Adobe has been recognized as a significant historical site at both the state and national level.
- In 1945, the adobe was dedicated as a State Historic Landmark. At the time, the Los Angeles Times reported: "Its architecture is Spanish California adobe, a two-story structure with overhanging balcony and outside stairway. It is the only remaining building of Old San Fernando."
- In 1968, the building was registered with the State of California Office of Historic Preservation.
- In 1971, the adobe was listed on the National Register of Historical Places.
Read more about this topic: Lopez Adobe
Famous quotes containing the words historic, designation and/or site:
“The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on possession and use of land.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In a period of a people’s life that bears the designation “transitional,” the task of a thinking individual, of a sincere citizen of his country, is to go forward, despite the dirt and difficulty of the path, to go forward without losing from view even for a moment those fundamental ideals on which the entire existence of the society to which he belongs is built.”
—Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)
“It’s given new meaning to me of the scientific term black hole.”
—Don Logan, U.S. businessman, president and chief executive of Time Inc. His response when asked how much his company had spent in the last year to develop Pathfinder, Time Inc.’S site on the World Wide Web. Quoted in New York Times, p. D7 (November 13, 1995)