Historic Homes

Historic Home Detail | 338

Back to Search Results

Historic Name

E. M. Dillman/ Lonnie Blanton House

Address

1290 W 11th Street
Upland, CA 91786

Evaluation

Building
5/7/2007

Construction Date

1908

Current Owner

Newell O. & Dawn Sharp

Current Owner Address

1044 Harvard ave
Upland, CA 91786

Description

~ % e Amerlcan Foursquare genre has been effectively translated into stone with this two-story residence. Of rusticated art stone construction, the building is capped by a shallowly pitched hip roof. Centrally placed dormers on the front and side elevations, containing diamond-paned windows flanked by latticed vents, echo the pitch and proportions of the main roof. Paired and tripled carved brackets ornament the generous eave projection. An attached, pent-roofed porch wraps most of the north (front) and east elevations. It is enclosed by stone piers and an open stone railing in a checkerboard pattern. Raised swags and other designs decorate the porch frieze. The entry is slightly offset to the west end of the porch; a large window with a leaded glass transom overlooks the east half of the porch.

According to an inscribed legend in the front steps, this is the "Casa La Firma," built in 1908 by E.M. Dillman. A historic photograph identifies the house at a subsequent date as the home of Lonnie Blanton. One of the most unique homes in Upland, the "Casa La Firma" is an outstanding and intact example of the American Foursquare style which characterized American homes from about 1894 to 1908. This generic form of a two-story, hipped roofed box was manipulated by builders and architects across the nation into expressions of the American colonial Revival, Craftsman, and Prairie styles. In clothing this house with art stone the designer imposed a connection with the regional appreciation for stone construction that paradoxically suggests the cooler and harsher climates of the east and midwest.

Other windows are widely spaced, double-hung sash with plain, raised lintels and sills. Located at the southeast corner of 11th and Silverwood, the house is unaltered and in good condition. 19. SIGNIFICANCE AND EVALUATION: The skill of the masonry and the integrity of the design would clearly seem to meet the National Register criterion for the embodiment of "the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction...