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Historic Name

Tays/Nisbet House

Address

200 E 13th Street
Upland, CA 91786

Evaluation

Building
5/8/2007

Construction Date

1883/1930

Current Owner

Mary N. Hartman

Current Owner Address

2071 Valley View blvd
Upland, CA 91786

Description

This property has one of the most intriguing histories of any in the vicinity. The two and a quarter acre parcel is announced by a towering evergreen at the curb. On the west on orange grove is still in operation. Two structures are visible from the public right-of-way: A one- and two-story Monterey Revival house and a one-and-one-half story barn. The house has an L-shaped plan with a two-story, side-gabled wing in the rear and a long, one-story front gabled wing extending towards the street. Rafters are exposed beneath the shingled roofs. Stucco sheathes the exteriors. A balcony, the signature of the Monterey Revival style, is shaded by the roof overhang on the rear wing. Wood posts, a stick railing, and beams with shaped ends detail the balcony. Pairs of full height casement windows framed by shutters open onto the space.

In 1883 John B. Tays, a mining man from New Mexico, purchased 40 acres on East 13th Street. According to a later newspaper account, Tays had been impressed by the adobe construction he had seen in travels south of the border, and built the original adobe house as a winery. The newspaper stated that Tays later converted the property to a farm and then to citrus production, leaving the barn and blacksmith shop as they were. Tays achieved fame locally as the designer of the famed mule car which ran up and down Euclid Avenue. Begun in 1887, the service depended on the mules to pull the cars up the hill; the mules then stood on a specially designed platform for the gravity-driven trip back down. Tays sold the property in 1891 to John C. Vermilyea and built another house for himself at Euclid and 24th. In 1895 the property again changed hands, with former senator O.C. Hubbell from Iowa becoming the owner.

Another pair of casements and a six-over-six double-hung sash windows are located below the balcony. A veranda is recessed beneath the roof overhang on the west side of the one-story wing. Posts and beams support the overhang. Although this wing is also fenestrated with six-over-six sash flanked by shutters there is a notable difference in the treatment of the openings, particularly the entry. Located in the third bay south of the street the entry has a very deep reveal, a clue to the fact that this wing is of adobe construction. Historic photographs reveal that the original, one-story house was in the Mission Revival style and had an arcaded veranda along its south elevation. Door and window openings appear to be in the same locations. The wood frame two-story wing was built and the original house remodeled around 1930. The barn to the east predates the remodel. Clad in vertical wood siding, the structure is capped by a front gable with a raised ridgeline. An "Xtl-patterned loft door is located in the gable end. Below it three bays are defined by two garage doors, and a pair of four-over-four sash next to an entry. All of the doors are distinguished by stickwork patterns. Both house and barn are in good condition and the entire property appears to be intact to the time of the remodel.

William H. Paulin was the next owner (1901-07). Like Hubell he was listed as a rancher in the first house east of Euclid on the south side of 13th. In August 1907 Paulin sold to L.D. and D.E. Temple who re-sold the property in November of that same year to Thomas Nisbet. The house has been in the Nisbet family ever since, although most of the grove has been subdivided. Thomas W. Nisbet pursued his interests as a citrus grower while raising his family in the Mission styled adobe. Eventually son Eugene Nisbet became the owner of the property. While maintaining the groves, Nisbet Jr. also pursued a career as public servant. Elected to the City Council in 1940, he served as mayor of Upland from 1942 and 1954. He became a state assemblyman in 1954, was re-elected to three more terms, and then made a successful bid for the state senate. A Democrat, he served in the upper house until his defeat in 1966 in the election that sent Ronald Reagan to the governor's office. Nisbet returned to Upland to manage the family's citrus ranch. He died in 1976. The Tays/Nisbet house is a unique historic resource. The only adobe in Upland, the older portion of the house may be the oldest standing building in Upland. Over a period in excess of 100 years the property has been associated with J.B. Tays whose mule car brought national fame to Upland and Ontario and with the locally prominent Nisbet family. It retains several features from its agrarian origins, including a barn and a fairly sizeable remnant of an orange grove. The property appears to meet both the historic and the architectural criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.