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Historic Name

W. B. Stewart House

Address

388 N 1st Avenue
Upland, CA 91786

Architect

Robert H. Orr

Evaluation

Building
5/8/2007

Construction Date

1911

Current Owner

Paul E. Pace

Current Owner Address

388 n 1st ave
Upland, CA 91786

Description

Located at the southeast corner of First Avenue and D Street, Local designation this is a two-story residence in the Craftsman style. A front gable roof caps the structure, with braces and rafters visible in the eaves. Horizontal venting appears in the apex of the gable. Three double-hung sash windows are equally spaced across the upper facade. They are distinguished by markedly extended lintels. The first floor is spanned by an attached porch set beneath a pent roof. Tapered posts sitting on a low, clapboarded wall define three bays. The entry is located in the central bay and announced by another gable. An extended lintel also tops the doorway. Formerly the porch wrapped the northwest corner of the house and continued onto the north elevation; it has been enclosed. Other alterations include the addition of a deck in front of the porch and the apparent removal of some lower story facade windows. In a reversal of the usual practice, the upper story is clapboarded and the lower, shingled; this too may be an alterations. Accommodation to restaurant use on the interior has also resulted in modifications. The house is in fairly good condition.

The Sanborns indicate that the house was built between 1907 and 1912. Mary E. Stewart was the assessed owner of the parcel, beginning in 1906. Notices in the Los Anaeles Builder and Contractor in 1911 may provide the answer. On April 4, 1911, under the column entitled 'lPomona,l~ the following entry was made: "Architect Robert H. Orr is drawing plans for a twostory nine room residence to be built at Upland for W.B. Stuart [sic] of Ontario. It will have stone foundation and porch columns, shingled exterior and roof, oak and pine floors, stained pine trim both, furnace, and electric wiring."

A somewhat different description appeared two months later, again in the Pomona column: "Architect Robert H. Orr. ..[has let] the contract to W.C. Cline of Upland for the construction of a twostory eight-room residence for W.B. Stewart. It will have concrete foundation, shingled roof, pine and ceder interior finish, oak and maple floors, built-in furniture, plate glass windows, bath, sleeping porch, and water heater. The cost will be $4825." Robert Orr was an architect based in Los Angeles whose specialty was churches. In 1911 he designed the Pilgrim Congregational Church in Pomona and in 1912, the Bethel Congregational Church in Ontario. His most well-known Upland commission is the Mennonite Church of 1925. Orr's client for this house, W.B. Stewart, came from a Pennsylvania family with deep ties to the oil industry. In Upland, Stewart had extensive citrus holdings. This house, occupying a prominent site in downtown Upland opposite the civic center, is notable for its siting, size, architectural quality, and associations with a well-known architect and prominent family. Parenthetically, it should be noted that this is one of only a small number of houses in Upland for which the involvement of an architect is documented, and most of those are grove houses on Euclid Avenue.