Here are the winners of the Redlands Area Historical Society’s 2022 Heritage Award – Redlands Daily Facts

A 1930s Craftsman-style stone house, a 1901 Victorian farmhouse now home to a business, and a 1941 California mission-style church are among six winners of the Redlands Area Historical Society’s heritage awards for 2022.

The Historical Society presented the awards at its 47th Annual Heritage Awards Ceremony and Annual Meeting held in June at the Contemporary Club.

The heritage awards, celebrating preservation and history, are given to homes and other buildings that are at least 75 years old and in good condition, according to a press release.

This year’s awards went to CC and Lena McCarty’s home at 1101 Orange St., built in 1901 and now home to the accounting firm of L. Ray Ashworth; the 1905 Homer and Bertha Pinnell House at 736 Walnut Ave., owned by Jerry and Susan Keith; the 1905 Fredrick T. Harris House at 121 E. Fern Ave., owned by Stephen Plante and Alexis Peralta; the 1911 Ferguson House at 361 Franklin Ave., owned by David and Evelyn Gusseck; the Paul and Florence Parker House at 315 W. Lugonia Ave., built in the 1930s and owned by Vanessa Bravo; and the former St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 1205 Columbia Street, built in 1941 and now part of the Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Community of Redlands.

Since 1975, the Historical Society has awarded more than 350 heritage awards.

Members of the Historical Society research buildings and provide information for awards. This year’s Heritage Award winners were Tom Atchley, Ron Running, Jill Huntsinger, Kathleen Beall, John Paul Beall, Susan Keith and Marjorie Lewis.

At the meeting, the Historical Society also elected its new board of directors. Board members are Tom Atchley, Ron Running, Jennifer Schaefer, Susan Rettig, Steve Spiller, Erin Benson, Marie Reynolds, John Paul Beall, Kathleen Beall and Thomas Jackson.

The company also thanked two outgoing board members, Jill Huntsinger and Marjorie Lewis, for their years of service.

About the Heritage Award winners:

CC and Lena McCarty House (1101 Orange St.), 1901

Ray and Jeani Ashworth have owned this two-storey Victorian farmhouse since 2005. The building, which had been vacant for several years before, now houses Ray Ashworth’s accounting business.

It was built for $2,000 for CC McCarty and his wife, Lena, who only lived there for a few years. Other owners included William Kincher, a potter, who bought the house in 1919, and Francis Donald Hunt, who owned the house from 1923 until his death in 1981 and had a tire repair business there in The first years.

Homer and Bertha Pinnell House (736 Walnut Ave.), 1905

Homer Pinnell and his wife, Bertha, were the first occupants of this house. After Bertha’s death in 1907, Homer sold the house to Dr. Anna Hayward Johnson, who lived in the house with her mother, Henrietta Johnson, and other family members from 1908 to 1922.

Robert Lowry, president of Lowry and Wheaton, a Packard car dealership in Redlands, lived in the house with his wife, Laura, from 1926 to 1952. The Lowrys bought another house in 1952, but still owned the house on Walnut, and after Robert’s death in 1961, Laura returned to this house and lived there until 1970.

William and Susan Keith bought the house in 1977, began restoration work in 2007 and finished in 2017.

Fredrick T. Harris House (121 E. Fern Ave.), 1905

Fredrick T. Harris was the architect and original owner of this Craftsman bungalow located in the historic and scenic neighborhood of East Fern Avenue. Others who have lived in the house include Charles E. Hubach, dean of fine arts at the University of Redlands, who lived there with his wife, Amelia, from 1915 to 1917; CP and Grace Earley, 1921-1930; and Lelia McDonald, who continued to live in the house for about a decade after her husband’s death in the early 1930s.

In 1948, owners Henry W. and Dorothy Schlag obtained a permit to convert the house to apartments, and the Schlags operated the three-unit building for approximately 40 years.

Neil Rhodes and Lee-Anne Milburn, who bought the house in 2016, are credited with claiming property tax reductions under the Mills Act in exchange for preserving the property. Stephen Plante and Alexis Peralta, who bought the house in 2021, plan to continue the improvements.

Ferguson House (361 Franklin Avenue), 1911

Albert Ferguson Jr. had this Georgian-style home built for his mother, Frances C. Hunter Ferguson, and it was designed to remind her of her family homes in Reading, Pennsylvania. His father, Albert Ferguson Sr., was heir to an iron and steel banking fortune, and he died when Albert Jr. was 2 years old.

One of the features of the house, unusual for Redlands, is an outdoor kitchen with brick fire pit and bread oven, with original cast iron oven doors. Another is the original 1911 garage, with a mechanic’s pit for servicing the family’s early automobiles.

Albert Ferguson Jr. and his mother lived in the house, sometimes with other family members, until their deaths within months of each other in 1940.

Ed Hales, who was a member of the Redlands Planning Commission, lived in the house from 1954 until he sold the property in 1964 when the estate was subdivided. The current owners, David and Evelyn Gusseck, have lived in the house since 1974.

House of Paul and Florence Parker (315 W. Lugonia Ave.), 1930s

This stone house was built in the early 1930s, apparently as a rental property. The craftsman-style stone construction emphasizes the elaborate use of native stone, and there are three other stone houses in the same block.

The first tenants listed in city directories are J. Max and Georgia Kohler. Their son Max Jr., who graduated from Redlands High School in 1938, later served as director of admissions at Pierce College in Los Angeles.

Several other families are listed on the property in the 1930s. In 1947 Paul and Florence Parker were living in the house. Their two daughters, who graduated from Redlands High School in 1957 and 1961, owned the property after Florence Parker died in 1978. After the sale in 1986, it changed hands several times until Vanessa Bravo bought the house in 2021.

St. Mary’s Catholic Church (1205 Columbia Street), 1941

St. Mary’s Catholic Church was founded in 1937 as a Redlands Sacred Heart Parish Mission, at 1005 Columbia St. The California Mission-style church building, designed by San Diego architect Frank Hone Jr., was built in 1941 for $20,000. The contract went to Redlands builder Louis P. Scherer, who used men from the congregation for the plastering, painting, and carpentry work.

In 1985, the church building was cut in half and moved to 1205 Columbia St. The church was renovated, with a 4,435 square foot restroom, office, vestry, chancel and sanctuary added, while retaining Mission-style architectural features.

In 2006, St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart merged into a new parish, Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Community. The parish uses the old St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart buildings until a new church is built on Lugonia Avenue and Dearborn Street.

To see the full quotes from the 2022 Heritage Prize winners, go to rahs.org.