1285 N Summit Ave
Pasadena, CA 91103, USA

Samuel Merrill House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance

The Samuel Merrill house is a fine example of a single-family bungalow—a subtype of residential architecture within the context of the Arts and Crafts period in Pasadena between 1895 and 1918. It is one of the finest surviving examples of the small-scale works of famed Pasadena architects Charles and Henry Greene. It was the home for forty years of Samuel Merrill, Jr., a conservationist and friend of John Muir. Built in 1910, at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement in Pasadena, the Merrill House exhibits many of the characteristics associated with the Craftsman bungalow property type. Because of its integrity, its ability to meet the registration requirements as outlined in the Multiple Property Listing "The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA, 1395-1918: the Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement,'' and its design by the significant Craftsman architectural firm of Charles and Henry Greene, the Merrill House is eligible for listing on the National Register under Criterion C.

In 1984, historian Robert W. Winter and the Design and Historic Preservation Section of the City of Pasadena's Planning Department considered the Merrill House to be one of the finest examples of the small-scale work of Greene & Greene, due to its simplicity of design, its use of readily affordable local materials, and its overall charm. Charles and Henry Greene are singled out in the Multiple Property Listing form as the best-known architects of the Arts and Crafts period in Pasadena and one of three premier architects of the movement in the United States (the others being Frank Lloyd Wright and Bernard Maybeck). The Merrill House illustrates several of their design hallmarks, including broad overhanging eaves, distinctive casement windows, and clinker brick and Arroyo stone piers and retaining walls. Attention to detail and craftsmanship are evident throughout the house in such areas as the careful fitting of the gable structure into notched beam-ends, the design of screens to perfectly match the arrangement of the window panes behind them, and the intersection of beams that support the corners of the house above the mud-sills. More innovative in this particular house are its modified L-plan, horizontal gable venting, a raised front terrace rather than a more typical covered porch, the unusual siting of the main entrance, and the use of wide horizontal siding rather than shingles. Given the circumstances of the building's recent abandonment, it is worth noting that so many of its original interior features remain, including lighting fixtures, art glass, and built-ins.

Details of the career of Charles and Henry Greene can be found in the Multiple Property Documentation Form. The design of the Samuel Merrill House, credited to both Charles and Henry, was predominantly the work of Henry. It was one of only three houses built by the Greene & Greene firm in 1910. (Several commissions in that year never progressed beyond the design stage: the architects were beginning to get a reputation for being slow and costly.) Charles returned from a trip to England in 1910 and was probably not involved in the initial planning of the Merrill house. And, as mentioned above, the children of the family only remember Henry being present at the site. In any case, Charles was gradually becoming disinterested in smaller bungalows, preferring more artistic homes which required a total design of interiors and furnishings. Henry, on the other hand, was to maintain an interest in smaller residences and cottages right into the 1920s.

The Merrill House meets the requirements for registration under Criterion C of the Multiple Property Listing of The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA, 1895-1918: The Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement. (Note: The property was also determined eligible for individual listing on the National Register under Criterion C in January 1981 by the California Office of Historic Preservation; a copy of the letter is attached.) Among the requirements of the Multiple Property Listing is that the individual property must exemplify the values of the design, craftsmanship and materials which embody the philosophy and practice of the Arts and Crafts movement. The house must also comprise the distinguishing features of the associated property type (in this case, the California Bungalow sub—type). It also must have a high degree of integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and setting.

The Merrill House exemplifies the values of the Arts and Crafts Movement through the unornamented simplicity and horizontality of its design, the use of natural materials, such as redwood and arroyo stone, and the evidence of craftsmanship in its carpentry and joinery. Property-type characteristics include its gabled roof with wide over-hanging eaves and exposed rafter-tails, its clapboard siding, the use of arroyo stone in its foundation and clinker brick in its porch posts, and the bands of casement windows that bring light and views of the garden into the house. Despite years of neglect, the house retains a great deal of integrity inside and out with minimal alterations. Although its neighborhood setting has been changed somewhat by the introduction of multi-unit residences on adjacent lots, the immediate setting is preserved, consisting of the front, back, and side-yards and the clinker-brick retaining wall along the front property-line.

Samuel Merrill, Jr. was born in Indianapolis, the grandson of one of the founding partners of the Bobb’s-Merrill Publishing Company. He attended public schools in Indiana and moved to California in 1884. As a young man, Merrill had become a friend of naturalist John Muir when his family took Muir in after a mill accident that had left him blinded in one eye. It is said that Muir encouraged Merrill to attend Stanford University. After attending Wabash College for a time, Merrill entered Stanford as a member of its pioneer class, and graduated with a degree in law in 1895. Herbert Hoover was one of his classmates. Merrill then served for three years as vice-consul under his father, Samuel Merrill, Sr. in Calcutta, India.

Around the turn-of-the-20th-century, Merrill, Jr., came to Southern California and set himself up as a rancher in the La Crescenta area, growing mainly citrus and apples. While in La Crescenta, he met and married his wife Emilie S. Merrill, they were to have one daughter and three sons. In 1908, Merrill moved his family to Pasadena. He purchased all of Lot 12 and the south fifty feet of Lot 13 of Block B of M. D. Painter's Subdivision. It is said he selected the Summit Avenue property because it was reminiscent of his ranch, with 25 fruit trees already planted on it. The family lived in a small three-room structure built in April 1908 at the extreme southwest rear corner of the lot, while the house was being planned and built. (This 566-square-foot structure was later called a barn by the City Assessor.) The Merrill children recalled that the interior of the new house took a surprisingly long time to complete due to the amount of handwork involved. In the process, they became quite friendly with the principal architect, Henry Greene, who was often at the site making inspections. They often played with his children, and he sometimes led them on hiking trips into the local mountains.

The Merrill children recall that family life in their new home was centered around the living room hearth in the winter, since a furnace was never installed in the house and the only heat came from charcoal briquettes that burned in the fireplace. Merrill sold off the south fifty feet of Lot 12 in 1923. Much of his orchard was removed and another house (1275) was subsequently built on the parcel by another owner.

Merrill worked in downtown Los Angeles for 27 years as a clerk of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. He retired in 1942. While living in Pasadena, he assisted in the founding of the local Boy Scout troop.

Perhaps influenced by his friendship with Muir, Merrill took an active role in the Sierra Club, serving on its national board of directors in 1936 and 1937. Also, a one-time chairman of the Southern California chapter, he remained active in its affairs until his death. Merrill took a particular interest in the San Gabriel Mountains and for thirteen years was the unpaid keeper of trails at Echo Mountain, Castle Canyon, and Sunset in Altadena. His gregariousness and good humor were long remembered by those hikers who would pass him as he pursued his maintenance work every Sunday morning. In September 1948, Merrill ran up one of the trails to help fight a fire started by some children. The exertion evidently proved too much for him, for he died in his sleep a few days later on September 4, at the age of eighty. The three-mile Echo Mountain trail was re-named the Sam Merrill Trail in 1949 in his memory.

Mrs. Merrill continued to occupy their Summit Avenue house until 1953. Porter and Blanche Girder, the next long-term owners, made few changes to the property during their forty-year occupancy. However, in recent years the Merrill House has sat vacant and become a tempting target for vandals and transients. After Washington Mutual Bank foreclosed on the property in October 1998, the house was in danger of demolition to make way for multi-family housing. However, the bank agreed to sell the property at a substantial discount to Heritage Homeownership Partners and Pasadena Heritage.

The Merrill House is soon to undergo restoration. The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties will be used throughout the project. The building has had minimal alterations both on the exterior and interior, most of which will be reversed during the restoration. Original construction materials have been retained or will be replaced in kind in a manner consistent with the original design and materials, including exterior sheathing and stone work. The entrance porch remains intact, doors and windows are largely original (except for the sliding glass doors at the front of the house that will be replaced by a window replicating the original), and the historic roof-line has been maintained. The sleeping-porch addition at the rear, although not of the same fine design and construction quality as the original house, was built only six years later than the residence itself. It will be retained as documentation of how the original three-bedroom house was adapted to meet the needs of the first owner's growing family. Financing for the project will come from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the City of Pasadena, and Pasadena Heritage. The property will ultimately be sold to a first-time low-to-moderate income buyer.

Documentation of the construction of the Merrill House includes building permit #8884, issued on August 13, 1910 for a one-story, seven-room house to cost $4,500. Edward Z. Garwood, a contractor " active in Pasadena between 1904 and 1914, was the builder.

An announcement of construction was published in the Los Angeles Builder & Contractor of August 18, 1910 which stated the house would have: cement porches and pergola, shingled exterior [evidently later revised to wood siding], and asbestos roof. The interior will have hardwood floors throughout, and will be finished in pine and cedar. The living and dining rooms will have beamed ceilings and paneled wainscoting, and large blue brick fireplaces [only one fireplace was built]. The bedrooms and bathrooms will have maple floors and white enamel trim. There will be plate and leaded glass windows, built-in furniture, screen porches, furnace [evidently never installed], water heater, and electric fixtures.

The property has remained relatively intact according to the public record. The small building at the rear of the property in which the family lived while the house was being built disappeared, probably sometime in the 1930s. A sleeping-porch, measuring 14 by 18 feet, was added to the rear of the house in 1916. The building permit reveals that it was built by dayworkers at a cost of only $100. The quality of its construction is obviously not equal to that of the original structure. The living-room window was replaced with sliding glass doors probably in the 1950s. The original bathroom was updated in April 1946 and a new bathroom was installed in the addition in May 1947. A new furnace was added to the house in October 1962. There is significant unrepaired earthquake damage to the fireplace.

The City Assessor's record shows there was once a board-and batten garage measuring 14 by 16 feet at the northwest corner of the property that has since disappeared. The Assessor's record also' shows that the open terrace on the south side of the house was enclosed at some unknown date.