N Towne Ave
Claremont, CA 91711, USA

Pitzer House ( Pitzer/Peairs House) - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance

Driving north towards the towering peaks of the San Gabriel Mountain range, a strong rustic flavor envelops the traveler. Reaching the intersection of Towne Avenue and Base Line Road, after passing under the expansive breadth of a parallel row of date palm trees, one senses the return to days gone by, perhaps to a time when nature and the climate of this Southern California region dictated the lifestyles of the settlers. Set back some 100 feet from the intersection stands the Pitzer House The Pitzer House, designed by Robert H. Orr in 19V2, is a fieldstone bungalow situated in the middle of a 1.98-acre parcel in Claremont, California. The structure is a significant part of the "bungalow" tradition, unique because of its superior stone facade and, according to Robert Winter, architectural historian, "the finest stone house in Southern California." The Pitzer House is also associated with the agricultural heritage of Claremont and Southern California, with the earliest settlement and exploration of the citrus producing land on Base Line Road, with the history of the changing use of natural resources in the region, and the structure has strong ties to one of the families important to the settlement of Claremont. The house has had only three owners to date: the Pitzer family, the Peairs family and Claremont Psychological Services, owned by John and Pat Hodges.

Lee C. Pitzer, who had the house built, was born in 1873 on a farm in Mills County, Iowa. Because of his brother Grant's asthma, the family moved first to a.farm near Ainsworth, Nebraska, and then when Grant was college age, to Boulder, Colorado. Grant and his sister Clara entered the University Prepschool while Lee and his younger brother, Russell, attended grammar school. In 1893, on a visit to California, Lee Pitzer's father Samuel purchased thirty acres of land near Pomona to plant oranges and lemons. Soon the family was on their way with themselves and all of their belongings in a railway boxcar. After renting a small house for a period of time, the family constructed the largest house in Pomona on the corner of Pearl and Garey (this house was torn down in 1967).

Samuel Pitzer was a pioneer developer of the ciirus industry to which his sons also devoted their energies. Lee Pitzer entered Pomona College in Claremont in 1895 but returned to Colorado to graduate from the University at Boulder in I898. Returning to California, he joined his father in a fruit canning operation in which he became a half partner. He traveled all over the Pomona Valley and the San Joaquin Valley, buying and shipping the "deciduous" fruit to the cannery.

On January 1, 1901, Lee married Edith Blanche Becket. Her father and Peter Fleming had established early water rights for the City of Pomona and established the Consolidated Water Company. Through the ingenious use of tunnels from the San Antonio water source, Becket's water company supplied Pomona and Claremont for many years. When Mr. Becket died, Mrs. Becket asked Lee to join the water operation. He was the manager for seven years.

In 1903, Lee Pitzer purchased the sagebrush covered land at Base Line Road and Towne Avenue (then San Antonio Avenue) on which the Pitzer House now stands. He tried a small lemon grove, and the lemons were so good that he eventually purchased 200 acres of land in the area at $25.00 to $50 an acre. Unfortunately, it cost him $100 to $300 an acre to get the stones off the land. When Lee Pitzer purchased his property, he was advised by long-time citrus growers that his land, with its sandy soil and cool climate, would not yield citrus. Yet Pitzer persisted and became the first citrus producer in the northern region of Claremont. It was only a matter of years before other citrus ranchers followed suit, and the lemons (from which Claremont gathered its acclaim) were soon available in mass quantity from the north of Base Line groves. Thus, Lee Pitzer inspired the investigation and growing of citrus groves in a region previously unknown for such products. Most of the citrus ranches in that area developed between 1903 and 1915. On the northeastern corner of one of the Pitzer's six tracts was a reservoir. In 1919, that part of the parcel was sold to the Claremont Cooperative Water Company. Pitzer's neighbors included Richards Orange Growers Company, which made a significant contribution (starting in I91I*) to the Pomona Valley citrus industry, the George McKenna Ranch on Base Line, and the Johnson/Campbell Ranch on Base Line and Mountain.

The Pomona Valley area, of which Claremont is a part, was a leader in the cooperative marketing movement for the California citrus industry. Growers worked through associations and then cooperation among associations resulted in an exchange which acted as a broker for the associations in selling the fruit. The San Antonio Fruit Exchange, founded in Claremont in 1892, was the forerunner in structure and makeup to the statewide Sunkist marketing system. The Pitzer family, for four generations, have been active leaders in the citrus marketing system. In 1909, Lee Pitzer and his brother Russell became original stockholders in the College Heights Orange Association; this name was changed to the College Heights Orange and Lemon Association in 1916. In 1911, Lee was elected to the Board of Directors of the association where he served until 1939. Russell Pitzer was president of the San Antonio Fruit Exchange, was the owner of significant amounts of citrus land (over 10,000 acres), and was instrumental in starting two of the Claremont Colleges.

In 1911, Lee Pitzer hired the Pomona architect, Robert H. Orr, to design a house for his family. Mr. Orr had designed the Pilgrim Congregational Church, Pomona; the Johnson House, 1333 North Mountain, Claremont; the first high school in Claremont at Foothill and Indian Hill Boulevards; and the First Christian Church in Pomona. Mr. Orr, who practiced for many years in Los Angeles as well as Pomona, designed many buildings in fieldstone. The plans for the house were completed in April 1912 and construction commenced. Blanche and Lee Pitzer moved into their new house on Friday the 13th, September, 1912. According to Lee Pitzer, “A neighbor across the street said that we should never have moved in on Friday the 13th and that we would have bad luck . . .. We sure did. In January 1913, the weather-man dropped the temperature to 18 degrees. ... I ran water in the grove hoping it would raise the temperature some, but the water froze and I had a lake for the children to skate upon for several days. It required five years to return the grove to production and ten years for the Pitzer’s to recover financially. Meanwhile, the Pitzer family was active in civic affairs. Blanche Pitzer became one of the first Girl Scout leaders in Claremont. Blanche and Lee Pitzer bought 5 acres of mountain ground and built the Girl Scout Cabin, "La Casita," where California troops still travel for their hikes and campouts in the Claremont foothills. Lee was active in several aspects of agricultural, civic, and commercial life in Claremont. He was director on several boards including: Bank, Building and Loan Security Company, Pomona Pest Control Board, Citizens National Bank, Claremont, and The San Antonio Fruit Exchange. In I9A8, because of Blanche Pitzer's health, the Pitzer’s needed a smaller house. Lee Pitzer worked with Pacific Homes of California to build Claremont Manor, a home for retired people. He purchased the land and donated the orange grove where it now stands. Lee and Blanche Pitzer moved into a third-floor apartment at the manor in 19^9 and the stone house was rented. Lee Pitzer died in 1969, 9 days after his 96th birthday. His noted family members include brother Russell K. Pitzer, founder of Claremont's Pitzer College and Claremont McKenna College, and nephew Kenneth S. Pitzer, one-time president of Stanford University.

The second owners of the house, Maurice C. and Adele J. Peairs, had often driven by the house and admired it. One day, Lee Pitzer saw them parked in front and invited them in. They marveled. Some years later, Pitzer phoned them and said, "Would you like to buy the house? " Escrow closed on the house October 20, 1950. The Peairs family moved into the house just before Thanksgiving, 1950. The Peairs family is responsible for the excellent preservation of the house. Although many interior modifications were made to accommodate the family of four children and to provide modern kitchen, laundry, and bathroom facilities, the Peairs stored all of the pieces that were removed: doors, windows, lighting fixtures, curtain rods, etc. Marty Peairs served on the Claremont Parkways and Trees Commission. The family owned the Claremont Nursery on Foothill Boulevard for many years. Mr. Peairs also operated the lemon groves to the south of the house until the late 1970s. The groves were plumbed to provide heat from fixed burners rather than using the more familiar oil smudge pots which required laborious hand refilling each morning after use. Marty Peairs made modifications in the house so that during smudging operations, air from the cellar" pressurized" the house so that the smoke would not enter.

The present owners, Patricia and John Hodges, have lived close to the Pitzer House for many years. Often, they walked by the house and thought it would be wonderful to own that beautiful house, always thinking it to be the wildest of dreams. They agonized when it appeared the house might be demolished for the proposed Foothill Freeway or damaged because of the widening of Base Line Road. For more than two years, they had been looking for a building to house Patricia's business, Claremont Psychological Services. In October, I983, they entered the house for the first time as part of a fund-raising project of the Claremont Historic Resources Center. The price considerably exceeded their office criterion, but they finally decided that this was the sort of thing they should invest their savings in. On the 5th of November, 1983, they made an offer. Escrow closed Friday, the l6th, March, 1984.

During 1983, the project came under the scrutiny of the California Transportation Department as a significant structure that might be damaged by a State Highway (Base Line Road) widening project. The structure was determined eligible for The National Register and certain mitigating measures were required to protect the setting and the structure when the street widening occurs.

In addition to the historical significance of the house, the structure is an exceptional example of bungalow architecture in the tradition of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. The region of America where the bungalow reached its highest form of expression was Southern California. Bungalows were a practical means of shelter. At the turn of the century when they became a "serious architectural artifact," they were attractive for several reasons. Bungalows were affordable (they cost between $500 and $5,000 to build). They were simple but artistic dwellings. Migration to a warm climate, such as Southern California, at a time when property was relatively inexpensive, allowed builders to economize in materials and structure so that the bungalow's appeal reached many. The bungalow became, for many, the symbol of something greater— the bungalow contributed to the privacy considered sacred to the middle class. In its economy, practicality and efficiency, the California bungalow grew to encompass individualistic, and in this sense, democratic traits. "More significantly," according to Gustav Stickley, father of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, "the bungalow reflected specific Southern California qualities that have, over time, developed into recognizable traits of the region." According to Robert Winter, author of The California Bungalow, certain structural features are inherent in the bungalows of Southern California. Those attributed to the Pitzer House when it was first constructed are still recognizable today: "convenience, simplicity, sound building, and excellent plumbing." Another distinguishing aspect of the Pitzer House is its enclosed patio onto which six rooms (including five, bedrooms and a living room) face out. Though many bungalow architects, including the Greene brothers, opted for this architectural plan, the Pitzer House patio is by all odds the most dramatic use of the enclosed patio. Adhering to the climatic resources of Southern California, Orr built a trellis-cover for the patio and long stretches of canvas could be rolled across the beams during the warm, sun filled summer days, or pulled back against the interior house frame to allow for sun exposure during the relative chill, but nevertheless, sunny-skied, winter days. The stone fountain, which was once the central focus of the patio, has since been replaced by painted tiles. Hammock rings were diagonally positioned in the stonework which makes up the interior walls of the area. French doors with beveled glass provide attractive entrance and/or exits there. Today the trellis is glazed with sheets of glass, but continuing to allow for a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountain sides

The Pitzer House is not only a fine example of a Craftsman bungalow, but also the finest example of the fieldstone structures built along the "Foothill Belt" in the Los Angeles area. Claremont is fortunate to have many fine stone structures, wooden structures that utilize stone trim or foundation, stone walls and stone curbs. Many of these were built in the first part of this century, but none is as fine as the Pitzer House. Claremont has so much stone work because we have so many stones—a gift from the surrounding hills and mountains because of location on an alluvial fan. There are large stones in the north and smaller ones in central and south Claremont. Builders in early Claremont used many indigenous materials: the most decorative are the lovely granite fieldstones used in many grove houses. Most of the all-stone structures are located in north Claremont, having some relationship to families involved in the citrus industry and being close to the larger northern stones that had been piled along roads after the land was cleared for citrus groves. There are 2 ways of constructing stone buildings. One is to construct the stone bearing walls and then build a frame on the inside. Most stone structures in Claremont were built this way. The other is to build a wooden frame and then apply the exterior stone work as veneer. The Pitzer House at Towne Avenue and Base Line utilizes this method. The frame of the house was constructed of two-by-fours and twelve-by fourteens covered with lath and then by plaster which combined provide six inches of sturdy insulation. Over the plaster the stone facade was laid. The plaster is still evident on the eave overhangs. The plan of the Pitzer House, Claremont's first tax act project, is reflective of the philosophy behind bungalow architecture. Circulation between rooms is exceptionally clear of obstructions, and with each room leading to the next through doorways or extended halls, a feeling of continuity exists. Though each room is easily accessible and opens into the next, the dining and living rooms retain their individuality. The centrality of these rooms "cannot be overlooked as a symbolic gesture of conserving earlier values in an era of social fragmentation."

Boundaries: The boundaries are drawn on the current lot lines which encompass the 1.98-acre historic property. This is the surviving remnant of the once larger property, reduced by subdivision over the years. Lee Pitzer originally owned 40 acres of property located north and south of Base Line Road, including the house and surrounding orange groves. Over the years, the property was reduced to 10 acres in size; approximately 20 years ago it was reduced to the present lot containing the house and grounds.

Pitzer Ranch, Pitzer-Peairs House, 4353 Towne Ave Claremont, Los Angeles County, CA

Lee C. and Blanche Becket Pitzer, Maurice and Adele Peairs, and John and Patricia Hodges (current owners).

Pitzer Ranch, Garage, 4353 Towne Ave Claremont, Los Angeles County, CA

Lee C. and Blanche Pitzer, Maurice and Adele Peairs, and John and Pat Hodges (current owners).

Pitzer Ranch, Rock Wall, 4353 Towne Ave Claremont, Los Angeles County, CA

Lee C. and Blanche Becket Pitzer, Maurice and Adele Peairs, and John and Patricia Hodges (current owners).