4420 Encinas Dr
La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011, USA

Lanterman House (El Retiro) - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

The Lanterman House is significant under Criterion C in the area of architecture as a very good example of Craftsman architecture in the vicinity of the La Canada Valley. The house is highly reflective of modern trends in housing during the teens, illustrating a melding of both safety and health concerns. Concrete became a popular building material to protect against earthquake and fire. The many windows and French doors illustrate the importance of fresh air and light; the easy to clean tile interiors of kitchen and baths illustrate the importance of cleanliness and hygiene. The beautifully painted Arts and Crafts interiors show that esthetics were also valued in the modern home.

It is possible the property is significant under Criterion B and Criteria Consideration G: Properties That Have Achieved Significance Within the Last Fifty Years for the association with Frank Lanterman who lived in the house from 1915 until his death in 1981. Lanterman was elected to the California State Assembly in 1950 and authored legislation in 1967 which ended custodial warehousing of mental patients in California, reintroduced civil liberties to the involuntary commitment process, and provided community-based treatment for persons with mental disorders. Preparing a statement of Lanterman's exceptional importance in the area of mental health care is being considered by the applicant at this time and may result in an amended National Register nomination in the near future.

Although in later years the Lanterman House will undoubtedly gain historical significance from its association with the locally prominent Lanterman family (especially former California Assemblyman Frank Lanterman), as discussed in the addendum below, the property, at this point in time, gains its greatest significance from its architecture (Criterion C). (Theme; architecture; years of significance; 1915-present.) Its exterior is a fine example of the California Craftsman style, understated in decoration but with a fine attention to detail. The use of wood, stone, and stucco offsets the magnitude of concrete that otherwise would have given the house a cold, severe appearance. Its structure's siting on the lot to capture the maximum effects of natural heating and cooling is the epitome of the Craftsman philosophy of a closeness to nature. The Arts and Crafts interior, with its painted decoration, is original from 1915—a rarity in Southern California. Thus, the Lanterman House is of interest due to its largely reinforced concrete construction, central patio floorplan, and intact interior—rare for residences in Southern California, but certainly unique in the La Canada Valley. At the time the house was constructed, the La Canada Valley was a world unto itself, cut off from Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley by the Arroyo Seco and from Glendale by the Verdugo Mountain range. La Canada Flintridge was an agricultural area and did not develop nor share the architectural trends of its neighbors until the 1920s. In fact, the Lanterman House is the only known, and certainly best, example of Craftsman architecture in the Valley. Its exterior, interior decoration, and original furnishings all remain exceptionally well preserved, making the house a noteworthy artifact of its time, unusual in its integrity.

The Lanterman House is a large Craftsman-style residence in an appropriate oak setting, built by Dr. Roy Lanterman, the son of the first Lanterman to settle in La Canada. Its design, with reinforced concrete floors and walls and a continuous perimeter terrace with trellis, is an outstanding example of architecture meant to take advantage of the micro-climate for optimum air circulation and sun exposure in this inland valley area. Such central-patio oriented floorplans are more commonly found in the earlier Mission Revival style, and few have survived. Thus, this house is significant for the restored integrity of its original California Craftsman, central-patio floorplan design, examples of which are now rare in Southern California.

The Lanterman House was designed by Los Angeles architect Arthur L. Haley. He was born in Malone, New York in 1865, but at present little more is known about his personal life. Although he designed several homes, his practice was centered mainly on large commercial/office blocks in downtown Los Angeles and apartment buildings. He apparently was a highly competent architect with standard training in the Beaux Arts tradition, who worked in many different styles. His other known extant works include a Chicago style skyscraper, a brick apartment block with a Colonial Revival portico facade, and a house in exuberant Mission Revival style. He also designed and patented the "Sanitary Concealed Metal Wall Bed" which significantly altered the layout of apartment units on the West Coast. His buildings were advertised as "absolutely fireproof". (Dr. Lanterman was no doubt concerned about fire safety based on his observation of the fate of wooden houses near his home during Southern California wildfires and his first-hand witnessing of the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake and fire.) Dr. Lanterman did not have to search far for his architect since Haley's office was near his in downtown Los Angeles. After designing the Lanterman House, Haley moved to the Seattle area. Only one of Haley's drawings for the Lanterman House—the west (front) facade—is currently extant.

The Lanterman House also gains significance from the fact it is the largest and most elaborate Craftsman residence in the La Canada Valley. The Valley was unsettled or devoted to small-scale agricultural uses until the early 1920s when the Alta Canyada real estate development began in the northern foothills and the estate area of Flintridge, centered on the Flintridge Golf Course, was developed by Senator Frank Flint. Sophisticated country residences built by wealthy families, although frequently found in the early nearby foothill communities of Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre, were not built in the La Canada Valley, probably because it was then considered too distant from a central urban area and had no ready sources of plentiful water. In addition, the La Canada Valley was physically cut off from its neighboring communities. The Arroyo Seco on its east side was not effectively bridged until the early 1910s, so that in earlier days the Valley was closed off from Pasadena and the rest of the San Gabriel Valley except to intrepid horsemen. The Verdugo Mountain range formed a barrier to the south, cutting the Valley off from the influence of Glendale, again, until the 1920s. The San Gabriel Mountains and the Angeles National Forest to the north and the vast undeveloped reaches of the San Fernando Valley to the west were further impediments to the development of La Canada. The Lanterman House was the grand exception to this lack of distinguished early architecture in the local area.

Although the La Canada Valley has not been formally surveyed as to architectural and historical resources, it is the opinion of longtime residents and local historians that, although some smaller rustic-type residences (mostly former farmhouses) do exist in the Valley, none come close to the Lanterman House either in integrity of design, size, original setting, or wealth of architectural detail. (It should be noted that the construction of the 1-210 freeway though the center of La Canada in the 1970s probably eliminated a number of potentially significant properties.)

The Lanterman House is an indisputably unique time capsule with its original furniture and interior decoration still in place and its 1915 appearance fully restored.

Addendum
The following narrative is included in the interest of context and to document the achievements of the Lanterman family, the original owners of the Lanterman House. Although this history is too recent to meet Criterion B of the National Register process, it is recorded here as further evidence of the significance of the house and as a basis for a possible revised assessment in future years.

The Lanterman House was built on the lands of the Rancho La Canada, owned by the Lanterman family since 1875. By the time family ownership ended in 1987, it was one of the few sites in California still remaining in the hands of its first pioneer ranch owners of the American period. As the first U.S. citizens to settle on the ranch, the Lantermans were responsible for spurring the social and economic growth of the La Canada Valley. As probably the first substantial residence in the area, their house became a cultural and social center in the community's early years.

The builder of the house was Dr. Roy Stanley Lanterman, the first practicing physician in the La Canada Valley. But perhaps its most well-known resident was Dr. Lanterman's son, Frank Dexter Lanterman, who, as a celebrated California Assemblyman for 28 years (1950-1978), made a lasting contribution to the State's progressive policies on water and particularly mental health.

The land on which the Lanterman House sits is the last remnant of Rancho La Canada, which was a late Mexican grant to Ignacio Coronel in 1843. After the Mexican War, a patent for this grant was issued in 1870 by the U.S. Land Commission and signed by President Andrew Johnson. The patent map was prepared by Henry Hancock in 1858.

In 1875, Rancho La Canada was purchased by Dr. Jacob Lanterman, a dentist, and his partner Colonel Adolphus Williams, both of East Lansing, Michigan. The Rancho was then 5,830 acres. The new owners had been attracted to the dry climates of this valley, for they were both health-seekers suffering from lung ailments. In fact. Colonel Williams did not survive long after his arrival.

Jacob Lanterman, however, thrived. He and his wife Ammoretta and their three children and four grandchildren developed the valley economically and socially, guiding it from raw, chaparral-covered land to the residential community it is today. The Lanterman family helped build the first school and church and water system, and also sponsored the construction of roads and bridges. The Lantermans were also involved in the building of a railroad which transported granite from the San Gabriel Mountains to San Pedro used in building the breakwater for Los Angeles Harbor. Their original house "Homewood" still stands in La Canada Flintridge but has been radically altered from its original appearance. All the family papers and effects were removed to the current Lanterman House after Jacob's death.

The family papers reveal that the history of the Lantermans is a capsule of the history of many ranchos and early families of the Los Angeles Basin and the State of California. The many photographs, court records, survey notes, etc. define the problems of the migration of ailing health seeking citizens to the warm, dry climate of Southern California, the confusion caused by the poor record-keeping of the Mexican land grant period, the partition of the ranchos, the real estate boom of the 1880s, and agricultural activities through the pastoral, deciduous, and citrus periods as the pioneers coped with fire, flood, and drought.

Roy Stanley Lanterman, Jacob's son, a medical doctor for whom the Lanterman House was built, was the director of the emergency hospital which traveled from Los Angeles to San Francisco to treat victims of the earthquake and fire in 1906. He was appointed Coroner of Los Angeles County later that same year. He was the only practicing physician in the La Canada Valley. Dr. Lanterman gained the respect of the community for treating many patients at his home without pay especially during the Great Depression of the 1930s. His wife Emily maintained their home as a social and cultural center for the community throughout her life. The ballroom was the scene of many concerts and plays presented by local clubs and families. Dr. Lanterman died in 1948, his wife in 1949.

Roy's son, Frank Dexter Lanterman, moved with his parents and brother Lloyd into the house after it was built in 1915 and lived there until his death in 1981. Having spent his younger years as a professional touring theater organist, playing in silent movie houses, Frank Lanterman eventually came home to manage his family's business and real estate interests. In 1950 he was elected to the California State Assembly by a large majority. He served for 28 years (14 consecutive terms) with tireless energy. He had a broad interest in all State issues, sponsoring almost 400 successful bills in such areas as local home rule preservation, transportation, and fiscal affairs.

Frank Lanterman is most celebrated, however, as the father of modern mental health treatment in California. He authored and shepherded through to adoption the Lanterman-Petri’s-Short Act of 1967 (effective 1969) which ended custodial warehousing of mental patients in California, reintroduced civil liberties to the involuntary commitment process and provided community-based treatment for persons with mental disorders. This statute has been termed historic (a "Magna Carta for the mentally ill", according to one writer) (Muir, p. 93), and it has served as a model for humanitarian law throughout the nation. Its implementation in later years was hampered by budget cuts and the disinterest of some of Lanterman's successors, but Lanterman's own custodianship of the bill has been termed "superlative" and "his principal claim to immortality" (Bardiche, p. 297). The Lanterman-Petris-Short bill was only one of many in the area of mental health that Lanterman successfully initiated, including community centers for retarded children and expanded educational services for the handicapped.

Although a conservative Republican, Lanterman was characterized as one of the most non-partisan of campaigners for the concepts he believed in. Of importance locally was the Municipal Water District Act which Lanterman co-authored in 1951, allowing unincorporated areas, which at that time included La Canada Flintridge, to create their own water districts. Prior to this legislation, such areas were under the thumb of large urban regional or municipal water districts that could discourage their growth and prosperity by withholding water, especially when that precious commodity was in short supply.

Upon his retirement, Frank Lanterman (called "Uncle Frank" by his colleagues) was judged as a deeply compassionate man by both sides of the aisle, having done more than possibly any other individual in the state ever had for "sick people, handicapped people, people trapped in real and bureaucratic cages, people trampled by corporate giants, people lied to and cheated and ignored by government." fLos Angeles Times. 11/12/78). Indeed, "Lanterman devoted a quarter-century reshaping a huge part of California's public policy" (Muir, p. 93).

Several times Frank Lanterman was selected as the most effective legislator by his peers and received an 80-minute tribute on the floor of the Assembly upon his retirement. He received many other honors. A stretch of the Glendale Freeway, a regional health center, and a state hospital were all named after him. He also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Southern California in recognition of his notable legislation promoting State scholarships and graduate fellowship grants and for the national recognition afforded him in the field of mental health and mental retardation legislation. The Lanterman House contains all his personal and official papers—correspondence dating from his childhood, diaries, manuscripts, blueprints relating to real estate development of what had been the family's original ranchlands, and numerous plaques and awards and filing cabinets full of documents from his years in the State Legislature.

A few words should be added here about Frank's brother Lloyd Lanterman. He worked as a mechanical engineer after graduation from use in 1923 and is most widely known for designing the winning car at the Indianapolis 500 auto race in 193 0, driven by Billy Arnold. He spent his later years experimenting with steam-driven automobiles in the garage on the Lanterman House grounds. Frank and Lloyd, both bachelors, lived together after their parents died. Lloyd was the last surviving Lanterman to occupy the house. He died in 1987. The Lanterman House and most of its furnishings were willed to the City of La Canada Flintridge.