747 East Adams Boulevard

PLEASE ALSO SEE OUR COMPANION HISTORIES
FOR AN INTRODUCTION TO ADAMS BOULEVARD, CLICK HERE




  • Built in 1902 on Lot 15 in Block A of the Menlo Park Subdivision No. 1 by developers Bowen & Chamberlain (J. Frank Bowen and William H. Chamberlain)
  • Bowen & Chamberlain built 747 East Adams and its westerly neighbor 741 East Adams together as speculative projects. The houses differed in that their façade configurations mirrored each other, with 747's entrance on the left, its front bay window on the right. Both houses were offered for sale in classified advertisements placed by the builder in the fall of 1902, each priced at $3,750. They were "hand decorated," "never lived in," and constructed with the "best materials"
  • Early renters of 747 East Adams included newlyweds George and Hildegarde Mootz Erickson, carpenter William J. Rogers, and rancher James M. Ellis and his wife Mary. The Ellises were farmers in San José Township, an agricultural district now part of Pomona; they appear to have purchased the house in 1904 only to swap it in March 1905 with a neighboring rancher, Nellie H. Taylor, and her brother John B. Miner
  • In 1900, 48-year-old Wisconsin-born Nellie Taylor was a widow raising fruit in San José Township, where she lived with her daughters Mary and Lizzie Belle and her brother, who worked in her orchards. Mrs. Taylor's farming efforts proved fruitful; by 1905, she and her brother were investing in Los Angeles real estate and began spending time in the city after purchasing 747 East Adams for themselves
  • On May 25, 1906, the Department of Buildings issued John B. Miner a permit to add to the rear of 747 East Adams a 16-by 30-foot horse stable, which must have been one of the last such structures built in the neighborhood. This would soon, of course, be occupied by automobiles
  • John Miner died in Los Angeles at the age of 49 on December 7, 1908 (cause: "cellulitis of right arm"); Nellie Taylor and her daughters remained at 747 and—if she hadn't already—would acquire the houses that flanked her own, 741 and 751 East Adams, over which she became landlord. By 1922, Mrs. Taylor began making improvements to her three properties by doubling the size of the the 1906 horse stable at the rear of 747 and, in 1923, as a selling point to renters, adding new garages to 741 and 751
  • On January 12, 1922, as part of a series of upgrades to the Taylors' three adjacent properties, the Department of Buildings issued a permit to Mary J. Taylor to "add two ends and one side" for the conversion of the horse stable into a two-car garage
  • Nellie Taylor died at the age of 75 on January 9, 1928; following the departure of their tenant at 751 East Adams, the notorious Dr. Eugene C. Nelson, Mary and Lizzie Belle, still not married, moved into that house from the larger 747 in 1935. (The sisters left 751 East Adams by 1943, Belle dying in 1954 and Mary in 1960, both joining their parents at Rosedale Cemetery)
  • Occupying 747 East Adams for a few years in the latter 1930s were Shojiro and Fumi Okuno; he was the general secretary of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. By the spring of 1940, Jesus Aguilar—an employee of an electrical-equipment factory—and his extended family, all Costa Rican–born—was in residence, followed by the brief stays of several other individuals before the house's purchase by Henry James Williams
  • On April 30, 1946, the Department of Building and Safety issued Henry J. Williams a permit to "re-side outer walls with brick siding." It is unclear as to whether this was to involve actual brick or brick-patterned asphalt sheeting—popular at the time—or whether this work was ever performed
  • On July 2, 1947, the Department of Building and Safety issued Williams a permit enclose the house's front porch
  • 747 East Adams had a new owner by the spring of 1948, when Jack Watson was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to stucco the exterior of the house, seriously muting its original appearance if not its general profile. The building remains in this condition today. Watson was issued a permit on February 10, 1954, for the repair of unspecified fire damage
  • Jack Watson left 747 East Adams by the late 1950s; the address does not appear in city directories between 1959 and 1965. In the latter year and through at least 1973, the Reverend Daniel L. Manyweather of the Eternal Hope Baptist Church was listed at 747
  • By 1988, Mercedes Alberto Turcios, who appears to have owned several properties in the neighborhood, had acquired 747 East Adams. On May 17, 1988, Ms. Turcios was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to build a large 25-by-36-foot rear addition to the house, which was still being classed as a single-family residence
Illustration: Private Collection