G. Woodbury Stimson.
1848 to 1927. Developer of Carlisle Heights, father of G. Lawrence Stimson.
George Woodbury Stimson laid out the streets that became part of Markham Place and built many houses that his son, G. Lawrence Stimson, designed. Born in Gray, Maine, in 1848, he ran a wholesale grocery in Ohio before moving to Pasadena in 1885. In 1887 he bought the Holmes Tract, named it Carlisle Heights and designed the layouts of Markham and Congress Places. This record credits him on 9 houses whose architect a document names, as architect on 8 of them.
Who was G. Woodbury Stimson?
A developer and builder who also designed houses. He married Jennie Wickersham in 1875, and their five children included George Lawrence Stimson, who joined his firm in 1905. The firm bought land and built houses to order and on speculation, many of them designed by his son, and worked out of the Braley Building at 35 South Raymond Avenue. He died in Altadena on April 23, 1927, at 78.
What is Carlisle Heights?
The tract Stimson bought in 1887 as the Holmes Tract, covering both sides of Markham Place and Bradford Street. He named it, laid out Markham and Congress Places, and built a Queen Anne house at 311 Congress Place in 1891, which the county record shows standing. It is now part of the Markham Place Historic District. The Markham Place nomination credits G. Lawrence Stimson as the architect of 311 Congress Place, though he would have been about nine in 1891; the record keeps that credit as the nomination gives it.
Which houses did father and son build together?
The record credits them jointly on Swiss Chalet and Craftsman houses from 1908 to about 1910: 1109, 1127 and 1131 Columbia Street in South Pasadena, and 1201 Avoca Avenue and 1199 South Pasadena Avenue in Pasadena. Earlier, around 1899 and 1901, the father designed and built the pair of houses at 123 and 105 Columbia Street associated with Pasadena mayor William Thum and his brother, Ferdinand.
How do I know which Stimson my house record means?
Read the name and the role. The Stimson name covers two men and a firm, and the documents say which of them designed or built each house. I'm Greg Anderson of Arroyo Casa, and if you own one of these houses, send me the address and I'll tell you which Stimson the record names, and for what.
Every building credited to G. Woodbury Stimson.
Buildings the record credits to G. Woodbury Stimson, in the order they were built. Commercial buildings and courts are included here because they are part of the maker's work; the neighborhood, city and year pages list houses only.
How this record is built.
This record is compiled by the Arroyo Casa Archive of Records from public documents: city and county historic resources surveys and inventories, National Register nominations, landmark designation reports and council records, planning documents and preservation groups' publications, plus the building notices of 1917 to 1930, printed as houses were permitted, contracted or announced. Where a house was matched to the Los Angeles County Assessor's record at the same address in the same city, the page says whether the county confirms it standing. A house is shown only when one of those documents names its architect, and the builder and the first family are shown beside the architect where a document names them. Each house carries the kind of document behind it, and a credit the document itself calls likely, probable, possible or attributed is marked attributed. The methodology and every source document are on one page.
Find who designed your house.
Every house has a birth year. Start with the owner's guide: how to find who designed and built your house, who lived in it first, and what this record already holds.
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