Town of Monrovia
The Town of Monrovia Subdivision was made up of lots 35-45 of the Santa Anita Track (shown in the picture to the below), owned by Elias J. Baldwin, and a sliver, owned by L.L. Bradbury, of the western section of Rancho Azusa de Duarte. William N. Monroe had previously purchased from Baldwin Lot 43 in order to build a home for his family. Other Santa Anita lots were purchased individually from Baldwin by Edward F. Spence, John D. Bicknell, James F. Crank, and J.F. Falvey. These men and Monroe all had known each other from business and society connections in Los Angeles. Spence was a former mayor of Los Angeles, Bicknell a former judge, and Monroe had served on the Los Angeles City Council. Crank, like Baldwin, had been a railroad builder, but he lived in Pasadena, not Monrovia. Jeremiah F. Falvey had been the foreman of Baldwin’s Rancho Santa Anita.
Together these men decided to combine their lots under the business name of the Monrovia Land and Water Company. They understood that the completion of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads to California would bring in many new people looking for homes and investment opportunities, so buying up land for a new community seemed a good move.
The combined lots belonging to Falvey, Spence, Bicknell, Monroe and Crank formed the Town of Monrovia Subdivision. Engineers John Quinton and John Flanagan plotted out sixty acres, with the center at Orange (now Colorado) and Myrtle Avenues.
They divided the property into Blocks A-Y, and each block was subdivided into twenty-four 50 by 160 foot lots. The boundaries for the Town of Monrovia Subdivision were Magnolia Avenue on the west, Lime Avenue on the north, Charlotte Avenue (now Canyon Boulevard) on the east, and Walnut Avenue on the south. East and west running streets were given the names of trees: Lime, Lemon, Orange, Olive, and Walnut. North and south running streets were given the names of flowers and women: Magnolia, Primrose, Myrtle (Monroe's daughter), and Charlotte (now Canyon).
The Town of Monrovia Subdivision was recorded in Los Angeles by Judge Bicknell on May 21st, 1886. The Town of Monrovia Subdivision was itself subdivided almost immediately as the Monrovia Land and Water Company sold most of its holdings very quickly. The lucky buyers were the ones who turned around and sold their purchases for a substantial profit. Most of the buyers who held onto their purchases for speculation saw land values dwindle to a fraction of their 1886-1887 value. Consequently, there is almost no biographical information in this data base for many lot owners.
These owners purchased land here (but often erected no buildings), lost it quickly, and were never heard from again. Sometimes their names do not even appear in the tax records, and many lots owners are listed as “Unknown.” Other lots were sold for taxes (SFT), and the original owners walked away. Other owners had kindly friends make the tax payments for them. This type of tax information will be recorded on the specific lot history page. By 1886, Monroe was already living in Monrovia, though not in the Town of Monrovia Subdivision, and Spence's home was in the planning stages. Falvey had a citrus orchard in Monrovia, though he may have stayed in his residence on Baldwin property.
Additionally, Spence and Monroe had brothers who also lived in the town and their nieces and nephews attended local schools. The Monrovia Land and Water Company set up its office on Myrtle in the Town of Monrovia Subdivision. The fact that two of the five investors in the new town actually had business interests, homes, and extended families in residence may be considered a large reason why Monrovia survived the economic depression of 1888, when many other boom towns in the area dried up.
133 E. Lime Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
B
21
No
1908
Commercial
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
Yes
Town of Monrovia
This picture shows a glimpse of the two-storey rooming house on Lot 21. This picture dates from 1915-1920. The land to the east up to Ivy Avenue is still vacant. The house to the east of the boarding house won't be built until 1922.
This picture dates from the 1960s and is the reverse of the picture before it. The houses on Lots 21-16 that would have been in this picture have all been torn down.
Description
Lot 21, Block B in the Town of Monrovia Subdivision lay unimproved until 1908 when Byron Clark built a two-storey house that would be a boarding house that provided furnished rooms for renters. The structure kept its function asa boarding house until it was torn down in the late 1950s.
The Sanborn maps show a two-storey, rectangular structure which is very common for commercial structures of that time. It was wood frame and had enough rooms to rent to ten people.
By 1921, Margaret Clark had died, and her husband moved to Anaheim to live with one of his daughters. They sold the business and the property, and the boarding house became the Ak-Sar-Ben Rooms in 1924. The owners then added a small dwelling at the back of the property by the alley with an address of 133 1/2 E. Lime Avenue.
131 E. Lime Ave,
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
B
20
1921
Victorian
Book & Anderson
No
No
Yes
Town of Monrovia
This map shows the house on Lot 20, 131 E. Lime Avenue
This photo was taken during the 1960s. At this time, the four houses that were on these lots have been torn down and replaced by the utility building and a parking lot.
This map shows the house on Lot 20, 131 E. Lime Avenue
Description
James Elam Hunter purchased Lot 20 in 1888. The size of the Lot was 50 x 100 feet and backed on to an alley. No value was given in 1888, but in 1889, it was valued at $150. Tax records show the property bouncing among Hunter, J.E. Coffin (a merchant from Whittier) and Sherman Smith, losing value steadily, until Anna Kate Collins bought it in 1904 and built a house valued at $850 on it.
However, the permit records at City Hall show two permits for July 1921, one for a house and another for a garage. The contractors are Book & Anderson. Adding to the confusion is the 1920 census record, which shows Kate Collins and her daughter living at a house at 131 N. Myrtle Avenue. Possibly Kate had major changes done in the 1904 house and that accounts for the permits in 1921.
As can be seen by the Sanborn map, the house had a small front porch, a back porch for doing laundry, and a small bay window on the east side of the house. It is likely that the house had three bedrooms as the 1920 census, there are three people living in the house: a boarder, Kate Collins, and her daughter Catherine.
In 1921 there are two permits, one for a house and another for a garage. The second house is very small and has the address of 131 1/2. The one-car garage is at northeast corner of the property next to the alley.
There is no demolition permit, but it is likely the house came down in the early 1950s when other houses on the block were torn down for a parking lot.
203 E. Lime Ave.
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
A
13
No
1927
Commercial
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
No
No
Town of Monrovia
Description
William McLean was the first person to own Lot 13, Block A, in the Town of Monrovia Subdivision. The 1904 map issued Charles Slossen, a real estate dealer and property manager, shows the original configuration of the lot. Like most of the other subdivided lots in 1886, the block was divided into lots that were 50 feet wide and 150 feet deep with an alley bisecting the block.
In 1888, the property was valued by the tax assessor at $300. The following year, it was worth only half that. From 1897 to 1903, the property was valued at $75. After that, there was an uptick in property values with the price rising to $150. That was the value on the property when McLean sold it to Alex Foster in 1914.
The 1907 Sanborn Map shows Lot 14 has yet to be subdivided though some houses are already appearing.
225-225 1/2 E. Lime Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
A
19
No
1888
Victorian
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
Yes
Town of Monrovia
This map shows Lots 19 & 20 as a double lot, but Newlan's house is on the east side of the lot that will become 225 E. Lime Avenue
The map shows that Lots 19 & 20 have now been divided, and small second house has been added to Lot 19. The address for the back house is 225 1/2 E. Lime Avenue.
Where this parking lot is now, families lived out their lives, planted their gardens, and each played a part in the growth of Monrovia. This parking lot is rarely used.
This map shows Lots 19 & 20 as a double lot, but Newlan's house is on the east side of the lot that will become 225 E. Lime Avenue
Description
Levi Jackson Newlan owned this property from 1888 until 1907. He built a house, valued at $300 on the property in 1888 and lived in it with his two sons.
The Sanborn maps show the house as being a small structure with a front porch and a bay window facing east. Given the period of time in which it was built and the other houses built at the same time which still stand, it is likely that the house was a wood frame structure with modest Victorian architectural features. There are no permits for the house and the Sanborn maps show little change in the house.
Levi and his son Charles A. were blacksmiths, and his other son, Eugene Frank, was a harness maker. According to records, Eugene Frank did not stay in Monrovia very long, so the house was occupied by just the two others until Levi Jackson Newlan's death in 1906. After 1907, his Charles sold the property to B.A.P. Eaton, a retiree, who only owned his for two years, selling it to David S. West in 1910.
David West lived less than a block away at 127 E. Lime Avenue, and he rented out his new property over the years to many people. Sometime after 1927, an additional dwelling was built on the lot with the address of 225 1/2. Since there are no permits, it is difficult to determine exactly when it went up. However, there is a 1939 Monrovia directory entry for someone living at 225 1/2 E. Lime Avenue, so the second dwelling went up sometime between 1928 and 1939.
There is no demolition permit for this property, but it was probably razed in the late 1950s or early 1960s when the houses on Lots 17-20 were torn down for a parking lot to serve the utility company in the next block.
334 S. Myrtle Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
B
15
No
1911
Commercial/Public
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
No
Yes
Town of Monrovia
This map shows the intersection of South Myrtle and East Lime. The Renaker Mortuary hasn't been built on Llot 15, but other houses can be seen on Lime Avenue
The mortuary, built in 1911, fronts Myrtle, but there are entrances around the right hand corner on Lime Avenue.
After the mortuary was torn down, the lot went through several reincarnations as different types of businesses.
This map shows the intersection of South Myrtle and East Lime. The Renaker Mortuary hasn't been built on Llot 15, but other houses can be seen on Lime Avenue
Description
Though James J. McLachlan was the first owner of the property, but he didn't actually own it until 1889. In the 1888 tax records, the owner of this lot is unknown, but the value of the land reflects its prime position as a corner lot on the northeast corner of South Myrtle and East Lime Avenues. It is assessed at $800, and the value after equalization is $300. The tax assessor’s book has no tax listed, but indicates the property has sold, but not to whom. The 1889 tax records show Lot 15 (as well as 13 and 14) belonging to James McLachlan. The lot’s value has dropped to $600, reflecting the bursting of the land boom bubble. The taxes due on the property are $3.90, but the property is sold to H. Hart.
The earliest subdivision map shows the following. The lots on the north, east, and south sides of Block B (the 100 block of East Palm, the 200 block of South Ivy and the 100 block of East Lime) all have north-south orientation. The dimensions are 50 by 140 feet deep. The back of each lot ends at the alley that bisects the block horizontally, east/west.
However, lots 10-15 were divided so that they fronted on South Myrtle. Their dimensions are 53 ⅓ by 150 feet. The Sanborn maps show no structure on Lot 15 until 1913, and that structure is the Renaker Funeral Parlor. It is unclear from the maps and directories what direction the front of this building faced when it was first built in 1911 because Sanborn maps indicate there were entrances with addresses into the building from the Lime side of the mortuary.
The first structure was owned by Charles Taylor (known as C.T.) Renaker. In 1887-88, his father, James John Renaker, had a funeral home/furniture/stationery store first in the Badeau Block, at the southeast corner of Colorado and Myrtle and then at 627 S. Myrtle. J.J. Renaker died in 1904, around the time the funeral parlor burned down, and C.T. constructed a new building for the mortuary business, including an apartment on the second floor for himself, his mother, and his brother Leslie.
For decades, the address for the funeral home was given only as the corner of Lime and Myrtle. It wasn't until 1926 that the city directories began to list an address, 334 S. Myrtle Ave., for the Renaker Funeral Parlor. Specifically, the following addresses are all associated with the structure the Renakers owned on Lot 15.
101 E. Lime
103 1/2 E. Lime (likely Mrs. J.J. Renaker's address as she lived upstairs over the mortuary)
107 E. Lime Ave.
109 E. Lime Ave.
111 E. Lime Ave.
342 S. Myrtle Ave.
By the late 1930's, the address for the mortuary is 334 S. Myrtle and Lot 15 still has that address today.
The first permit for this building is in 1914 for a sewer, but the permit is issued to to the 111 E. Lime address of the building. Another plumbing permit was issued in 1927 for the same address. It is most likely that this entrance was for the bodies and where cadaver preparation was done, so the plumbing would need to located at that interest.
There is no permit for demolition, but there is a construction permit indicating Lot 15 has been combined with Lot 14 to make a dress store, an Anita Shop, a chain of dress stores which existed through the 1950's and early 1960's.
Since 1957, the structure has had numerous owners and morphed through numerous businesses/
127 E. Lime Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
B
Lot 19
No
1902
Victorian
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
Yes
Town of Monrovia
This map shows the very simple, modest house that Adeline F. Wright built.
Adeline Wright's house has the address of 127 E. Lime Avenue.
This map shows the very simple, modest house that Adeline F. Wright built.
Description
Lot 19 was undeveloped until 1898 when Adeline Wright built a small house. Sanborn maps indicate the house was made of wood. The style of the house would have been a plain Victorian with little ornamentation. The map shows the house to be small
There are no permits for the property, so it is unknown if there were alterations to it. There is no record of when the house was torn down, but it probably was razed around 1953 when the house to the west at 123 E. Lime was demolished for the California Water and Telephone Company and its parking lot.
119 E. Lime Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
B
17
No
1907
Victorian
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
Yes
Town of Monrovia
On Lot 17 can be seen the very simple house Dr. John T. Stewart built.
At this time, Dr. John T. Stewart still owns the property, but his brother-in-law John Renaker is renting it as a furniture store.
On Lot 17 can be seen the very simple house Dr. John T. Stewart built.
Description
Lot 17 stayed empty until 1907, when John T. Renaker built a small, rectangular-shaped house. He never intended to live in it as he was a member of the Renaker family that owned a mortuary just down the block from Lot 17. Death being a regular occurance in any community, the Renakers stayed busy. For a period of time, they also had a furniture store.
In 1907, the house was valued at $500. Though the property increased in value, the house did not. In 1913, there is a permit taken out by Renaker to hook the structure up to a sewer. Renaker rented out the house to different business owners who ran their businesses from the house.
In 1908, the building was used by Arthur Pomeroy for his real estate business. Later in 1913, Leslie Renaker (brother of John T) had a furniture store there.
There is no demolition request for this house, but it was probably torn down in 1954 when the house to the west, 115 E. Lime Avenue, was torn down so that the California Water and Telephone Company could be built.
223 E. Lime Ave.
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
A
18
No
1909
Unknown
Unknown
No
Yes
Yest
Town of Monrovia
The map shows a small house that would become 219 E. Lime Avenue on the west side of Lots 18 and 19.
This map shows that Lot 18 has now been subdivided and there is a very large house at 223 E. Lime Avenue.
The map shows a small house that would become 219 E. Lime Avenue on the west side of Lots 18 and 19.
Description
John C. Anderson owned the property from 1888 to 1901. After that, the property had four owners: Mary Sergeant for two years; L.S. Calvin for one year; and A.W. Morgan for two years. Cy Hall bought the property, valued at $350, in 1909, and is assessed $50 for a small structure in 1911-1912. The next year, he built a large house valued at $300. The following year the value increased to $1400.
The residence zone for Lot 17, along with Lots 18, 19, and 20, was changed in 1960, as the first step in tearing down the houses on those lots. In 1962, a Planning Commission Architectural review states that Lot 17 was 50 x 160 feet. It did not conform to building code or zoning ordinances, and was at least 50 years old, as if age were some kind of crime.
229 E. Lime Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
A
20
No
1909-1910
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
Yes
Town of Monrovia
This illustration shows the very simple dwelling built on Lot 20 that the Crandall family used as a rental. Their own house with additional rental structures on Lot 21 is shown to the left.
This illustration shows the very simple dwelling built on Lot 20 that the Crandall family used as a rental. Their own house with additional rental structures on Lot 21 is shown to the left.
Description
The 1888 tax record lists Mrs Martha Ward as the first owner of this property, valued at $300. The next year the property had dropped in valued by half, and the tax records list the owners as the real estate firm of Spence, Bicknell & Crunch. In 1890 and 1891, tax records show the owner as E. Bunnell, and then Martha Ward returns as owner from 1892 to 1895 when the property was sold to W.A. Crandall. By then, the value of the property was $75.
The Crandalls also owned Lot 21, but they didn't do anything with Lot 20 until 1909 or 1910 when they built a small dwelling valued at only $50. By then the value of the property itself had climbed to $450. They used the property as a rental and lived in their own home next door.
The 1907 Sanborn map shows the first dwelling, a very small one, toward the back left of the property. Over the years, many renters lived in the house. The 1913-1914 Monrovia Directory lists Clyde F. Stevenson living here, then in 1916-1917, Lloyd and Lillian M. Parkhurst were the renters. Mr. Parkhurst's profession is given as a nursery worker at Pioneer Nursery. The directory for 1919-1920 lists Miss Wava Mowrey and P. Clara Mowrey as residents here.
Mrs. Crandall kept the property for sometime after her husband died. Eventually, the property was sold to William H. Beebe and his wife.
In the early 1960's, the California Water & Telephone Company acquired the property at 229 E. Lime with plans to turn into a parking lot. For its employees. The utility company had already purchased the three lots to the west of this address. In 1963, the Lot 20 was re-zoned for parking, and the house was torn down because it was old, and because it was a house in an area zoned for parking, it was not in compliance with the Zoning Ordinance.
There are no pictures of the house, but its outline on the Sanborn maps show it to have been a very small, narrow structure. It was most likely a simple, wood-frame house with a shotgun format. A shotgun house is one with a front-facing gable, one room in width, and two more rooms deep.
The pictures on this page show the large amount of space Lots 17-20 cover.
220 E. Lime Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
H
8
No
1910
Craftsman
Robert Perry
Robert Perry
No
No
No
Town of Monrovia
Description
The property had eight owners before Robert Perry bought the property in 1910 and built the house.
The house is a one story, wood frame Craftsman bungalow with a front-facing gable. The roof-style is known as “jerkinhead”, a combination of a gable and hip roof. The main gable peak has slat vents The roof has the typical stylistic devices of a Craftsman house: exposed beam ends and rafter tails.
The painted redwood siding extends halfway up from the river rock foundation. Original wood-shingle siding is original as are the roof elements, including the exposed rafter tails, beam ends, and overhanging eaves.
There is a partial porch extending from the front door. The porch roof is supported by simple trusswork and a pair of triple square wood posts anchored in river rock supports with caps of rectangular cement. There is a wooden deck running the width of the house from the concrete partial porch. On the deck are three rectangular river rock pedestals, capped with square concrete tops. The pedestals don’t support anything, and, at first, we thought that originally there might have been a full porch supported by these pedestals, but the footprints of the house on the 1913 and 1927 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are the same. They show only a partial porch and no decking.
We contacted Monrovia resident and vintage structure restorer Jimi Hendrix about the porch. Coincidentally, he had actually worked on this house in the 1990s. It is his opinion that the deck is not original, and that Henry Hinkins, owner of the house during the 1980s and 1990s, installed the deck and the pedestals.
In 2013, there was extensive alterations done in the kitchen backporch aread, but fortunately, the exterior front and sides were not altered, so the house still retains its period look
217 E. Lime Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
A
17
No
1904
Craftsman
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
Yes
Town of Monrovia
The map shows 217 E. Lime Avenue as a very small house on a double lot.
This map shows the addition to the back of the property that Mabel Menefee used as a rental.
This shot is looking east where the structures on Lots17-21 were located.
The map shows 217 E. Lime Avenue as a very small house on a double lot.
Description
The 1888 tax record shows J.C. Anderson as the first owner of Lot 17, which was valued at $300 at that time. He held on to the property as its value dropped until 1901 when the property was sold to Mary Sergeant who owned it for two years. She did not improve the property and its value stayed at $75 for the two years she owned it. We were unable to find anything substantial about her.
By 1904, the value had increased to $150 and Cora M. Graves purchased it and built a house on it (see 1907 Sanborn map) valued at $400. In 1906, Mabel Menefee bought the property which had increased in value to $350. The address of Lot 17 became 217 E. Lime Avenue. The 1913 Sanborn map shows an additional small dwelling with an address of 217 1/2. This structure may have been torn down as there is a building permit, dated 1949, issued to Miss Menefee for a residence at the 217 1/2 address.
The 1927 Sanborn map shows a substantial dwelling at the back of Lot 17. It also shows the neignborhood before the houses on most of the other lots were torn down to be replaced by a parking lot. The rest of the parking area is made up of Lots 18, 19, and 20. The houses on these lots were also town down.
As far as tenants who lived at 2117 E. Lime Avenue, the 1908-1909 Monrovia Directory lists C. Frank Jackson, a lineman for the Monrovia Telephone and Telegraph Company, as renting 217 E. Lime. The 1911 Monrovia Directory lists Mabel C. Menefee as living at 217 E. Lime. Later directories list her as an office nurse, working for Dr. J.K. Sewell. Ms. Menefee may have rented out a room of her house, a not uncommon practice, as the 1916-1917 directory lists Anna J. Sewright living at the address but only one for year.
In the 1926-27 directory, a Miss Estelle M. Nelson, a clerk McBratney's is listed as living at this address. Mabel Menefee may have moved to the back house, but she lived on Lot 17 until the end of her life in 1950.
The residence zone for Lot 17 was changed in 1960, as the first step in tearing down the house. In 1962, a Planning Commission Architectural review states that Lot 17 was 50 x 160 feet. It did not conform to building code or zoning ordinances, and was at least 50 years old, as if age were some kind of crime. The house was razed and it and the most of the other lots became a parking lot.
Because there are no pictures of this dwelling, the exact architectural style is not known. But because a dwelling appears on the 1907 Sanborn map, it might be surmised that the house's architecture was similar to those on the rest of block which appear at the same time and are still standing.
That would it an early Craftsman with Victorian elements.
215 E. Lime Avenue
Block No:
Lot No:
Landmarked?
Construction Year:
Architectural Style:
Contractor:
Architect:
Style Altered?
Location Changed?
Owner(s):
Demolished?
Subdivision:
A
16
No
1886
Victorian
John. C. Anderson
Unknown
No
No
No
Town of Monrovia
The Andersons in front of their around 1890.
The map shows the Anderson house with two sheds at the back of the property and a substantial back porch. Since John C. Anderson was in construction, the sheds were likely used for equipment.
The Andersons in front of their around 1890.
Description
John C. Anderson purchased three lots, 16-19 in Block A of the Town of Monrovia Subdivision from the Monrovia Land and Water Company in 1888. At this time, these lots on Lime Avenue were the northern boundary of the Town of Monrovia.
Anderson, a contractor, built this six-room house for his wife and sons. One of the sons, George, spent almost his entire life of 87 years in the house, and his mother stayed on in the house, after her husband died, until she died. George's brother and sister-in-law lived in the house several years until around 1924 they moved to 343 N. Ivy Avenue.
The California Water and Telephone Company attempted to acquire the property for use as a parking lot during the 1960's, but George Anderson would not sell.
On George Anderson's death in 1974, the property was left to a charitable trust. When the old family home could not be sold due to many years of deferred maintenance, funds were given by the trust to the Friends of the Monrovia Library to purchase the home and restore it as a project in connection with the celebration of our country's bicentennial. After the restoration was completed under the leadership of the late Brice Tulloss, title to the house was given to the newly organized Monrovia Historical Society. The house today is furnished as it would have appeared when the Andersons lived in it.
215 E. Lime is a Queen Anne style house with some Stick-Eastlake detailing. The asymmetrical plan, decorative scroll work, and hip roof with front facing gable are Queen Anne elements, while the frieze of vertical siding and square chamfered porch posts are Stick-Eastlake characteristics. The stairs to the porch are flanked by solid wooden balustrades, and the original scroll work porch railing has been replaced by one of simple square posts. The house was enlarged around the turn of the last century by the addition of a bathroom, screen porch, and bedroom to the rear of the house.
The interior of the house has twelve foot ceilings in each of the original rooms and a broad central hallway. The parlor, furnished with an Eastlake parlor suite, is connected to the dining room by massive pocket doors. An interesting feature of the dining room is the service window into the pantry. The only items of original furniture in the house are in the dining room: a settee with stick-and-ball design and two side chairs which were returned by the Moore sisters and have been refurbished. The kitchen is dominated by a wood burning range. The front bedroom has been turned into an office, while the middle bedroom features a bedroom site of birds-eye maple. The rear bedroom, furnished as a children's room, has a four poster bed with canopy.
A portion of the original barn remains at the rear of the property, while two oak trees, planted long ago by John Anderson to support a hammock, now provide ample shade for the rear yard.