This Home was Built by the Founder of the City of Altadena CA


Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California
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Date added: January 11, 2025
Historic photograph of exterior, ca. 1883, looking northeast (1883)

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The Woodbury House was the home of Frederick J. Woodbury who, together with his brother John P., are credited with founding Altadena in 1887. Built in 1882, the house is the oldest remaining residence in Altadena and one of the few remaining grand mansions built during the boom of the 1880s, when the Woodbury brothers envisioned Altadena as a community of grand estates. It is the only remaining example of the Italianate style in Altadena and was probably designed by early Pasadena builder Harry Ridgway. In 1895 Hampton Story purchased the house and had a music room added in 1898. The addition was designed by Frederick L. Roehrig, a prominent Pasadena architect who is associated with the Green Hotel in that city.

Frederick J. Woodbury came from a wealthy farming and banking family in Marshalltown, Iowa. Frederick had farmed his parent's land in Iowa and run a grist mill. He also served as a captain under General U. S. Grant during the Civil War, receiving a slight wound. Woodbury was attracted to the Pasadena area for its farming potential and through his close friendship with Colonel Jabez Banbury and the Giddings family, both previous Marshalltown residents who had settled in the area. In 1881 the Woodbury family, Frederick, Martha and their three children arrived in Pasadena. Shortly after their arrival, they purchased their first 141 acres of Rubio Canyon land including the water rights. In 1882 Frederick purchased 937 acres on the Pasadena Highland slope (portion of Rancho San Pasqual) and had a fine two-story house built for his family. An exact date for the house has not been verified, but most articles give the year 1882 as the date the house was built. It was definitely built by August, 1883 when an etching of it appeared in R.W.C. Farnsworth's A Southern California Paradise published in Los Angeles. Woodbury sold a 75-acre portion of his land to Colonel Banbury who also built an Italianate residence the same year. Both had commanding views of the valley.

John P. Woodbury joined his brother Frederick in 1885. Both men were partners with John, the businessman and Frederick, the rancher. The boom of 1886-87 in Southern California, touched off by the arrival of the railroads, found the Woodbury brothers forming a partnership with surrounding landowners. The Pasadena Improvement Company was incorporated in 1887 and subdivided the property calling the tract Altadena. The name was chosen after receiving permission from Byron O. Clark, whose nearby business was called the Altadena Nursery because of its higher (alta - high) location above Pasadena. Altadena was conceived as a community for the wealthy, and several large estates were built during the 1890s by wealthy individuals from the Midwest and East. The boom collapsed in 1888 with much of the land unsold.

After subdividing their land, the Woodburys kept about nine acres surrounding the house. Ornamental trees and shrubs were planted around the house and the rest of the land was planted in orchard and vineyards. Frederick and his wife Martha lived in their Altadena residence for nine years and then moved to Pasadena in 1891 where Frederick died on April 4th, 1909 at the age of seventy-five.

After his wife's death in 1896, John Woodbury returned to the East Coast and eventually settled in Marshalltown where he died on July 14th, 1909. John was responsible for the planting of the Deodar trees on Santa Rosa Avenue in 1885. These trees lined the entrance to the Woodbury property and are now a State Landmark.

The Woodbury House has had six different owners since the Woodburys sold it in 1891. Thomas and Florence Walker owned it briefly from 1891 to 1895. Mr. Walker was in the sugar beet industry in Chino and used the house on weekends.

The owners who lived in the house the longest and made the most significant changes were Hampton L. and Adella B. Story. (1895-1926) The house became a social center for the community during the Story's residence. Mr. Story was prominent in the music business in Chicago. His company, Story and Camp (later Story and Clark), were agents of Estey organs. Mr. Story moved to San Diego in 1883 and jointly purchased Coronado Island where he built the Hotel del Coronado with John D. Spreckles and E.F. Babcock.

After purchasing the house in 1895, Story hired architect Frederick Roehrig to design an addition that would serve as a music room and house his large pipe organ. In addition to hosting musical concerts and other social events, the house served as the first headquarters for the Altadena Improvement Association. Mr. Story took an active role in the community, serving as first chairman of the Improvement Association and as President of the Rubio Canyon Land and Water Association. Upon becoming ill, Mr. Story and his wife moved to Los Angeles in 1924. He died the following year at the age of 90. At the time of his death, he was vice-president of Story and Clark Music Co. of Chicago.

From 1926 to 1954 the house was owned by Ralf and LaLa Goddard. The Goddards lived elsewhere and the house was leased or remained vacant. From 1935 to 1947 the house was used as a restaurant and tea room called the Royal Trees Tavern, operated by Leta M. and Nell L. Nelson. Mr. Goddard sold about three acres of land to Los Angeles County in 1949. Between 1947 and 1949 the house appears to have been used as a Los Angeles County Sheriff office and as a Justice Court for Altadena Township.

In 1953 Ralf Goddard sold the remaining land and house to Otto Heidelberger. Mr. Heidelberger subdivided the land into 25 parcels, allowing the house to remain on a less than one-acre parcel. Between 1954 and 1956 the lots were sold and homes were built. Mr. Heidelberger sold the Woodbury House to Charles Strong, who in turn sold it to teachers James and Elizabeth Reetzke in 1959. They owned the house until 1973 when it was sold to Lionel J. and Eetla Soracco. The Soracco's sold it to Dr. William C. Schleiter, in 1989.

The house is architecturally significant as an outstanding example of the Italianate style that has maintained its integrity over the years. The house helped to shape the historic identity of the Altadena Highlands as part of the grand estates built during the 1880s and 1890s by wealthy easterners and mid-westerners. This house is the oldest and one of the few surviving examples of the grand estates. It is also the only remaining example of Italianate architecture in Altadena. The design and plan of the house is said to be similar to the house the Woodbury's owned in Marshalltown, Iowa.

It is uncertain who designed and built the house in 1882, but it is attributed to Hamilton Ridgway. Hamilton (Harry) Ridgway was the first architect to open an office in Pasadena in 1878. He worked with Clinton Ripley, Pasadena's first contractor and builder. The two men designed and built many of Pasadena's finest buildings. Mr. Ridgway designed the second house for F.J. Woodbury on Terrace Drive in Pasadena. Ridgway was prolific in the early days of Pasadena's development. He and Ripley are said to have designed and built over one hundred residences, many commercial structures and school buildings. Only a few of these buildings remain today.

The music room addition was designed by noted Pasadena architect Frederick Roehrig in 1898. Roehrig probably designed the remaining additions as well. Born in LeRoy, New York in 1851, Roehrig obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture from Cornell University in 1883. After studying abroad in England and France, he settled in Pasadena in 1886 and opened his practice. He collaborated with architect Simon Locke on several projects including the original portion of the Green Hotel in 1889. Roehrig designed a villa on Mariposa Street circa 1894 for wealthy Chicago tycoon Andrew McNally.

Building Description

Located on a town lot at the end of a cul-de-sac, this impressive two-story Italianate-style residence built in 1882 is surrounded by mature trees and shrubs. Characteristics of the style are seen in the bracketed low-pitched hip roof, the tall crowned windows, and the front porch with its distinctive columns and decorative frieze. The prominent 1898 music room addition on the west side is built in a separate distinct Colonial Revival style.

The large two-story portion of this residence is basically rectangular in plan with a one-story addition on the west side creating an L shape. Originally the house was fairly symmetrical with a two-story bay window on both the east and west sides and a porch that extended across the front and sides of the house. Three additions, in 1898, circa 1910 and circa 1919, removed the side porches, widened the front of the house and added a porte cochere. The two-story slanted bay windows on the east and west sides were retained.

The low-pitched intersecting hip roof features broad closed eaves with elaborately carved, paired brackets typical of the Italianate style. The roof, covered with composition shingles, was enlarged in 1898 when the addition on the west was constructed. At this time the front west corner of the house was extended out and the addition attached. This one-story addition has a low hip roof with boxed eaves and flat brackets under the eaves showing the influence of the Colonial Revival style.

The majority of windows are tall narrow double-hung wood frames with wood moldings and flat bracketed crowns, distinctive characteristics of the Italianate style. When the house was enlarged on both the west and east front corners, additional windows were added and some windows changed. One identical window was added to the second-story facade to the east of the original two windows. The first-floor facade and front east side have large multi-paned wood casement windows that were part of the expansion of the east front corner of the house circa 1910. The wrap around porch was replaced by this two-story expansion. The two first-floor original windows were combined into one large fixed window. Louvered shutters flanked the original windows but were removed and are presently stored in the basement.

The second-floor stairwell on the west side features a half-circular window with two rectangular windows below. The half circle is surrounded with small individual colored glass panes, and the hinged rectangular windows are entirely of leaded square and rectangular glass panes. The entire interior window is encased in oak with recessed oak panels below. This window was part of the addition of 1898.

The one-story addition has bands of windows occurring in groups of threes directly under the eaves. The upper portion of the windows have small panes with crisscross wood moldings.

The front porch is the focal point of the house even though the side portions have been filled in. The original six wooden columns support the low hip roof. These slender columns are typical of the Italianate style with their curved brackets and sawtooth frieze detail. The turned balustrade was probably added when the additions were made between 1898 and 1910, and is not original to the house. The wooden steps and railing were replaced with concrete.

The house is covered with wide horizontal lap siding. Narrow clapboard siding is used for the one-story addition. The main house rests on a raised concrete perimeter foundation and is covered with a wooden lattice skirt. The one-story addition has a brick foundation and the same wooden lattice skirt. There is a partial basement located at the rear of the house. Two corbeled brick chimneys punctuate the roofline of the main house. The chimney on the west side was rebuilt and enlarged probably after the addition on the west side was built. The one-story addition has an exterior brick chimney.

Later additions circa 1919 include a porte cochere with a second story supported by double columns that repeat the decorative detailing of the porch. The second story is L-shaped with a low-pitched hip roof and band of sliding windows under the eaves. Siding is wide horizontal lap. Another one-story flat-roofed square addition, using like-original materials, is located on the first floor east side adjacent to the slanted bay window.

The interior is significant because of its unusual spatial arrangement, heavy use of fine wood and ornate fireplaces. Of primary importance is the impressive entrance hall designed in 1898 by Frederick L. Roehrig. The house was enlarged on the west side with the addition of the music room also designed by Roehrig. This necessitated a change to the original stairway and entry hall. An elaborate entry was created with the extensive use of wood seen in the wainscotting, stair railing, newel posts, ceiling, floors, arched opening and fireplace. This use of wood was carried through to the music room and no doubt was meant to visually connect the two rooms even though, on the outside, the one story addition is visually separate from the main house.

The music room is built almost entirely of wood except for the brick fireplace. The high trussed ceiling is covered with narrow boards. Below the ceiling is a decorative band of diagonal boards arranged in a triangular pattern. The walls are covered with wood wainscotting, and the sand colored brick fireplace is flanked by built-in bookcases.

There are seven fireplaces throughout the house. All are different ranging from carved wood to marble mantles and wood, marble, tile or brick fronts. They are located in the dining room, parlor, entry, upstairs bedrooms, solarium, and music room.

The original woodwork throughout the house is intact. Of interest are the door and window moldings. There are paneled pocket doors between the parlor and the dining room, the entry and the parlor, and the parlor and solarium.

Noted Pasadena architect, Frederick Roehrig, carefully designed the front west addition to blend with the rest of the Italianate style, but purposely designed the music room in the Colonial Revival style, popular at the turn of the century. This was probably deliberately done so as to set off this important addition as the mark of the new owner, Hampton Story.

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Floor Plans
Floor Plans

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Historic photograph of exterior, ca. 1883, looking northeast (1883)
Historic photograph of exterior, ca. 1883, looking northeast (1883)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Front of house, looking northeast (1993)
Front of house, looking northeast (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Music Room addition, looking north (1993)
Music Room addition, looking north (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California East side of house, looking northwest (1993)
East side of house, looking northwest (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California East side of house, looking southwest (1993)
East side of house, looking southwest (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California West side of house, looking east (1993)
West side of house, looking east (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California West side of house and rear of Music Room addition, looking south (1993)
West side of house and rear of Music Room addition, looking south (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Entry, looking northwest (1993)
Entry, looking northwest (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Music Room, looking northwest (1993)
Music Room, looking northwest (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Parlor, looking east (1993)
Parlor, looking east (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Dining Room, looking west (1993)
Dining Room, looking west (1993)

Woodbury-Story House, Altadena California Second floor landing, looking west (1993)
Second floor landing, looking west (1993)