{"nrhp_refnum":"82002282","name":"Franz, Emmanuel, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"31 N. Oak St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ventura","county":"Ventura County","state":"CA","lat":34.28127290600003,"lon":-119.29493765999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-06-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["European","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half story Italianate cottage at 31 N. Oak Street in Ventura, California, built in 1879 for Austrian immigrant merchant Emmanuel Franz. The builder is possibly J.J. Mahoney.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the only remaining unaltered example of urban Italianate cottage architecture from the 1870s in Ventura. It is a remnant of the fine residences of the original downtown and the city's first building boom. It is also tied to the early settlement of Ventura through Franz, an early merchant who ran one of the first mercantile businesses on Main Street.","narrative":"Built in 1879 at 31 N. Oak Street in Ventura, this one-and-a-half story Italianate cottage has a truncated hipped roof, broken pedimented gables on all four sides, paired brackets and dentils under the eaves, and tall narrow windows with pedimented hoods. A Palladian window sits under the front gable, and an ornate widow's walk crowns the shiplap-sided house. Inside, four rooms open off a central hall, each with a fireplace. Emmanuel Franz, an Austrian immigrant and early merchant, had the house built and moved his bride there in 1880. His store stood half a block away on Main Street, and his family owned the house until 1975. The nomination describes it as the last unaltered urban Italianate cottage from the 1870s in Ventura and a survivor of the city's first building boom. Builder J.J. Mahoney is suggested as the likely builder because of similarities to the Schiappapietra house.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Possibly J.J. Mahoney","architectural_style":"Italianate cottage","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and used as a private residence; condition listed as fair and unaltered, on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.345125-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/82002282.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002282/1b5f0a29de-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002282/1b5f0a29de-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Doncram","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EmmanuelFranzHouse2sm.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doncram</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EmmanuelFranzHouse2sm.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862338","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Franz_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5373228"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/ventura-county/franz-emmanuel-house-82002282/"}