{"nrhp_refnum":"91002033","name":"Sexton, Joseph and Lucy Foster, House","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"5490 Hollister Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Santa Barbara","county":"Santa Barbara County","state":"CA","lat":34.43599624900003,"lon":-119.81611168299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-02-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A district at 5490 Hollister Avenue in Goleta (Santa Barbara), California, centered on a two-story Italianate house built in 1880 for nurseryman Joseph Sexton. It includes a pump house, landscape features and a grove of specimen trees on about 1.5 acres.","why_significant":"The property is significant under Criterion B for its association with Joseph Sexton, a pioneer horticulturist who helped shape the agricultural development of the Goleta Valley. Under Criterion C it is one of two known rural residences designed by Peter Barber, a prominent nineteenth-century Santa Barbara architect. It is the only surviving group of structures directly tied to Sexton's career.","narrative":"Built in 1880 on Hollister Avenue in old Goleta, this two-story Italianate house was designed by Santa Barbara architect Peter Barber for nurseryman Joseph Sexton and his wife Lucy Foster Sexton. The district covers about 1.5 acres and includes the house, a three-story pump house, concrete landscape features such as a cistern, pool and sundial platform, and a grove of specimen trees associated with the Sexton Nursery. Sexton came to Santa Barbara in 1867 and built a well-known nursery that imported stock from Asia, Australia and Europe. He popularized pampas grass plumes, developed a soft shell walnut that fed a local industry, and tested avocados. The house is one of two rural residences known to be by Barber, who favored ornate bracketed Italianate design. After decades of decline, the house was restored in 1990-91 using historic photographs. The period of significance runs from 1880 to Sexton's death in 1917.","period_of_significance":"1880-1917","architect_builder":"Barber, Peter","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"The house was restored on the exterior and rehabilitated inside in 1990-91 as part of a motor hotel development; current function is listed as hotel.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.073885-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/91002033.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91002033/316dfeaec8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91002033/316dfeaec8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bzeyen","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sexton_House,_Goleta.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bzeyen</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:Sexton_House,_Goleta.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861620","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_and_Lucy_Foster_Sexton_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6288163"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-barbara-county/sexton-joseph-and-lucy-foster-house-91002033/"}