{"nrhp_refnum":"97000027","name":"Farnsworth, Gen. Charles S., County Park","other_names":["Altadena Park","Davies,William D. Memorial Building","Farnsworth"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"568 E. Mt. Curve Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Altadena","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.199774053000056,"lon":-118.13249966899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-02-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 8.5-acre county park in Altadena, Los Angeles County, California, developed on a former county forestry nursery site between 1933 and 1938. It includes a rustic stone-and-shingle recreation building, an amphitheater, a ranger's cottage, picnic areas and sports courts.","why_significant":"The park is significant for its role as Altadena's major community recreation and social center and for showing how Depression-era work relief programs (CWA, WPA, CCC) built public facilities. The recreation building is a distinctive, late example of the rustic style, and the park is notable for its extensive native stonework.","narrative":"Farnsworth Park occupies 8.5 acres on the Altadena hillside below the San Gabriel Mountains, on a site once used by Los Angeles County as a reforestation and ornamental tree nursery. Community leaders, led by General Charles S. Farnsworth, pushed for a park there in the early 1930s, and it was built between 1933 and 1938 with labor from the CWA, WPA and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Its centerpiece is a two-story recreation building of native arroyo granite and wood shingles, designed by Charles H. Kyson in 1934 and later renamed the William D. Davies Memorial Building. Below it is a 500-seat amphitheater built in 1938. Stone walls, barbecues, pergolas, tennis courts, a baseball diamond and a ranger's cottage complete the layout. For an unincorporated community with few public spaces, the park became the main venue for theater, dances, festivals and recreation, and it retains its original plan and character.","period_of_significance":"1933-1946","architect_builder":"Kyson, Charles H.","architectural_style":"Other: rustic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Buildings appear in excellent condition; the park remains in use as a recreation facility. Only roofing materials have changed on the recreation building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.407622-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/97000027.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000027/92c822fb88-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000027/92c822fb88-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"TheCatalyst31","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_D._Davies_Memorial_Building,_Gen._Charles_S._Farnsworth_County_Park.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TheCatalyst31</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_D._Davies_Memorial_Building,_Gen._Charles_S._Farnsworth_County_Park.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859102","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen._Charles_S._Farnsworth_County_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5530790"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/farnsworth-gen-charles-s-county-park-97000027/"}