Lower Arroyo Seco Historic District
Why it's listed
This residential district occupies the southwest corner of Pasadena beside the Arroyo Seco, a dry riverbed used as a natural park. It includes houses along South Arroyo Boulevard, West California Boulevard and La Loma Road, mostly built in the early 1900s. Of 102 properties, 78 contribute, along with 16 retaining walls. The houses are bungalows and two-story Arts and Crafts residences, some with Swiss chalet, English or Colonial Revival influences. Builders favored natural materials: dark wood shingle or clapboard siding, low-pitched roofs, and foundations, chimneys and walls made of arroyo cobblestone. Houses sit low on their sites and are screened by retaining walls, oaks, eucalyptus and palms. One property, the Ernest A. Batchelder house and studio, was already listed individually. The district meets the registration requirements of a multiple property listing on Pasadena's Arts and Crafts residential architecture, and its contributing buildings retain a high degree of integrity despite some unobtrusive newer infill.
Significance in brief: The district is described as meeting the registration requirements of the multiple property listing on Pasadena residential architecture of 1895-1918 and the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. It holds very good to excellent examples of Arts and Crafts bungalows and two-story houses, with a unified landscape of arroyo-stone walls and mature trees. The contributing buildings retain a high degree of integrity.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 04000331, listed July 12, 2005. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly Arroyo Blvd., W. California Blvd., La Loma Blvd., Pasadena |
|---|---|
| County | Los Angeles County |
| Listed | July 12, 2005 |
| Reference number | 04000331 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | Multiple architects and builders, including George A. Clark, Louis du Puget Millar, Ernest A. Batchelder, B. Marshall Wotkyns, Reginald D. Johnson and Louis B. Easton |
| Architectural style | Bungalow, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival; Arts and Crafts period styles including Anglo-Colonial Revival, English-influenced and Swiss Chalet |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Current function is single-family dwellings; the newer infill houses are described as unobtrusive and the contributing buildings retain a high degree of integrity. |
| Coordinates | 34.13458, -118.16216 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 04000331.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q17019119
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.