Santa Cruz Downtown Historic District

Downtown Santa Cruz includes a 52-acre residential district that grew up on the flatlands once crossed by the San Lorenzo River and later part of the Mission Farm. Settlement began in the 1860s, and the neighborhood was essentially built out by the 1930s. It holds 186 contributing buildings, mainly single-family houses, along with some multi-family and office buildings. Most are built of redwood and show the succession of styles popular locally: Salt-box, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick, Eastlake, Queen Anne, Shingle, Colonial Revival and Craftsman. Eastlake, often combined with Stick, is described as the most noticeable nineteenth-century style, appearing in both small cottages and large elaborate houses. Much of the land was laid out by developer Frederick A. Hihn, and many of the finer homes were built for his family. The district also includes a rare 1894 row of five houses. Its boundaries follow the highest concentrations of architecturally or historically valuable structures, and the district adjoins the Mission Hill and Pacific Avenue historic districts.