Historic Nomination Report of the Ben and Ruth Rubin House 4480 Trias Street Mission Hills Community ~ San Diego, California Ronald V. May, RPA Kiley Wallace Legacy 106, Inc. P.O. Box 15967 San Diego, CA 92175 (858) 459-0326 (760) 704-7373 www.legacy106.com August 2018 Revised February 2019 1 HISTORIC HOUSE RESEARCH Ronald V. May, RPA, President and Principal Investigator Kiley Wallace, Vice President and Architectural Historian P.O. Box 15967 • San Diego, CA 92175 Phone (858) 459-0326 • (760) 704-7373 http://www.legacy106.com 2 3 State of California – The Resources Agency Primary # ___________________________________ DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ______________________________________ PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial __________________________________ NRHP Status Code 3S Other Listings ___________________________________________________________ Review Code _____ Reviewer ____________________________ Date __________ Page 3 of 33 *Resource Name or #: The Ben and Ruth Rubin House P1. Other Identifier: 4480 Trias Street, San Diego, CA 92103 *P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County: San Diego and (P2b and P2c or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: La Jolla Date: 2015 T ; R ; ¼ of ¼ of Sec ; M.D. B.M. *c. Address: 4480 Trias Street City: San Diego Zip: 92103 d. UTM: Zone: 11 ; mE/ mN (G.P.S.) *e. Other Locational Data: (e.g., parcel #, directions to resource, elevation, etc.) Elevation: 223 feet Legal Description: Lot Three in Block Five Hundred Twenty-six of Old San Diego, in the City of San Diego, County of San Diego, State of California according to Map by James Pascoe in 1870, on file in the office of the County Recorder of San Diego County. Excepting the Northeasterly sixty feet thereof. It is Tax Assessor’s Parcel # 443-051-21-00. *P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries.) This Ranch inspired Colonial Revival style home was custom designed by architectural designer Robert Sidney Wallace and built in 1949 by San Diego builders Jackson & Scott, Inc. The home displays a balanced façade along with an accentuated inset front doorway entry and double hung wooden windows with multi-pane all in glazing indicative of the home's Colonial Revival style. The home utilizes overhanging enclosed eaves with cornice return details on the gable ends. The home was identified in the 2016 Uptown Community Plan Area Historic Resources Survey Report and assigned status code "5D3", indicating a contributing historic resource as an example of the Colonial Revival / Ranch style. The house is accurately listed as minimally altered in this survey. It is an excellent example of a mid-century home designed in the Colonial Revival style. (See Continuation Sheet.) *P3b. Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP2 *P4. Resources Present: Building Structure Object Site District Element of District *P5b. Description of Photo: View of southeast (front) elevation, January 2019. Photo by Kiley Wallace. *P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources: Historic Prehistoric Both The Residential Building Record shows a date of 1948. construction of September 15,1948. The Notice of Completion shows the home was completed on February 17, 1949. The County Lot and Block Book page is dated 1949. No sewer or water permits were found. *P7. Owner and Address: David and Margherita Cianflone 4480 Trias Street, San Diego, CA 92103 *P8. Recorded by: (Name, affiliation, and address) Ronald V. May, RPA, and Kiley Wallace, Legacy 106, Inc., P.O. Box 15967, San Diego, CA 92175 *P9. Date Recorded: August 2018, revised February 2019 *P10. Survey Type: (Describe) Intensive *P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter "none.") Historical Nomination of the Ben and Ruth Rubin House, San Diego, California for the City of San Diego, Historical Resources Board, by Ronald V. May, RPA and Kiley Wallace, Legacy 106, Inc. P.O. Box 15967, San Diego, CA 92175, August 2018, revised February 2019. Legacy 106, Inc. is indebted to Alexandra S. Wallace and Dan Soderberg for assistance with the preparation of this report. © 2018 Legacy 106, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Legacy 106, Inc. is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Legacy 106, Inc. with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. *Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure, and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other (List): DPR 523A *Required Information 4 State of California The Resources Agency Primary # DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI# CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial Page 4 of 33 *Resource Name or #: The Ben and Ruth Rubin House *Recorded by: Ronald V. May, RPA and Kiley Wallace *Date: August 2018 Continuation Update *P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) (Continued): The subject resource is a Colonial Revival style residence designed in 1948 by San Diego architectural designer Robert Sidney Wallace for owners Ben and Ruth Rubin. The resource was constructed by Jackson & Scott, Inc. and completed in February 1949. This is an excellent example of a Colonial Revival style home built in the post-World War II mid-century era with some Ranch style influences and is an excellent example of this era of Colonial Revival design in particular. The house has an L-shaped form, low pitched gabled roof and uses traditional wood clapboard and inset paneled entryway. The horizontal one-story design and massing utilize overhanging eaves with enclosed boxed eaves. The style of the house is Colonial Revival Ranch or Neo-Colonial style, built during the Mid-Century era with Ranch style influences. The home's setting is in the Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego. The home utilizes an accentuated door entryway porch with inset paneled front door flanked by original eight light matched sidelights and matching paneled porch sides. Some of the other significant architecturally defining elements of this Colonial Revival style house are the traditional and neoclassical details, such as the double hung windows with multi-pane glazing (sometimes paired), wooden shutters and horizontal wood clapboard surfacing mixed with decorative red brick. The large projecting three sided bay window with multiple light windows and red brick wainscoting along with the brick chimney, louvered shutters and other detailing all clearly demonstrate the Colonial design elements of the home. The roof features a favorite classic Colonial Revival detail, with cornice return details seen on all gable ends where the molding carries around from the end of the verge boards. The other paired and single multi-light windows with flanking shutters are other elements incorporating traditional American Colonial elements and influences into the home's overall Modern Ranch design. The home represents a modern interpretation of the Colonial Revival style. The home is a custom designed Colonial Revival variation of the California Custom Ranch style concept designed individually for its large Mission Hills lot, with characteristic wide horizontal lines and broad form. The house faces slightly downhill to Trias Street and maintains its original front circular driveway design. The home combines fine cut horizontal wooden clapboard surfacing along with common bond red brick cladding. The home also displays a low, wide red brick surfaced chimney matching the brick on the front façade. The home's original cedar shingle roof material has been replaced (circa 1998, most likely for improved fire safety), and the current concrete roof shingles replicate the look of the wood shingles with a similar profile. Additionally, the original horizontal wide wooden siding which is painted light blue has original excellent mitered corners and remain in their original condition. The composite shutters are painted dark blue. All wooden windows and trim are painted white unless otherwise noted. The home's setting is on a later developed (1940's) infill lot in the residential neighborhood of Mission Hills in San Diego. The house at 4480 Trias Street also shows its Ranch influences and utilizes the character-defining features indicative of the Custom Ranch style mentioned on page 74 of the 2007 San Diego Modernism Context Statement, such as horizontal massing, with the widest portion facing the street. Also, custom details such as the extensive use of horizontal wooden clapboard surfacing and red brick cladding on the chimney and front inset entry with raised colonial fielded panels are some of the other custom designed features of this Colonial / Ranch style home. The large semi-connected garage is also mentioned in the Modernism Context as a character defining feature of the Custom Ranch style. Other Custom Ranch features are the low sloped gabled roof and the large front facing L-shaped plan around the central front driveway area. The home utilizes high-end custom designed details and features, such as the prominent, wide window groupings with flanking shutters, brick surfacing accents and chimney, and outstanding custom designed recessed entry porch with fielded panel sides and matching paneled door with flanking sidelights.