No. 8 - The Foy House

The Foy House
1872
1335 Carroll Avenue – map
Declared: 9/21/62

Man, talk about a survivor. This house hasn’t had just one location in its Los Angeles history. Not two, nor even three, but four different sites has this home called home. According to Landmarks of Los Angeles by McGrew and Julian, it was built in 1872 at the corner of Seventh and Figueroa (then called Pearl), being moved to Wilshire Boulevard in 1921. It was then relocated to 633 South Witmer Street, and, in 1993, finally wound up at its present spot on Carroll Avenue.

The home was built by Samuel Calvert Foy whose daughter, Mary E., in 1880 became L.A.’s first female city librarian (she was just 18 years old when appointed). In the teens, the house was used by the Golden State Transfer Co. The sunny afternoon I was there, the Foy House looked so bright and solid, you would’ve thought the owner had painted the home that morning.

The home, on Figueroa, in 1919.

If you haven’t walked this one-block stretch of Carroll Avenue, it’s your loss. Not only is the 1300 block itself listed in the National Register of Historic Places, but in just a few hundred feet, you’ve got a dozen L.A. Historic-Cultural Monuments (the next on the list is at No. 51). Each home is more stunning than the last.

Note the old hitching post in the lower right-hand corner

Carroll Avenue is part of Angelino Heights, “Los Angeles’s First Suburb”. In 1983, the area was designated the city’s first Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). Among other things, in HPOZs, owners get tax reductions (usually from 25-60%), and the city must grant permission before any exterior work may be done.

HEY, YOU! DO YOU WANT TO OWN A LOS ANGELES HISTORIC-CULTURAL LANDMARK?

Well, now’s your chance. Up for sale, down two doors from the Foy House, is HCM No. 109, the Irey House. This late 1880s fixer-upper could be yours for a mere $1.6 million (pre-restoration costs). Originally the residence of gardener Hiram B. Irey, it was moved here from Court Street nearly thirty years ago. Four bedrooms, five baths, a formal dining room, and two parlors included.

The Irey House

Up next: Shadow Ranch