No. 76 - Russell House

Russell House
1887
1316 Carroll Avenue – map
Declared: 2/3/71

Named for the home’s second owner, retired miner and real estate man Major Horace M. Russell, this Eastlake house marks the halfway point in this group of seven Carroll Avenue homes designated Los Angeles monuments on the third day of February, 1971, the day Jay C. Flippen died.

The first owner was George O. Ford, an agent for the Richfield Land and Water Company.

As early as the 1920s the make-up of Angelino Heights residents - and its houses - changed. Many of the Carroll Avenue homes were converted into multi-unit apartment buildings. A WPA census from the summer of 1939 shows 1316 Carroll carved up into five apartments with seven residents, four singles and a family of three. Rents ranged from $10 to $14.

By the way, 1887 is the date of construction given in the L.A. Conservancy’s brochure, Angelino Heights: The Victorians of Carroll Avenue. Gebhard and Winter say 1887-1888. And ZIMAS gives 1889. However, a 1994 Cultural Heritage Commission source gives “circa 1880”, and McGrew and Julian, in Landmarks of Los Angeles, maintain the home was built prior to 1880. Since Messrs Stilson and Hall didn’t file for subdivision of the Angelino Heights tract until the end of the spring in 1886, I’m choosing the later date of 1887.

Up next: Heim House