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Minerva Park Place was developed in 1925 by Frank Smith, a local building contractor who lived on the street in 1929. The contractor listed on the Building permits for the street was Ray Smith.
Minerva Court represents a unique residential complex, a group of similar houses framing a narrow, private street. The houses all share common architectural qualities of Spanish Colonial Revival design, and were built all at one time (1925) by a single developer and contractor. They are modest but well designed, with a "family" resemblance, yet each individualized. This complex resembles courtyard housing, a nitive Southern California building type, but is different in allowing automobile access in the center. This housing complex is unusual in the City of Long Beach.
This district represents the type of modest, single-family residence in which many working class citizens lived from the 1910s through the 1960s. The list of occupations of former property owners indicates their working class status.
The houses are classic Spanish Colonial Revival bungalows, infused with some of the cubic geometry of the noted architect Irving Gill. They all share common features of simple stucco walls, flat roofs, arches, clean, sharp edges, and accents of red roof tile. The houses are all similar in type, scale, setback, massing and design, resulting in unusual architectural unity and coherence. |
